Excited to begin my NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Ruhr University Bochum, working with Prof. @viktoriagessner.bsky.social! I'll be exploring structure–activity relationships of YPhos ligands to advance their use in challenging catalytic transformations. Thrilled to join such a fantastic team!🧪

𝗜 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸!🧪📔 What started as a few pages to explain my thesis to friends and family (who I was pretty sure would never read the whole thesis 😝), turned into a deeper reflection on the journey, the science, and everything in between.🔗 tinyurl.com/43ftsxtp

Check out Ian @chagunda.bsky.social's interview on the "Beyond the Jargon" podcast, where he talks about his (recently successfully defended) PhD research. Very accessible chat about a rather intricate topic! open.spotify.com/episode/5L4s...

Catalyst Chemistry with Ian Chagunda

Beyond the Jargon · Episode

open.spotify.com

Thrilled to have successfully defended my PhD! Such a great moment to finally put my photo up on the graduates' wall of fame. Big thank you to my supervisor @mcindoe.bsky.social and the exam committee for their insightful questions and engaging discussion of my work. On to the next adventure! 🛫 🇩🇪

Scott McIndoe@mcindoe.bsky.social · last yr.

Congratulations to Dr Ian @chagunda.bsky.social, who successfully defended his PhD today. Fantastic job Ian (12 published papers from his time at UVic!). Many thanks to external Jason @profhein.bsky.social and internals Dave @leitchlab.bsky.social and Al Boraston

Our work investigating Pd-precatalyst activation mechanisms is featured as a front cover in @pubs.acs.org Organometallics. It was a fantastic experience designing and exploring his work in a creative way! ➡️ pubs.acs.org/toc/orgnd7/4... #MyACSCover @mcindoe.bsky.social @leitchlab.bsky.social

Our latest work is now out in @acs.org Organometallics! 🎉This was a super fun collaboration with @mcindoe.bsky.social and @leitchlab.bsky.social, where we explored the activation and oxidative addition mechanisms of the dialkyl-Pd precatalyst (DAB)Pd(CH2SiMe3)2. 🔗 doi.org/n2pj

Ligand Substitution, Catalyst Activation, and Oxidative Addition Studies of a Stable Dialkyl Palladium Precatalyst

Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are indispensable in chemical synthesis, but efficient in situ catalyst activation remains a persistent challenge. Current Pd(II) precatalysts often lead to inefficient catalyst activation, necessitating higher catalyst loadings and limiting selectivity. We investigated the ligand substitution and activation mechanism of the stable Pd(II) dialkyl complex (DMPDAB)Pd(CH2SiMe3)2 in real-time using mass spectrometric monitoring. The introduction of charge-tagged phosphine ligands enabled the detection of key catalytic intermediates and identification of off-cycle species. Our findings demonstrate a low activation energy for the ligand dissociation of the DMPDAB ligand and the reductive elimination of (Me3SiCH2)2 resulting in rapid formation of monoligated LPd(0) species, the active catalytic species for oxidative addition. These mechanistic insights offer a path toward developing more efficient and selective Pd-catalyzed processes, offering valuable guidance for the future design of precatalysts with improved performance.

doi.org

Always great to see the team crushing it come awards time at UVic Chemistry - congratulations to Charlie, Jack, Ian, Harrison & Nick and many thanks to the generosity of the donors!