Prof. Pingping Tang's research is focused on the late-stage functionalization methods and the total synthesis of natural products for new drug development. His group is interested in the practical total synthesis of natural products for which there is a true impetus for their construction due to potential pharmaceutical applications. Another major focus of his research is the late-stage functionalization methods, such as late-stage trifluoromethoxylation of organic molecules, yet methods capable of accessing fluorinated motifs in a chemo-, regio-, and enantioselective fashion are lacking. More importantly, his ultimate goal is to combine the total synthesis of natural products to synthesis fluorinated derivatives for new drug development.