John Anderson

Research Interests:

The Anderson Lab is a group of synthetic inorganic chemists. While our research is centered upon transition metal chemistry, we find substantial overlap and applicability in a variety of other fields, including organic chemistry, spectroscopy, materials chemistry, and biology. Students in the lab are trained in a variety of synthetic techniques, particularly those related to the isolation and handling of air-sensitive complexes and materials. Furthermore, students gain expertise in the acquisition and interpretation of common analytical methods such as NMR, UV-Vis, and IR spectroscopies, as well as using more advanced data acquired from EPR, XAS, or magnetometry.

The heart of our research lies in leveraging the power of synthetic chemistry to understand and improve processes related to biology, health, energy, sustainability, and industry. Portions of our research are inspired by natural strategies for substrate activation and catalysis, while other directions use completely non-natural scaffolds for new directions in materials science and quantum technologies. Current areas of interest include the discovery and elucidation of high-valent metal complexes for bond activations and group transfer, using metal-ligand cooperativity for oxidative and electroreductive catalysis, coordination polymers with sulfur-based ligands for catalytic and/or technological applications, and new NIR-II addressable lumiphores for sensing applications.

Selected Publications

“Aliovalent Substitution Tunes Physical Properties in a Conductive Bis(dithiolene) Two-Dimensional Metal−Organic Framework” Wang, L.; Darù, A.; Jangid, B.; Chen, J-H.; Jiang, N.; Patel, S. N.; Gagliardi, L.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 17, 12063–12073.

“Elucidating Nonradiative Decay in Deep Near-Infrared Lumiphores: Leveraging New Design Principles to Develop a Telecom Band Organic Dye Laser” McNamara, L. E.; Melnychuk, C.; Boyn, J-N.; Anferov, S. W.; Mazziotti, D. A.; Schaller, R. D.; Anderson, J. S. Chem, 2024, 10, 17.

“Electrocatalytic Semi-Hydrogenation of Terminal Alkynes using Ligand-Based Transfer of Protons and Electrons” Czaikowski, M. E.; Anferov, S. W.; Tascher, A. P.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 1, 476–486.

“Realizing Solution-Phase Room Temperature Quantum Coherence in a Tetrathiafulvalene-Based Diradicaloid Complex” McNamara, L. E.;* Zhou, A.;* Rajh, T.; Sun, L.; Anderson, J. S. Cell Rep. Phys. Sci., 2023, 4, 101693.

“Testing the Limits of Imbalanced CPET Reactivity: Mechanistic Crossover in H-atom Abstraction by Co(III)-oxo Complexes” Zhao, N.; Goetz, M. K.; Schneider, J. E.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2023, 145, 10, 5664–5673.

“Generation and Aerobic Oxidative Catalysis of a Cu(II) Superoxo Complex Supported by a Redox-Active Ligand” Czaikowski, M. E.; McNeece, A. J.; Boyn, J-N.; Jesse, K. A.; Anferov, S. W.; Filatov, A. S.; Mazziotti, D. A.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 34, 15569–15580. 

“Intrinsic Glassy-Metallic Transport in an Amorphous Coordination Polymer” Xie, J.; Ewing, S.; Boyn, J-N.; Filatov, A. S.; Cheng, B.; Ma, T.; Zhao, N.; Grocke, G.; Zhao, N.; Itani, R.; Sun, X.; Cho, H.; Chen, Z.; Chapman, K. S.; Patel, S. N.; Talapin, D. V.; Park, J.; Mazziotti, D. A.; Anderson, J. S. Nature, 2022, 611, 479-484.

“Enzyme-Like Hydroxylation of Aliphatic C–H Bonds From an Isolable Co-Oxo Complex” Goetz, M. K.; Schneider, J. E.; Filatov, A. S.; Jesse, K. A.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 20849-20862.

“Statistical Analysis of C-H Activation by Transition Metal Oxo Species Supports Thermodynamic Control Over Reactivity” Schneider, J. E.; Goetz, M. K.; Anderson, J. S. Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 4173-4183.

“Generation and Reactivity of a Ni^III₂(μ-1,2-peroxo) Complex” Zhao, N.; Filatov, A. S.; Xie, J.; Hill, E. A.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 21634–21639.

“Reversible Switching of Organic Diradical Character via Iron-Based Spin-Crossover” Kawamura, A.; Xie, J.; Boyn, J-N.; Jesse, K. A.; McNeece, A. J.; Hill, E. A.; Collins, K. A.; Valdez-Moreira, J. A.; Filatov, A. S.; Kurutz, J. W.; Mazziotti, D. A.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 17670-17680

“Generation and Oxidative Reactivity of a Ni(II) Superoxo Complex via Ligand-Based Redox Non-Innocence” McNeece, A. J.; Jesse, K. A.; Xie, J.; Filatov, A. S.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 10824-10832.

“Redox, Transmetalation, and Stacking Properties of Tetrathiafulvalene-2,3,6,7-tetrathiolate Bridged Tin and Nickel Compounds” Xie, J.; Boyn, J-N.; Filatov, A. S.; McNeece, A. J.; Mazziotti, D. A.; Anderson, J. S. Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 1066-1078.

“Experimental Evidence for pKa-Driven Asynchronicity in C-H Activation by a Terminal Co(III)-Oxo Complex” Goetz, M. K.; Hill, E. A.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 4051-4062.

“Redox-Active 1D Coordination Polymers of Iron-Sulfur Clusters and 1,4-benzendithiol” Horwitz, N. E.; Xie, J.; Filatov, A. S.; Papoular, R. J.; Grahn, M.; Gilder, C.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 3940-3951.

"Reversible Homolytic Activation of Water via Metal-Ligand Cooperativity in a T-shaped Ni(II) Complex" Chang, M-C; Jesse, K. A.; Filatov, A. S.; Anderson, J. S. Chem. Sci. 2019, 10, 1360-1367.

"Isolation of a Terminal Co(III)-Oxo Complex" Goetz, M. K.; Hill, E. A.; Filatov, A. S.; Anderson, J. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 13176-13180.

"Isolable Iodosylarene and Iodoxyarene Adducts of Co and Their O-atom Transfer and C-H Activation Reactivity" Hill, E. A.; Kelty, M. L.; Filatov, A. S.; Anderson, J. S. Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 4493.