The research group consists of three professors and 15-20 students that are working for a MSc or PhD degree. The group has an international profile with members from eight countries in addition to Norway; consequently, English is the working language in the lab, when the group meets for the weekly seminar, and at social events. The group members are listed to the left.
The research has for many years been focused on development of synthetic methodology.  Among a number of areas investigated in the past are cyclopropane chemistry, flow chemistry, heterocyclic chemistry, metal catalysis, metathesis, peptide synthesis and synthesis of peptidomimetic scaffolds, photochemistry, process optimization, and more recently, synthesis of natural products or mimics. Many of these fields are still being studied, but the focus is about to shift more toward synthesis of natural products of marine origin as a consequence of the national focus on marine bioprospecting. Professor Leiv K. Sydnes is Chair of the national network for organic synthesis founded to follow up this initiative.
The permanent staff has for years been actively involved in a large number of national and international activities. Two major events were the EUCHEM Conference on Organic Free Radicals, held in Bergen in 2006, and the IUPAC International Conference on Organic Synthesis (ICOS18) which the group organized and carried through to a success in August 2010.  Among events under preparation for the time being is the 28th Norwegian Organic Chemistry Winter Meeting to be held January 10-13, 2013 with Associate Professor Bengt Erik Haug as Chair.