Johanna M. Blacquiere

Johanna M. Blacquiere
Assistant Professor
B.Sc. Mount Allison University
Ph.D. University of Ottawa
Postdoc: University of Washington
Office: CHB 123, Arriving July, 2013

jb44@uw.edu

Research Group Homepage (coming soon)

Organometallic Chemistry, Catalysis, Ligand Design


Awards:

   • NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2011-2013)

Current Research Programs:

The Blacquiere group is targeting fundamental studies of transition-metal complexes for applications in sustainable catalysis. Current demands in the fine chemicals industry for the construction of high-value compounds by streamlined, low- toxicity and low-waste approaches is driving the need for new synthetic methods. This research program will target selective functionalization strategies that activate abundant small molecules such as H2O and O2. Ultimately first-row metal complexes will be employed, where design strategies, in some cases, will be informed by more tractable second-row analogues.

This research program is further unified by the design of ligands that have the capacity for bifunctional behaviour that have the potential to increase catalyst lifetimes, stabilize reactive intermediates and promote otherwise inaccessible reaction pathways. Projects are focused on three main areas: 

  1. Development of improved catalytic systems and mechanistic understanding of the anti-Markovnikov hydration of alkynes. Catalyst development will focus on the ability of the catalyst to mediate intramolecular proton transfer through second-coordination sphere interactions.
  2. Fundamental studies into transition metal catalyzed oxidation reactions utilizing dioxygen as both oxidant and substrate. Hydrogen bonding to reactive intermediates from pendant ligand functionalities is postulated to address the common aerobic oxidation challenges of over-oxidation and poor selectivity.
  3. A new class of ligands displaying dynamic coordination to a range of transition metals will be studied for their use in challenging of catalytic methodologies. Perferred ligand binding modes, dynamic interactions and stability will be estblished using complementary analytical techniques.


Students will become technically skilled in synthesis, characterization, catalytic testing and mechanistic analysis. Training will include both organic and inorganic synthesis, and techniques for the handling of air-sensitive compounds. A broad range of analytical methods will be relied on to analyze both the organic and organometallic reaction constituents. Techniques include, but not are limited to, NMR, GC-FID, mass spectrometry, UV-vis, IR, XRD and electrochemistry.

Selected Publications:

J.M. Blacquiere, C.S. Higman, R. McDonald, D.E. Fogg*. ‘A Reactive Ru-Binaphtholate Building Block with Self-Tuning Hapticity’ J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133, 14054.

J.M. Blacquiere, C.S. Higman, S.I. Gorelsky, N.J. Beach, S. Dalgarno, D.E. Fogg*. 'Unprecedentedly Strong Binding of Dinitrogen at Ruthenium' Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 916.

S. Monfette, J.M. Blacquiere, D.E. Fogg*. 'The Future, Faster: Roles for High-Throughput Experimentation in Accelerating Discovery in Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis' Organometallics, 2011, 30, 36.

J.M. Blacquiere, R. McDonald, D.E. Fogg*. “Integrating the Schrock and Grubbs Catalysts: Ruthenium-Binaphtholate Catalysts for Olefin Metathesis” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2010, 49, 3807.

J.M. Blacquiere, T. Jurca, J. Weiss, D.E. Fogg*. “Time as a Dimension in High-Throughput Homogeneous Catalysis” Adv. Synth. Catal., 2008, 350, 2849.

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