Activating Abundant but Recalcitrant Substrates; the Critical Roles of Lutidinium Catalysis

Abstract: Chemists perpetually seek to synthesize increasingly complex molecules from simpler and more abundant feedstock molecules. In general, the challenge is that feedstock molecules tend to be more stable and less reactive. Lutidinium iodide, serendipitously discovered, has proven remarkably capable of facilitating the activation of recalcitrant and strong bonds found in feedstock chemicals; thus, contributing to the goal of doing more with less. I will describe its discovery, our efforts to understand the multifaceted roles lutidinium iodide plays in the catalysis of these recalcitrant substrates, and demonstrate its enabling nature in synthesis through the coupling of alkyl chlorides and alkenes and the unpublished lactonization of simple halo acetic acids alkenes.

Bio: Jimmie D. Weaver is currently Professor of Chemistry at Oklahoma State University. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry (summa cum laude) from Southern Nazarene University, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas under the mentorship of Jon Tunge, where he developed Pd-mediated decarboxylative coupling reactions. He then completed postdoctoral training with Jon Ellman at Yale University, focusing on asymmetric catalysis. Dr. Weaver joined Oklahoma State University in 2012 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017 and Full Professor in 2024. His research program centers on the development and application of reactive intermediates for C–H functionalization, fluorine chemistry, uphill and transducer catalysis, and environmental remediation.

Please join us for a reception at 3:00 p.m. in Hand 1135. The seminar will start at 3:30 p.m. in Hand 1144.