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Portrait photo of Addison Desnoyer

Addison Desnoyer

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry

Addison Desnoyer

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry

Biography

Addison N. Desnoyer studied chemistry at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, working in the research group of Prof. Kevin M. Smith, where he obtained an inordinate fondness for first-row transition metals. He obtained his Bachelor of Science (Hons.) degree in 2012, then joined the group of Prof. Jennifer A. Love at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to pursue his PhD, examining the fundamental organometallic reactivity of nickel and rhodium complexes. After graduating in 2017, he spent a year at the University of Minnesota working with Prof. Ian A. Tonks to develop new titanium-catalyzed coupling reactions of N-heterocycles. In 2018, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to work with Profs. T. Don Tilley and Polly L. Arnold in the areas of bimetallic copper complexes and photocatalysis with organolanthanide catalysts, respectively. He began his independent career at Oregon State University in 2022, where his research program focuses on developing new cooperative catalytic methodologies using organometallic complexes of first-row transition metals.

Research

The central theme of my research program is to develop renewable and efficient routes to industrially relevant transformations through the study of the fundamental reactivity of organometallic compounds. We are interested in applying interdisciplinary approaches to the discovery of new catalytic processes designed around earth-abundant, first-row transition metals through cooperative catalysis. Our work will result in new methods to prepare novel organic molecules, which will be applied towards the preparation of pharmaceuticals, new monomers for the synthesis of novel materials, as well as alternate fuels.

Education

Postdoc, UC Berkeley, 2020

Postdoc, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2018

Postdoc, University of Minnesota, 2017

Ph.D., University of British Columbia, 2017

B.Sc(H), University of British Columbia Okanagan, 2012

Publications

  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Nicolay, A.; Ziegler, M.S.; Lakshmi, K.V.; Cundari, T.R.*; Tilley, T.D.* “A Dicopper Nitrenoid by Oxidation of a Cu I Cu I Core: Synthesis, Electronic Structure and Reactivity” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 7135-7143.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.;† Nicolay, A.;† Rios, P.;† Ziegler, M.S.; Tilley, T.D.* “Bimetallics in a Nutshell: Complexes Supported by Chelating Naphthyridine-Based Ligands” Acc. Chem. Res. 2020, 53, 1944-1956.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Nicolay, A.; Ziegler, M.S.; Torquato, N.A.; Tilley, T.D.* “A Dicopper Platform that Stabilizes the Formation of Pentanuclear Coinage Metal Hydride Complexes” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 12769-12773.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.;† He, W.;† Behyan, S.; Chiu, W.; Love, J.A.;* Kennepohl, P.* “The Importance of Ligand‐Induced Backdonation in the Stabilization of Square Planar d10 Nickel π‐Complexes” Chem. Eur. J. 2019, 20, 5259-5268.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; See, X.Y.; Tonks, I.A.* “Diverse Reactivity of Diazatitanacyclohexenes: Coupling Reactions of 2H-Azirines Mediated by Titanium(II)” Organometallics 2018, 37, 4327-4331.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.;* Chiu, W; Cheung, C.; Patrick, B.O.; Love, J.A.* “Oxaziridine Cleavage with a Low-Valent Nickel Complex: Competing C-O and C-N Fragmentation from Oxazanickela(II)cyclobutanes” Chem. Commun. 2017, 53, 12442-12445.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Geng, J.; Drover, M.W.; Patrick, B.O.; Love, J.A.* “Catalytic Functionalization of Styrenyl Epoxides via 2-Nickela(II)oxetanes” Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 11509-11512.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Love, J.A.* “Recent Advances in Well-Defined, Late-Transition Metal Complexes That Make and/or Break C-N, C-O and C-S Bonds” Chem. Soc. Rev. 2017, 46, 197-238.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Friese, F.W.; Chiu, W.; Drover, M.W.; Patrick, B.O.; Love, J.A.* “Exploring Regioselective Bond Cleavage and Cross-Coupling Reactions using a Low-Valent Nickel Complex” Chem. Eur. J. 2016, 22, 4070-4077.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Behyan, S.; Patrick, B.O.; Dauth, A.; Love, J.A.*; Kennepohl, P.* “Reexamining Oxidation States during the Synthesis of 2-Rhodaoxetanes from Olefins” Inorg. Chem. 2016, 55, 13-15.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Bowes, E.G.; Patrick, B.O.; Love, J.A.* “Synthesis of 2-Nickela(II)oxetanes from Nickel(0) and Epoxides: Structure, Reactivity, and a New Mechanism of Formation” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 12748-12751.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Dauth, A.; Patrick, B.O.; Love, J.A.* “Ring Expansion of a 2-Rhodaoxetane: Insertion Chemistry with Unsaturated Molecules” Dalton Trans. 2014, 43, 30-33.
  • Zhou, W.; Desnoyer, A.N.; Bailey, J.A.; Patrick, B.O.; Smith, K.M.* “Direct Synthesis of Ligand-Based Radicals by the Addition of Bipyridine to Chromium(II) Compounds” Inorg. Chem. 2013, 52, 2271-2273.
  • Desnoyer, A.N.; Fartel, B.; MacLeod, K.C.; Patrick, B.O.; Smith, K.M.* “Ambient-Temperature Carbon-Oxygen Bond Cleavage of an α-Aryloxy Ketone with Cp2Ti(BTMSA) and Selective Protonolysis of the Resulting Ti–OR Bonds” Organometallics 2012, 31, 7625-7628.

Awards

  • NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018-2020)
  • NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Fellowship (2014-2017)
  • Killam Doctoral Fellowship (2014-2016)
  • Judit Moldovan Memorial Undergraduate TA Award (2011)