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SUMMARY:Access to “Inaccessible” Arynes and Redox Chemistry Using Trans
 ition Metals
LOCATION:Chemistry A101
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20240305T160000
UID:2026-05-21-12-04-46@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260521T120446
Description:About the Seminar:\n\nResearch in the Roberts group involves lo
 oking at unsolved problems in organic synthesis through the perspective of
  organometallic/inorganic chemistry. One main area of interest for the gro
 up is the synthesis of heterocycles through aryne intermediates. Despite t
 heir useful reactivity\, a number of challenges still remain in the use of
  arynes including problems with regioselectivity and the synthesis of N-he
 terocyclic arynes. Using fundamental principles of Ni chemistry\, our grou
 p is the first to be able to access previously “inaccessible” 5-member
 ed heterocyclic arynes for the first time since they were hypothesized to 
 exist 120 years ago. We are also the first group to demonstrate catalyst c
 ontrolled regioselectivity in arynes\, where all previous examples operate
 d under substrate control. Another challenge in organic synthesis lies in 
 alkyl–alkyl cross-coupling. This is due to challenges with oxidative add
 ition and off cycle pathways such as beta-hydride elimination. Our group h
 as pioneered the use of Group 3 metal catalysts supported by redox-active 
 ligands to overcome some of these challenges. Using 10 mol% of a Sc\, Y\, 
 or Lu tris(amido) catalyst\, coupling partners that both have beta-hydroge
 ns can be successfully cross-coupled for the first time using early transi
 tion metals. These improvements related to organic synthesis can only be a
 ccessed using inorganic/organometallic chemistry.\n\nAbout the Speaker:\n\
 nProf. Courtney C. Roberts is an assistant professor and the 3M-Alumni Pro
 fessor of Chemistry and McKnight Land-Grant Professor at the University of
  Minnesota. She obtained her B.S. in chemistry from Pepperdine University 
 in Los Angeles\, CA. She then pursued her graduate studies at the Universi
 ty of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\, becoming the first graduate student 
 in the laboratory of Prof. Simon Meek. During graduate school\, Courtney d
 eveloped rhodium olefin hydrofunctionalization catalysts using a new class
  of ligands called carbodicarbenes. After completing her Ph.D. in 2016\, C
 ourtney became a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Prof. M
 elanie Sanford at the University of Michigan where she explored C–H func
 tionalization reactions using high valent Ni. Courtney began her career as
  an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota in the Fall of 2019
 . The Roberts group focuses on the development of d0 metal catalysts for a
 lkyl–alkyl cross coupling as well as harnessing heterocyclic aryne inter
 mediates for medicinally relevant building blocks. While at UMN\, she has 
 been the recipient of the Amgen Young Investigator Award\, the NSF CAREER 
 Award\, the NIH Maximizing Investigators Research Award\, the 3M-Alumni Pr
 ofessorship in Chemistry\, and McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. 4:00 pm
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