Department Seminar

Upcoming Seminar

Iron as powerful catalysts to enable dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes
Dr. Osvaldo Gutierrez, UCLA

December 10, 2025
4:00pm-5:00pm via Zoom

Join 12/10 Zoom
Meeting ID: 858 2770 6777 

Abstract

Despite advances in high-throughput screening methods leading to a surge in the discovery of catalytic reactions, our knowledge of the molecular-level interactions in the rate- and selectivity-determining steps of catalytic reactions, especially those involving highly unstable and reactive open-shell intermediates, is rudimentary. These knowledge gaps prevent control, suppression or enhancement, of competing reaction channels that can drive development of unprecedented catalytic reactions. In this talk, I will focus on our use of high-level quantum mechanical calculations, rigorously calibrated against experimental data, to interrogate the mechanisms and to guide the development of new catalysts and reagents for currently sluggish or unselective reactions. In particular, I will focus on our use of combined experimental and computational tools to understand and develop new (asymmetric) iron-catalyzed decoupled cross-coupling reactions.

Biosketch

Image

Osvaldo was born in Mexico and raised in Sacramento, California. He obtained his B.S./M.S. from UCLA 2009 and did research at the laboratories of Prof. Houk and completed his Ph.D. in 2012 (UC Davis) under the guidance of Prof. Tantillo. From 2012-2016 he worked as a postdoc with Prof. Kozlowski at the University of Pennsylvania where he used computational and experimental tools to study transition metal-catalyzed processes.  In 2016 he started his independent position at the University of Maryland College Park and promoted to Associate Professor in Summer 2021. In the Fall 2021, he moved to Texas A&M University. In Fall of 2024 he was promoted to Full Professor at Texas A&M and then moved to UCLA in January 2025 as Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and as the inaugural UCLA’s STEM Faculty Director. Recently, President Biden honored Osvaldo with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award. Previously, he was recognized with the NSF CAREER Award (2018), the NIH NIGMS Maximizing Investigator's Research Award (2020), and was recently named as part of the C&EN Talented 12 (2020) and Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar.