After completing her Ph.D. studying gold–carbene complexes with Prof. Ross Widenhoefer at Duke University, Dr. Nana Kim joins the Engle lab. Despite the challenging circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic, Nana has been able to get off to a productive (and safe!) start. Welcome Nana!

Our collaborative paper with Bristol-Myers Squibb on α-selective hydroarylation of acrylates and acrylamides has been accepted for publication in J. Am. Chem. Soc. Detailed mechanistic studies revealed that the reaction proceeds via a [Pd(Ar)(H)] intermediate, which undergoes migratory insertion to deliver the hydride group to the β-position, generating a [Pd(Ar)(enolate)]; C–C reductive elimination then furnishes the final product. The reaction is notable for its operational simplicity, mild reaction conditions, and widely available starting materials. Congrats to Engle lab authors Alena and John (now at BMS Process), as well as BMS collaborators Candice (Process Chemistry) and Emily (Discovery Chemistry) As a reminder, this manuscript first appeared as a ChemRxiv pre-print (click here).

For a link to the paper, click here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.0c03040

Since February when our publication appeared in in Angewandte Chemie, there has been a lot of interest in Ni(COD)(DQ), new air-stable Ni(0) precatalyst. Those interested in trying out this precatalyst in their own chemistry can now purchase it from MilliporeSigma:

https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/912794?lang=en&region=US.

Huge congratulations to the Class of 2020! The Engle lab is incredibly proud of our recent, PhD, visiting PhD, and college students who are moving on to incredible jobs, postdocs, and graduate programs around the world!

Graduate Students (PhD)

Dr. Joseph Derosa: Caltech (Postdoc, J. Peters)

Visiting Graduate Students (PhD)

Dr. Xin Wang (Nankai University Medical School)

Undergrads/Visiting Undergrads

Jiahao Chen (Fudan U): Fudan University (Ph.D. in Chemistry)
Ryan Helsel (UCSD): UCSB (M.A. in Chemistry / Teacher Education)
Hou-Xiang Lu (Tsinghua U): Tsinghua University (Ph.D. in Chemistry)
Tian-Zhang Qiao (Nankai U): Cornell U (Ph.D. in Chemistry)
Zi-Yang (Nick) Qin (USTC): Caltech (Ph.D. in Chemistry)
Juntao Sun (Nankai U): Scripps Research (Ph.D. in Chemistry)
Zhong-Qian Wu (Tsinghua U): UChicago (Ph.D. in Chemistry)

We are also excited that two 2019 graduates will be pursuing their Ph.D. degrees next year:

Hanh Ngyuen (UCSD): UC Irvine (Ph.D. in Chemistry)
Tim Gallagher (Claremont McKenna): Scripps Research (Ph.D. in Chemistry)