Congratulations to Engle lab member Juntao Sun, who successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation at Scripps Research this month. Juntao began his formal education at Nankai University, and first came to our group as an undergraduate intern in the summer of 2019, working under the mentorship of Dr. Mingyu Liu. We were then fortunate to recruit him into the Scripps Research Ph.D. program in 2021, making him the third former undergraduate intern in our group to go on to earn a doctoral degree here.

In his thesis research, Juntao developed new strategies for selective generation and functionalization of alkenylmetal intermediates, including unlocking copper(II) as a potent π-Lewis acid for alkyne functionalization. Juntao will now put this expertise to excellent use as part of the high-throughput experimentation team at Incyte, in Wilmington, Delaware. Congratulations, Dr. Sun — and thank you for everything you’ve brought to our lab!

We’re excited to share our solution to a longstanding challenge in asymmetric catalysis: the enantioselective anti-Michael addition of diverse (hetero)aryl groups to unsaturated carbonyl compounds. As every organic chemistry student learns, organometallic additions to Michael acceptors take place almost universally at the β-carbon. Our new Pd-catalyzed reaction overrides this intrinsic selectivity through a unique trans-Pd(Ar)(H) mechanism, delivering aryl groups directly to the α-position with up to 99% ee across a broad substrate scope. The key to unlocking this reactivity is (S,S)-(R,R)-PhTRAP, a chiral trans-spanning bisphosphine whose unusually wide bite angle simultaneously suppresses competing hydrodehalogenation and creates a well-defined chiral environment for stereoselection. DFT calculations, reaction kinetics, and organometallic experiments work together to reveal the multi-faceted role of this ligand throughout the catalytic cycle. Congratulations to the whole team, particularly Shenghua Yang, Alena Vasquez, Binh Mai, and Turki Alturaifi, and thank you to our collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh and Bristol Myers Squibb!

🧪 Check out the pre-print in ChemRxiv: https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15002500/v1

Phornphan (“Gift”) Yongpanich is wrapping up her time in the Engle lab and will be returning to Bangkok, Thailand, to finish her Ph.D. at the Chulabhorn Graduate Institute (CGI) with Prof. Jumreang Tummatorn. During her internship, Gift collaborated closely with Al on the development of new strategies for hydroamination of historically challenging olefin substrates, including sterically hindered and highly substituted systems. Her creativity, persistence, and collaborative spirit made a strong impact during her stay, and we are grateful for her contributions. We wish Gift all the best as she completes her doctoral studies and look forward to following her future successes.

This week the editorial board of the RSC journal Chem. Soc. Rev. announced the joint winners of the 2025 ChemSocRev Pioneering Investigator lectureship, recognizing Keary together with Prof. Garrett Miyake (Colorado State). Congrats to both awardees!

📰 Press release: https://blogs.rsc.org/cs/2026/02/26/announcing-keary-engle-and-garret-miyake-as-the-joint-winners-of-the-2025-chemsocrev-pioneering-investigator-lectureship/?doing_wp_cron=1772244342.7481739521026611328125

Over the past five years, our efforts to develop robust nickel precatalysts have revealed a key insight: stability alone isn’t enough. For practical, broadly useful catalysis, solubility across a wide range of organic solvents is just as critical.
In our latest preprint, we introduce a new family of bis(perfluoroaryl)nickel(II) precatalysts that combine exceptional stability, high solubility, and operational simplicity. Inspired by classic inorganic chemistry strategies, this design cleanly releases an inert (C₆F₅)₂ byproduct upon catalyst initiation—streamlining activation while maintaining performance.

The project was led by former postdoctoral scholar Nana Kim (now at Bristol Myers Squibb) and graduate student Aimee Bangerter, and brought together a talented, multidisciplinary team spanning Scripps Research, University of California San Diego, and Bristol Myers Squibb.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this outstanding collaborative effort!

🧪 ChemRxiv pre-print: https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15000413/v1

The Engle Lab is delighted to welcome Yuan Xu, a visiting undergraduate from Zhejiang University. At his home institution, Yuan conducts research in the laboratory of Professor Bing-Feng Shi.

In our lab, Yuan will be working under the mentorship of Wen-Ji on nickel pre-catalyst development and nickel-catalyzed olefin difunctionalization. We’re excited to have him join us and look forward to the contributions he’ll make during his time here.

Welcome to the Engle Lab, Yuan!

We’re excited to celebrate Masa as he wraps up his postdoctoral fellowship in the Engle Lab this week!

During his year with us, Masa developed innovative strategies for nickel-catalyzed 1,2-diarylation, advancing the lab’s work in powerful and practical ways. Beyond the bench, he generously shared insights from his experience as a medicinal chemist, enriching our group with real-world perspectives on drug discovery and development.

Masa now returns to Shionogi to continue his career in drug discovery, where he’ll carry forward his expertise in nickel catalysis and the collaborations built here.

Thank you, Masa, for your scientific contributions, mentorship, and the many great memories. We wish you every success in this next chapter!

We’re excited to announce that our collaborative study “Mechanistically Guided Functionalization of α,α-Disubstituted Alkenyl Amides Enabled by a Conformationally Flexible Directing Auxiliary” has been published in final form in J. Am. Chem. Soc.

In this work, Al, Gift, Shijia, and team demonstrate how a conformationally flexible directing auxiliary can overcome long-standing reactivity barriers in Pd^II-catalyzed alkene functionalization. By marrying detailed mechanistic analysis with method development, this strategy enables efficient and regioselective hydroamination of challenging α,α-disubstituted alkenyl amides, broadening the scope of substrates and catalytic transformations accessible with directing group assistance.

Congratulations to all the authors involved from Scripps Research, the University of Pittsburgh, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Enamine! This publication reflects our ongoing commitment to uncovering mechanistic principles that drive innovative synthetic methods.

📄 Read the paper in Journal of the American Chemical Society: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.5c21886

🧪 Original preprint on ChemRxiv (December 2025): https://chemrxiv.org/doi/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-bsn9s

We’re pleased to share that Anne, Aimee, Shijia, and Ethan’s study developing a nickel-catalyzed 1,2-alkylarylation method for accessing sequence encoded monomers has been published in ACS Central Science!

In this report, we describe how B-alkyl-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (Alkyl-9-BBN) reagents are uniquely effective for alkyl group transfer in closed-shell Ni(0)/Ni(II) cycles, enabling selective functionalization of cyclic dienes without competitive ring closure. This work exemplifies how innovative reaction design combined with mechanistic understanding can expand the frontiers of selective chemical synthesis and catalysis.

Congratulations to all co-authors and collaborators from Scripps Research, University of Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, and Bristol Myers Squibb for this accomplishment! This publication continues to underscore our lab’s dedication to developing catalytic methods with broad utility in organic synthesis and materials chemistry.

📄 Read the paper in ACS Central Science: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.5c02173

🧪 Original preprint on ChemRxiv (October 2025): https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/68e901addfd0d042d1dace4c

Congratulations to Sourav on completing his two-year appointment as a CNRS-supported postdoctoral fellow, jointly mentored with Prof. Rodolphe Jazzar at SDSU!

During his time in the lab, Sourav developed new carbene-ligated nickel and copper catalysts and discovered innovative methods for π-bond functionalization. His creativity, dedication, and collaborative spirit made a lasting impact on both our research and our group culture.

We’re excited that Sourav is beginning the next chapter of his career as an industrial chemist at Sai Life Sciences. Thank you, Sourav, for your outstanding contributions—we wish you continued success in all that’s ahead!