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Heterogeneous Catalyst Paper Published

11/20/2020

A collaborative paper between the Shaughnessy, Martin Bakker, and Yuping Bao groups at UA has been published in the Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology. The paper describes the one-pot synthesis of heirarchically porous carbon containing nickel nanoparticles by incorporation of nickel-salen complexes in the carbon sol-gel synthesis. The resulting nickel-containing materials were effective catalysts for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

Arylpalladium precatalyst paper published

10/9/2020

A paper by Ethan Hu, Corrie Burlas, Sabrina Curley, Tomasz Gruchala and Fengrui Qu entitled, "Effect of Aryl Ligand Identity on Catalytic Performance of Trineopentylphosphine Arylpalladium Complexes in N-Arylation Reactions," has been published in Organometallics. The paper describes the role of steric effects of aryl ligands on the performance of palladium catalysts in C-N cross-coupling reactions.

Macoon accepts job at the FDA

9/30/2020

Dr. Russell Macoon (BS 2016) has accepted a position as a biomedical engineer with the FDA in Washington, DC. Dr. Macoon earned a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Florida in 2019.

Congratulations to Ashley and Matthew on graduating

5/2/2020

Ashley Gilliam and Matthew Delahay earned their MS degrees this week. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions their graduate ceremony will have to be delayed. Both Ashley and Matthew have accepted positions with Avanti Polar Lipids in Birmingham.

Inorganic Chemistry Paper Published

4/9/2020

The last paper from Dr. Kerry Barnett's dissertation has been published in Inorganic Chemistry in collaboration with the Dixon Group. This paper provides a detailed structural analysis of the palladium complexes of trineopentylphosphine ligands using computational and experimental data. The highly flexible trineopentylphosphine ligand adopts a very sterically demanding conformation when coordinated to 1- or 2-coordinate palladium centers. Unusually, this very sterically demanding ligand is highly pyramidalized due to the low back-side strain of the neopentyl groups. When coordinated to a 3- or 4-coordinate palladium center, trineopentylphoshine adopts a less sterically demanding conformation.

Gruchala receives Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award

3/18/2020

Tomasz Gruchala has been selected as a recipient of the Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award. The Randall award is given to students who have achieved excellent performance in undergraduate research at The University of Alabama. Tom's research has focused on the use of palladium-aryl compounds as air-stable precatalysts for C-N bond forming reactions.

ACS Catalysis paper published

3/6/2020

A paper authored by Huaiyuan "Ethan" Hu, Ashley Gilliam, and Fengrui Qu entitled, "Enolizable Ketones as Activators of Palladium(II) Precatalysts in Amine Arylation Reactions," has been published in ACS Catalysis. The paper describes a novel reduction of palladium(II) precatalysts using enolizable ketones.

Trialkylphosphine review published in Current Organic Chemistry

2/27/2020

A review authored by Kevin Shaughnessy has been published in Current Organic Chemistry. The review is entitled, "Monodentate Trialkylphosphines as Privileged Ligands in Metal-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions."

Kevin Shaughnessy on Fulbright fellowship in Łódź, Poland

1/29/2020

Kevin Shaughnessy has received a Fulbright Fellowship as a US Scholar to carry out research in Poland, He is working at the Center for Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences in Łódź. He will be in Poland from late January through the end of June. While there, he will be working in the group of Prof. Piotr Kaszynski to development metal-catalyzed routes for the modification of closo-boron clusters. He will also teach classes in organometallic chemistry to students at the Center and the University of Łódź.

SURC Meeting

1/28/2020

Two Shaughnessy group members gave presentations at the Southeast Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC) hosted by the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at The University of Alabama. Tom Gruchala gave an oral talk entitled, "New Palladium Precatalysts for the Coupling of Sterically Demanding Aryl Bromides with Aniline Derivatives." Maddie Plunkett presented a poster entitled, "Trialkylphosphine Derived Palladacycles as Catalysts for the Cross-Dimerization of Terminal Aryl Acetylenes with Terminal Propargyl Alcohols and Amides: An Evaluation of the Ligand Effects."