Congrats to G4 student, Camille Rubel, who was recently recognized with the 2024 WCC Merck Research Award and the 2024 ACS GCI Kenneth Hancock Memorial Award. The awards recognize Camille’s achievements advancing sustainable synthesis through innovations in nickel catalysis as well important work broadening participation in STEM among diverse communities within San Diego County.

The Merck WCC Award recognizes eight individuals who will present their research at an awards symposium held during the Fall ACS National Meeting. https://acswcc.org/awards/merck-research-award/

The Hancock Award provides national recognition and honor for outstanding student contributions to furthering the goals of green chemistry and engineering through research and/or studies. https://www.acs.org/greenchemistry/students-educators/green-chemistry-student-awards.html

Congrats to Camille for recognition of her stellar achievements!

After two fantastic years in San Diego, we say goodbye to postdoc Skyler, who is starting his career at Terray Therapeutics near Los Angeles. We celebrated Skyler’s accomplishments with Hawaiian food and bubbles. Thanks for all your hard work, and best of luck in your next adventure Skyler!

Two Engle lab students, SURF alum Madeline Fitzgerald (Davidson College) and current G2 student Madison Wagner, were recognized this week by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP). Madeline was awarded a 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and Madison received Honorable Mention. Congrats to these two stellar young scientists on their continued success!

Over the Easter weekend, Keary joined the Synthesis Workshop Podcast, hosted by Aidan Looby of the University of Houston, for a wide-ranging discussion of chemistry, career development, and educational experiences. Click below to listen to the conversation.

After two fruitful years of nickel catalysis research at Scripps Research, Yeongyu completed his postdoc this week and returned to South Korea to pursue a career in the chemical industry. Congrats on all of your accomplishments, Yeongyu. We can’t wait to follow your career as it unfolds.

Congrats to our superstar G4 student, Camille Rubel, who has been selected as a recipient of a 2024 Women Chemists Committee (WCC) Merck Research Award, administered by the American Chemical Society (ACS). This nationally competitive award recognized Camille’s stellar research contributions in homogeneous nickel catalysis and her leadership in community outreach through the Barrio Logan College Institute and other initiatives. As part of the award, Camille will present her research in a special symposium at the fall ACS National Meeting in Denver, CO. Congrats Camille!

For more about the award, click here: https://acswcc.org/awards/merck-research-award/

Together with colleagues at AbbVie and SinoCompound, we are pleased to present a pre-print describing the growing role of non-platinum-group metals (non-PGMs) in industrial manufacturing. In putting together this review, it’s been awesome to be able to bring together expertise from academia, process chemistry, and catalyst manufacturing.

For a link the pre-print in ChemRxiv, click here: https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/65fd5179e9ebbb4db940d941

The final peer-reviewed version of our nickel-catalyzed stereodivergent olefin isomerization paper appears online today in Angewandte Chemie. High Z-selectivity is facilitated by the combination of a bisphosphine ligand and an electron-deficient aryl iodide additive, which serves as a redox buffer to ensure the nickel catalyst is held in the +2 oxidation state. On the other hand, high E-selectivity is enabled by the use of a bulky trialkylphosphonium salt, which functions as the ligand and initial hydride source. Congrats to all of the authors, Camille, Anne, Calvin, Shenghua, and Zi-Qi, and thanks to our fantastic collaborator Julien of Syngenta!

For a link to the paper in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., click here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202320081

As a reminder, a ChemRxiv pre-print on this work was uploaded in December 2023: https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/658b9e9766c13817291f94af

In a ChemRxiv pre-print appearing today, we present the development of Pd(COD)(DQ), a highly stable Pd(0) source that can be used in organometallic synthesis and catalysis. We describe an operationally simple synthesis that can be performed on decagram scale; demonstrate ligand exchange with numerous phosphine, nitrogen, and NHC ligands; and showcase a variety of catalytic carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom coupling reactions. Pd(COD)(DQ) offers numerous benefits compared to the most widely used Pd(0) source, Pd₂(dba)₃, that we anticipate will make it a valuable addition to the synthetic toolkit. Congrats to the collaborative team from Scripps Research, UCSD, and Bristol Myers Squibb!

Check out the pre-print here: https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/65e8f798e9ebbb4db918a09f

We are pleased to welcome our new postdoc Ester to the Engle lab. She completed her Ph.D. in the Olofsson lab at Stockholm University. Welcome, Ester!