Research
Our research interests are strongly rooted in creative chemical synthesis. This is an intentionally broad description. Since we draw no boundaries between inorganic and organic chemistry, we work with elements from all over the periodic table. The overall goal of our program is to develop novel and creative chemical solutions to the most urgent and challenging unsolved problems in synthetic chemistry. One of the most prominent themes in our group is catalyst design, which can allow for the development of novel chemical transformations that are useful for industries ranging from energy to pharma, and thus the general public.
Ligand and Catalyst Design
Ligands are essentially substituents around a metal center that can modulate the properties of a metals reactivity. In some cases the metal with bound ligands can act as a catalyst for useful organic transformations(e.g. Pd coupling reactions, olefin polymerization, olefin metatheis, etc.). One of the key themes in our group is incorporating Boron and Carborane clusters into ligand frameworks, with the specific intent of making novel and superior ligands for transition metal catalysts. More specifics to come on this as the publications come out.
New Vistas on Classical Compounds
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we are looking for novel applications for "classical known compounds" and organometallic complexes. In contrast to the time of pioneering organometallic and inorganic chemists, we are able to purchase many starting materials for exploration in catalytic transformations. This is both a blessing and a bane. The blessing is the ease of availability, the bane is that everyone on the planet can purchase and screen the same compounds. It is much easier to pick up a strem catalog and buy things than make them yourself. We want novel catalytic transformations, and will be re-investigating many classical compounds that are both trivial and complicated to prepare. |
Selected Publications
Postdoc- V. Lavallo, A. El-Batta, G. Bertrand, R. H. Grubbs, “Insights Into the Carbene Initiated Aggregation of Fe(COT)2” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2011).
- V. Lavallo, R. H. Grubbs, “Carbenes as Catalysts for Transformations of Organometallic Iron Complexes” Science, 326, 559, (2009).
Select Grad School- V. Lavallo, G. D. Frey, M. Soleilhavoup, B. Donnadieu, G. Bertrand, “Homogeneous catalytic hydroamination of alkynes and allenes with ammonia.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 47, 5224 (2008).
- V. Lavallo, G. D. Frey, S. Kousar, B. Donnadieu, G. Bertrand, “Allene Formation by Gold Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Masked Carbenes and Vinylidenes” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 13569 (2007).
- G. D. Frey, V. Lavallo, Y. Canac, B. Donnadieu, W. W. Schoeller, G. Bertrand, “Facile Splitting of H2 and NH3 by Nucleophilic Activation at a Single Carbon Center” Science, 316, 439 (2007)
- V. Lavallo, Y. Canac, B. Donnadieu, W. W. Schoeller, G. Bertrand, “Cyclopropenylidenes: From Interstellar Space to an Isolated Deriv. in the Laboratory” Science 312, 722 (2006).
Select Undergraduate- V. Lavallo, Y. Canac, C. Prasang, B. Donnadieu, W. W. Schoeller, G. Bertrand, “Stable CAACs as rigid or flexible, bulky, electron-rich ligands for transition-metal catalysts: A quaternary carbon atom makes the difference” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 44, 5705 (2005).
- V. Lavallo, Y. Canac, A. DeHope, B. Donnadieu, W. W. Schoeller, G. Bertrand, “Rigid CAAC ligands lead to the isolation of low-coordinate metal complexes” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 44, 7236 (2005).
- V. Lavallo, J. Mafhouz, Y. Canac, B. Donnadieu, W. W. Schoeller, G. Bertrand, “Synthesis, reactivity, and ligand properties of a stable alkyl carbene” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 8670 (2004).
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