Date/Time
Date(s) - 18/07/2022
11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Zoom link available from gsamcgss@mcmaster.ca or chemgrad@mcmaster.ca

Marcus began his chemistry career at Memorial University of Newfoundland
(MUN), completing a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in 2012 with Prof. Francesca M.
Kerton in main group coordination chemistry with an emphasis on ‘green
polymer’ applications. In 2016, he was granted his doctorate in chemistry from
the University of British Columbia (UBC) under the co-supervision of Profs.
Laurel L. Schafer and Jennifer A. Love. At UBC, Marcus was an NSERC Vanier
scholarship holder and studied organometallic chemistry related to N,Ochelated
Group 9 transition metals, which included the development of new
reactions aimed at the synthesis of phosphorus-containing agrochemicals. As
a PhD student, Marcus was also a Michael-Smith visiting scholar at the
University of Oxford under the supervision of Prof. Andrew S. Weller working
on amine-borane chemistry. In 2017, he began work as a joint Resnick Prize
Fellow in Sustainability Science and NSERC Banting fellow at the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech) under the guidance of Prof. Jonas C. Peters.
At Caltech, Marcus’ efforts were devoted to the synthesis of new open-shell
iron compounds for proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET).

Exterior decorating: Lewis acid secondary
coordination spheres for cooperative reactivity

My team’s work spans the traditional bounds of synthetic organometallic
and organic chemistry, with an overarching goal to develop new molecules
that promote the equitable use of resources, specifically regarding global
hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen cycles. As molecular architects, we
are motivated by a desire to revise the way in which humans interact with
the planet by inventing ways to utilize greenhouse gasses as feedstocks,
designing new catalysts for clean energy, and providing better methods for
the synthesis of specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and bulk consumer
products. In this lecture, I will discuss several new ambiphilic diphosphine
ligands that host Lewis acidic (boron-containing) secondary coordination
spheres (SCSs). Diphosphines play a central role in the realm of synthetic
chemistry with modifications to backbone length and R substituents leading
to dramatic differences in net reactivity. Synthesis of these scaffolds and
their ensuing coordination chemistry with late transition metals (cobalt,
rhodium, and nickel) will be discussed with applications pertinent to
themes in sustainability including catalysis, small-molecule fixation, and
more.