Qinan Huang is a dedicated undergraduate researcher in the field of Chemistry with a strong passion for Computational Chemistry and Organometallic Chemistry.He is currently pursuing a BSc in Chemistry at Hunan University.
Qinan has gained valuable research experience through his work in various labs, including Qu and Duan Group at Hunan University, Dilabio’s Lab at The University of British Columbia, Hartwig’s Lab and Houk’s Lab at the University of California. In these labs, he has worked on several research projects related to metal-organic catalytic reactions, quantum dynamics, vibrational spectroscopy, machine learning, and more.
Qinan has also completed a visiting student program at the University of California, Berkeley, where he excelled in courses such as Introduction to Computational Chemistry and Machine Learning, Statistical Models, and Optimization for Molecular Problems. He has also received awards such as the IGEM 2022 Competition Silver Medal and the National Scholarship from the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.
With his diverse research experiences and strong academic background, Qinan is committed to continuing his research career and making significant contributions to the field of Chemistry.
Ph.D. Student, Molecular Engineering, Present
The University of Chicago
Visiting Student, Theoretical Chemistry, 2023
University of California, Berkeley
BSc in Chemistry, 2024
Hunan University
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Copper complexes are widely used in the synthesis of fine chemicals and materials to catalyze couplings of heteroatom nucleophiles with aryl halides. We show that cross-couplings catalyzed by some of the most active catalysts occur by a mechanism not previously considered. Copper(II) [Cu(II)] complexes of oxalamide ligands catalyze Ullmann coupling to form the C–O bond in aryl ethers by concerted oxidative addition of an aryl halide to Cu(II) to form a high-valent species that is stabilized by radical character on the oxalamide ligand. This mechanism diverges from those involving Cu(I) and Cu(III) intermediates that have been posited for other Ullmann-type couplings. The stability of the Cu(II) state leads to high turnover numbers, >1000 for the coupling of phenoxide with aryl chloride electrophiles, as well as an ability to run the reactions in air.
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