Title: Explorations in ZrH Catalysis: Emerging Insight into Oxophilicity-Driven Catalysis
Abstract:
Despite the widespread application of zirconocene hydrides (ZrH) in organic synthesis, their use has remained largely restricted to stepwise, stoichiometric transformations. Zirconium, however, offers several advantages compared to many late transition metals, such as lower toxicity, reduced cost, and orthogonal reactivity. This seminar will focus on our efforts to establish a general platform for zirconocene hydride catalysis using hydrosilanes as mild reductants. The pronounced oxophilicity of zirconium, often considered a liability in the context of metal hydride catalysis, is leveraged as an advantage that drives unique reaction outcomes under operationally simple conditions. Our findings to date demonstrate the utility of ZrH catalysis for unconventional step- and redox-economic functional group interconversions, including the catalytic semi-reductive diversification of amides and esters.
Bio:
Liela earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from Baylor University, where she conducted research Prof. Kevin Pinney’s laboratory synthesizing small-molecule inhibitors of cathepsin L. She completed her graduate studies at UT Southwestern Medical Center as a Chilton Foundation Fellow under the mentorship of Prof. Uttam Tambar. There, she studied catalytic asymmetric hetero-ene and cycloaddition chemistry using sulfurimide-based oxidants and contributed to medicinal chemistry efforts targeting the HIF-2α transcription factor. After earning her PhD in 2016, Liela joined the laboratory of Stephen Buchwald at MIT as an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow, where her work in copper catalysis led to a new strategy for the synthesis of enantioenriched allenes.
Liela returned to Baylor University as an Assistant Professor in 2020, upon receiving a CPRIT Recruitment Award, and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2025. Research in the Romero group is centered on the development and mechanistic study of novel catalytic reactions and their applications to natural products, materials, and medicinal chemistry. Liela is a member of the Catalysis Innovation Consortium and the Chemistry Women Mentorship Network. She has received the 2024 Thieme Chemistry Journals Award, an NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award, and an NSF CAREER Award, and was named a 2024 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Academic Young Investigator and a 2025 Scialog Fellow in Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials.
Keywords: Organic synthesis, catalysis