Bill Morandi has accepted the call to ETH Zurich, where he took over the Synthetic Organic Chemistry Department of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry (D-CHAB) in July 2018. Information about his current research can be found here. This website documents the activities of the group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (until 2018).
The “homogeneous catalysis and reaction design” group has a fundamental interest in developing innovative synthetic methodologies for applications across the molecular sciences, with a particular interest in establishing new concepts in catalysis. An interdisciplinary approach drawing from the areas of organic synthesis, organometallic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, medicinal chemistry and inorganic chemistry will be used to rationally design innovative catalytic solutions to major synthetic challenges.
25/09/2017 German-Spanish Symposium, ICIQ, Tarragona
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
07/06/2017 UniCat Cluster (TU Berlin), Berlin
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
09/05/2017 Boehringer Ingelheim, Ingelheim
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
11/04/2017 University of Zürich, Switzerland
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
19/03/2017 9th Workshop on Fats and Oils as Renewable Feedstock for the Chemical Industry, Karlsruhe “Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
13/01/2017 RWTH Aachen University, Aachen
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
05/12/2016 Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
30/11/2016 (Ružička Prize Ceremony)
ETH Zürich, Switzerland “Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
07/11/2016 Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
01/11/2016 EPFL, Lausanne
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
13/09/2016 Keynote Lecture
EuCheMS Conference, Sevilla “Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
22/08/2016 Chemical & Engineering News’ Talented 12 symposium, ACS Meeting Philadelphia “Catalytic Reaction Design”
21/06/2016 Göttinger-Chemie-Forum, Göttingen
“Catalysis for Introducing, Removing and Shuttling Functional Groups”
23/05/2016 Universität Siegen, Siegen
“Design of Selective and Practical Catalytic Reactions for the Molecular Sciences”
02/05/2016 Invited Short Talk
51st EUCHEM Conference on Stereochemistry (Bürgenstock), Brunnen “Catalytic Reversible Alkene-Nitrile Interconversion through Controllable Transfer Hydrocyanation”
22/04/2016 Award Lecture
Münster Symposium on Cooperative Effects in Chemistry, Münster
“Catalytic Reversible Alkene-Nitrile Interconversion through Controllable Transfer Hydrocyanation”
22/03/2016 Chemiedozententagung 2016, Heidelberg
“Catalytic Reversible Alkene-Nitrile Interconversion through Controllable Transfer Hydrocyanation”
04/12/2015 Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Institute Seminar
“Design of Selective and Practical Catalytic Reactions for the Molecular Sciences”
16/10/2015 Technische Universität München, Germany
“Design of Selective and Practical Catalytic Reactions for the Molecular Sciences”
01/07/2014 Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
03/02/2014 The Ohio State University, Colombus, OH, USA
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
31/01/2014 Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
28/01/2014 Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
21/01/2014 Max Planck Research Group Selection Symposium, Munich, Germany
“Homogeneous Catalysis: An Enabling Technology across the Molecular Sciences”
15/01/2014 University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
13/01/2014 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
16/12/2013 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
05/12/2013 Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
20/11/2013 Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Alkenes”
31/10/2013 University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Internal Alkenes”
18/06/2013 University of Geneva, Switzerland
“New Solutions to Old Challenges: Safe Catalytic Diazo Chemistry and Selective Wacker-Type Oxidation of Internal Alkenes”
18/06/2012 DSM Science and Technology Award Southern Europe, Interlaken
“Extreme Catalysis”
07/10/2010 Givaudan AG (Dübendorf, Switzerland)
“Carbene-Chemistry under Aqueous Oxidative Conditions with in situ Generated Trifluoromethyl Diazomethane”
22/10/2009 Johnson and Johnson (Cilag AG, Schaffhausen, Switzerland)
“The Triangle Revisited: New Perspectives in Cyclopropane and Cyclopropene Chemistry”
Catalytic reversible reactions, such as alkene metathesis and transfer hydrogenation, have had an auspicious impact on the molecular sciences. We are currently developing “shuttle catalysis” reactions that parallel the mechanism of transfer hydrogenation through the reversible transfer of chemical moieties beyond hydrogen, to address synthetically relevant challenges in catalysis and provide new disconnections for synthetic chemists.
The alcohol group is one the most widespread functional groups in organic synthesis. Additionally, alcohols are ubiquitous in renewable feedstocks, such as carbohydrate derivatives. Therefore, methods for the transformation and functionalization of alcohols are in high demand in synthesis. The research area “aliphatic C–O bond activation” targets the development of novel transformations employing alcohol derivatives as starting materials, with a particular emphasis on the selective functionalization of polyol derivatives.
The formation of C–N bonds is one of the major challenges in the preparation of bioactive molecules. The direct catalytic amination of hydrocarbons is an attractive approach to address this challenge and has been the subject of intense research efforts. However, most of the methods developed thus far lead to the installation of a protected form of the versatile primary amine group, requiring additional and often challenging protecting group manipulations. In contrast, the research program “Direct Catalytic Synthesis of Unprotected Amines” circumvents the protecting group limitation by enabling a direct access to the desired primary amine. Besides its synthetic potential, this project also addresses a fundamental challenge in catalysis, namely the synthesis of unprotected functionalized molecules that are prone to deactivating coordination of metal catalysts.