Kenneth D. Karlin

Kenneth D. Karlin is the Ira Remsen Professor of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he also previously served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry. He has been a professor at Johns Hopkins since 1990, after beginning his academic career at SUNY Albany in 1977. He is actively engaged in research and academic leadership, including serving as Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Inorganic Chemistry and holding administrative roles in the American Chemical Society and the Society for Biological Inorganic Chemistry.

Dr. Karlin's research lies at the intersection of inorganic and biological chemistry, focusing on the coordination chemistry of copper and heme (porphyrin-iron) systems. His work explores how these metal complexes interact with molecular oxygen (O₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), and organohalide pollutants, with implications for understanding enzyme function and developing environmental catalysts. His group employs synthetic modeling to mimic biological active sites and investigates reaction mechanisms using advanced spectroscopic and kinetic methods.

His research group is part of the Collaborative Research in Environmental Molecular Science (CRAEMS) at Johns Hopkins, reflecting the environmental relevance of his work. Although no specific publications or advisees are listed in the provided text, his research has broad implications for catalysis, biomimetic materials, and pollution remediation. He has organized major international conferences, including the 1998 Metals in Biology Gordon Research Conference and the 1989 International Conference on Bioinorganic Chemistry (ICBIC-4).

Scientific Awards:

• F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry (2009, American Chemical Society)
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Dr. Karlin has held advisory and leadership positions with the Petroleum Research Fund, the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the ACS (serving as Chair in 2013), and the Society for Biological Inorganic Chemistry. He has not received grants explicitly mentioned in the text, but his involvement in CRAEMS suggests active grant-supported collaborative research. He has advised numerous students and postdocs through his long-standing research group, though specific names are not provided.

His laboratory focuses on the synthesis and characterization of copper and iron complexes that model biological systems, using techniques such as EPR, resonance Raman, UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, stopped-flow kinetics, and cyclic voltammetry. The team investigates reversible O₂-binding, substrate oxidation, and the design of catalysts for organic oxidation, NO_x reduction, and dehalogenation of environmental pollutants.