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Felix Raps

Raps

Felix Raps

Assistant Professor

Felix grew up in the Black Forrest region in Germany and moved to Switzerland for his undergraduate degree at the University of Basel in 2012. After completing a research stay at the process chemistry department of the pharmaceutical company Idorsia, he began his PhD studies with Prof. Dr. Christof Sparr at the University of Basel. He focused on the development of highly reactive, biomimetic synthesis of polyketide chains and explored catalyst control over regiodivergent cascade reactions. Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, he moved to Cornell University in 2021 and Princeton University in 2023, to work with Prof. Dr. Todd Hyster on photoenzymatic transformations. During his postdoctoral work, Felix discovered a reductive photoredox reactivity that was emerging in flavin dependent Baeyer-Villiger Monooxygenases. This enabled the preparation of congested alpha tertiary amines via C–N bond formation, and was extended to C–C, C–S, and C–O bond formation. Felix started his independent career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University exploring new biocatalytic methodologies in 2025. 

Publications

F. C. Raps, T. K. Hyster, “Emergent Mechanisms in Biocatalysis” ACS Cent. Sci. 2025, 11, 1029–1040.
 
F. C. Raps, A. Rivas-Souchet, C. M. Jones, T. K. Hyster, “Emergence of a Distinct Mechanism of C–N Bond Formation in Photoenzymes” Nature, 2025, 637, 362 – 365.
 
M. A. Emmanuel, S. G. Bender, C. Bilodeau, J. M. Carceller, J. S. DeHovitz, H. Fu, Y. Liu, B. T. Nicholls, Y. Ouyang, C. G. Page, T. Qiao, F. C. Raps, D. R. Sorigué, S.-Z. Sun, J. Turek-Herman, Y. Ye, A. Rivas-Souchet, J. Cao, T. K. Hyster,”Photobiocatalytic Strategies for Organic Synthesis” Chem. Rev. 2023, 123, 9, 5459 – 5520.
 
F. C. Raps, V. C. Fäseke, D. Häussinger, C. Sparr, “Catalyst-Controlled Transannular Polyketide Cyclization Cascades: Selective Folding of Macrocyclic Polyketides”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020,59, 18390 – 18394.
 
D. Moser, A. Castrogiovanni, D. Lotter, R. M. Witzig, V. C. Fäseke, F. C. Raps, C. Sparr, “Catalytic Cascade Reactions Inspired by Polyketide Biosynthesis”, Chimia 2020, 74, 699 – 703.
 
V. C. Fäseke, F. C. Raps, C. Sparr, “Polyketide Cyclizations for the Synthesis of Polyaromatics”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 6975 – 6983.
 
Y. Aeschi, S. Drayss-Orth, M. Valášek, F. Raps, D. Häussinger, M. Mayor, “Assembly of [2]Rotaxanes in Water”, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2017, 28, 4091 – 4103.

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