The University of New Mexico

Seminar:

Transition Metal Catalysis Enabled Novel Organic Transformations

January 22, 2019

Dr. Tao Liang - Postdoctoral Researcher, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

Photo: Seminar:
Profile: Tao was born and raised in an industrial town in China. He obtained a B.S. from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where he conducted undergraduate research in the laboratory of Professor Zhaoguo Zhang. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of South Florida with Professor Jon C. Antilla where he studies chiral Brønsted acid catalysis. He conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin in the laboratory of Professor Michael J. Krische, before he took on a position with Prof. MacMillan at Princeton University.

Fun Facts

  • Tao wanted to be a conductor when he was a child. Due to the lack of conservatories back in China, he had to study science and, specifically, chemistry instead. What a career change.
  • After spending several years on the beaches in Florida, Tao becomes an aquatic activity enthusiast. He loves scuba diving and watching all kinds of marine life passing by.
  • Tao’s favorite TV show is The West Wing. He remembers everything that happens in every episode.

Abstract: One goal of organic synthesis is to obtain valuable products, such as agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and natural products, from chemical feedstocks. Transition metal catalysis has critical role and offers great opportunities in terms of offering new bond disconnection and streamlining the synthesis. I would like to talk about two projects I involved, which showcased the tremendous power of transition metal catalysis to enable new transformation development.

The first part is “Transfer hydrogenative coupling of alkynes”, where I achieved efficient complex structure constructions from simple alkynes and alcohols, by leveraging transfer hydrogenative coupling catalyzed by ruthenium and iridium complexes.

The second part is “A radical approach to copper oxidative addition”, where I developed a copper/photocatalysis platform to overcome sluggish copper oxidative addition to aryl halides. The versatility of this platform was showcased by two unique transformations: a trifluoromethylation of aryl bromides and an amination with N-heterocycles.