Dartmouth Events

Recent Advances in Fe-Catalyzed Multicomponent Cross-Couplings

Bio: Osvaldo was born in Mexico and raised in Sacramento, California. He attended Sacramento City College and transferred to UCLA in 2006 where he worked as an undergraduate at the laboratories of Prof. Houk. He obtained his B.S./M.S. in 2009 and completed his Ph.D. in 2012 (UC Davis) under the guidance of Prof. Tantillo. From 2012-2016 he worked as a postdoc with Prof. Kozlowski at the University of Pennsylvania where he used computational and experimental tools to study transition metal-catalyzed processes. He started his independent career at  the University of Maryland College Park and in 2021 move to Texas A&M University as Associate Professor where his research combines computational and experimental approaches to advance our understanding of iron- and photo-catalyzed reaction mechanisms.

Abstract: Despite advances in high-throughput screening methods leading to a surge in the discovery of catalytic reactions, our knowledge of the molecular-level interactions in the rate- and selectivity-determining steps of catalytic reactions, especially those involving highly unstable and reactive open-shell intermediates, is rudimentary. These knowledge gaps prevent control, suppression or enhancement, of competing reaction channels that can drive development of unprecedented catalytic reactions. In this talk, I will focus on our use of high-level quantum mechanical calculations, rigorously calibrated against experimental data, to interrogate the mechanisms of asymmetric iron-catalyzed C(sp2)-C(sp3) cross-coupling reactions.  Then, I will focus on how our group used this combined experimental and computational approach to quickly develop a vast array of (asymmetric) multicomponent cross-coupling reactions using olefins and strained molecules as radical lynchpins.