Prof. Abigail Doyle
Title: Nickel and Photocatalysis
Bio:
Abby Doyle is the Saul Winstein Chair in Organic Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her A.B. and A.M. summa cum laude in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University in 2002. She began her graduate studies at Stanford University working with Professor Justin Du Bois before moving to Harvard University in 2003, where she obtained her PhD in the laboratory of Professor Eric Jacobsen. Abby began her independent career at Princeton University in 2008, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2013 and A. Barton Hepburn Professor in 2015. In 2021, she and her research group moved to UCLA where they conduct research at the interface of organic, organometallic, and physical organic chemistry, enhanced by the use of modern data science and machine learning tools. The Doyle lab has addressed unsolved problems in organic synthesis through the development of novel catalysts, catalytic reactions, and synthetic methods. They have also implemented mechanistic and computer-assisted techniques to uncover general chemical principles, predict unseen reactivity, and discover new reactions. Abby is a senior editor for Accounts of Chemical Research. She has been recognized recently by the OMCOS award (2023), Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists (Finalist, 2022), EJ Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator (2022) and The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Machine Learning in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Award (2021).
Abstract:
Harnessing the direct photoexcitation of Ni organometallics represents a unique opportunity to modulate the thermodynamic landscape of a catalytic system. Light activation has evolved as a powerful strategy to generate reactive species, such as halogen radicals, in situ and promote bond forming processes, such as C(sp3)–C(sp3) reductive elimination, from otherwise thermodynamically stable Ni intermediates. This talk will outline the Doyle Group’s efforts to develop mechanistic understanding of Ni photochemistry and Ni cross-coupling involving radical intermediates. We aim to use this mechanistic understanding to advance the development of a variety of catalytic C–C cross-coupling methods for chemical synthesis.
Keywords: Catalysis, photocatalysis, first-row transition metals, C–C bond formation
Host: Prof. Shannon Stahl