Prof. Antonio M. Echavarren

Catalysis

Group Leader:

Antonio M. Echavarren

Administrative Support:

Sònia Gavaldà

Laboratory Engineer:

Imma Escofet

Postdoctoral Researchers:

Allegra Franchino (until Sep.) / Leonardo Nannini / Franco Della Felice (until Jun.) / Marc Montesinos (until Feb.) / Rémi Blieck (until Feb.) / Anna Sadurní / Nicolas Fincias / Inmaculada Martín / Lars Hammarback 

PhD Students:

Joan G. Mayans (until Jan.) / Otilia Stoica (until Mar.) / Ulysse Caniparoli (until Oct.) / Mauro Mato (until Jul.) / Helena Armengol / Alba H. Pérez / Ana Arroyo / Eduardo García Padilla / Alex Martí / Gal·la Ogalla / Andrea Cataffo / Tania Medina / Isabel Arranz / Pablo Mora / Xiaoqing Shao / Yufei Wang / Arnau Rodriguez / Laura Lerena

Master Students:

Matthias Peeters / Anna Arnanz

Summary

The group of Prof. Echavarren focuses on the design of catalytic systems and the invention of a new organic synthesis methodology. The most important scientific contributions of the group have been in the field of homogenous gold catalysis, where they have established the mechanistic foundations that have guided the discovery of new transformations and have introduced gold catalysts to the scientific community. They have also demonstrated the usefulness of new synthetic methods in the context of the synthesis of complex molecules, both biologically relevant natural products and molecules of interest in materials science.

Publications

Silver-Free Catalysis with Gold(I) Chloride Complexes
Franchino, A.; Montesinos-Magraner, M.; Echavarren, A. M.
Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 202194 (3), 1099-111

Synthesis of Cyclobutanones by Gold(I)-Catalyzed [2 + 2] Cycloaddition of Ynol Ethers with Alkenes
Zanini, M.; Cataffo, A.; Echavarren, A. M.
Org. Lett. 202123 (22), 8989–8993

Doublet-Singlet-Doublet Transition in a Single Organic Molecule Magnet On-Surface Constructed with up to 3 Aluminum Atoms
Soe, W. H.; Robles, R.; de Mendoza, P.; Echavarren, A. M.; Lorente, N.; Joachim, C.
Nano Lett. 202121 (19), 8317–8323

MORE PUBLICATIONS

Rhodium-Catalysed ortho-Alkynylation of Nitroarenes
Tan, E.; Montesinos-Magraner, M.; García-Morales, C.; Guillem Mayans, J.; Echavarren, A. M.
Chem. Sci. 202112, 14731-14739

A Single-Molecule Digital Full Adder
Soe, W. H.; de Mendoza, P.; Echavarren, A. M.; Joachim, C.
J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 202112 (35), 8528–8532

New Generation Ligand Design for the Gold Catalyzed Asymmetric Activation of Alkynes
Zuccarello, G.; Escofet, I.; Caniparoli, U.; Echavarren, A. M.
ChemPlusChem 202186 (9), 1283-1296

Rh(II)-Catalyzed Alkynylcyclopropanation of Alkenes by Decarbenation of Alkynylcycloheptatrienes
Mato, M.; Montesinos-Magraner, M.; Sugranyes, A. R.; Echavarren, A. M.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021143 (28), 10760–10769

Assembling Complex Structures through Cascade and Cycloaddition Processes via Non-Acceptor Gold or Rhodium Carbenes
Armengol-Relats, H.; Mato, M.; Escofet, I.; Echavarren, A. M.
Synthesis 202153 (21), 3991-4003

Silver-Free Au(I) Catalysis Enabled by Bifunctional Urea- and Squaramide-Phosphine Ligands via H-Bonding
Franchino, A.; Martí, A.; Nejrotti; S.; Echavarren, A. M.
Chem. Eur. J. 202127 (46), 11989-11996

Enantioselective Alkoxycyclization of 1,6‐Enynes with Gold(I)‐Cavitands: Total Synthesis of Mafaicheenamine C
Martín-Torres, I.; Ogalla, G.; Yang, J. M.; Rinaldi, A.; Echavarren, A. M.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 202160 (17), 9339-9344

Rh-Catalyzed Ortho C–H Alkynylation of Aromatic Aldehydes
Tan, E.; Nannini, L. J.; Stoica, O.; Echavarren, A. M.
Org. Lett. 202123 (4), 1263–1268

Rhodium(III)‐Catalyzed Synthesis of Skipped Enynes via C(sp3)–H Alkynylation of Terminal Alkenes
Della-Felice, F.; Zanini, M.; Jie, X.; Tan, E.; Echavarren, A. M.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 202160 (11), 5693-5698

On-Surface Synthesis and Intermolecular Cycloadditions of Indacenoditetracenes, Antiaromatic Analogues of Undecacene
Zuzak, R.; Stoica, O.; Blieck, R.; Echavarren, A. M.; Godlewski, S.
ACS Nano 202115 (1), 1548−1554

Gold-Catalyzed Synthesis of Small Rings
Mato, M.; Franchino, A.; Garcı́a-Morales, C.; Echavarren, A. M.
Chem. Rev. 2021121 (14), 8613–8684

Projects

Bioinspired Catalytic Metallofoldamers (Foldmetcat)

ERC Advanced Grant | Ref: 385080

Catalytic methods based on gold or other electrophilic metals (CATNETGOLD)
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref: PID2019-104815GB-100

Química Organometàl·lica en Síntesi Orgànicas
AGAUR | Ref: 2017 SGR 1257

 

Theses Supervised

Joan Guillem Mayans
January 21st, 2021
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
‘From Gold-Catalyzed Asymmetric or Photoredox-Assisted Cyclizations to Rhodium-Catalyzed C-H alkynylations’

Otilia Stoica
March 25th, 2021
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
‘Synthesis of Large Hydroacenes and Related Compounds Using Gold(I) Catalysis’

Mauro Mato
July 22nd, 2021
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
‘Streamlining the Access to Metal Carbenes through Aromative Decarbenations’

Ulysse Caniparoli 
October 8th, 2021
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
‘Ferrocene-Based Chiral Catalyst Design for Enantioselective Cycloadditions Reactions’

Helena Armengol i Relats
October 14th, 2021
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
‘Gold(I)-Catalyzed Cycloadditions and their Application in the Synthesis of Natural Products’

 

Features

Prof. Echavarren becomes member of the Academia Europea
https://www.iciq.org/profs-pericas-echavarren-become-members-of-the-academia-europaea/

Don’t judge a nitro group by its electrophilia
https://www.iciq.org/dont-judge-a-nitro-group-by-its-electrophilia/