Soumitra Athavale

Soumitra V. Athavale is an organic chemist and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He holds the John D. and Edith M. Roberts Term Chair in Organic Chemistry.

Early life and education

Athavale is a native of India and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemistry and biology from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry working in the laboratory of Professor Scott E. Denmark at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. He completed postdoctoral work in Professor Frances Arnold’s laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

Academic career and research

Athavale joined the UCLA faculty as an assistant professor in 2023 and was named the inaugural John D. and Edith M. Roberts Term Chair in Organic Chemistry in 2024. His laboratory investigates the intersection of synthetic chemistry and enzyme engineering, with emphasis on developing new-to-nature biocatalytic transformations and studying fundamental structure–function relationships in enzymes.

In a work published in Science, Athavale and colleagues described BioHAT (biocatalytic cooperative metal hydrogen atom transfer), an engineered heme-protein platform that effects asymmetric, radical hydrogenation of unactivated olefins.

Athavale has also conducted studies related to the Soai reaction, a classic example of asymmetric autocatalysis, and a transformation that has been studied for insights into the origins of homochirality in biological molecules.

Athavale’s research group also pursues research in directed evolution, enzyme discovery, isotope-selective labeling using biocatalysts, and translating enzymatic [...] to preparative-scale synthesis.

Awards and honors

  • Finalist, Merck Research Award for Underrepresented Chemists of Color (2021).
  • Co-winner, Merck Compound Challenge (2020).

Selected publications

  • Vallapurackal, J.; Mandal, R.; Bossenbroek, J.; Rubio, A. V.; Poladian, E.; Collings, J. D.; Torres, C.; Hendrickson, M.; Morales, J.; Lyons, M. B.; Schultz, K.; Shafaat, H. S.; Houk, K. N.; Athavale, S. V., "Biocatalytic, asymmetric radical hydrogenation of unactivated alkenes," Science (2025).
  • Athavale, S. V.; Denmark, S. E. Demystifying the Soai Reaction. books.rsc.org 2022. https://doi.org/10.1039/9781839166273-00199.
  • Athavale, S. V.; Simon, A.; Houk, K. N.; Denmark, S. E. Demystifying the Asymmetry-Amplifying, Autocatalytic Behaviour of the Soai Reaction through Structural, Mechanistic and Computational Studies. Nature Chemistry 2020, 12 (4), 412–423. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-020-0421-8.
  • Laboratory page
  • UCLA Department profile

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