Group News, 2025
January
  • Welcome to our new rotators, Kelsey and Jay! Congratulations to Andrew and Writhabrata on their most recent JACS publication
Group News, 2024
January
  • Welcome to Ethan, our new postdoc from the Mindiola Group at UPenn!
  • We have 5 new rotators this semester! Chandana, Erika, Genevieve, Ken, and Sarah!
April
  • Lots of things are happening! Andrew and Writhabrata have published their perchlorate research in JACS, congratulations to Christian for passing candidacy, good luck to Chris at his new position at W.R. Grace, and Chandana, Erika, Ken, and Marek have officially joined the group!

Group News, 2023
December
  • Introducing the new Dr. Emily Norwine! Another successful thesis defense, great work!  
May
  • Congratulations to Christian and Carol on officially joining the Szymczak group!
January
  • Welcome to our new postdocs, Writhabrata and Hayoung, and our new rotator, Carol!
Group News, 2022
October
  • Our newest postdoc, Kaushik, has arrived in the group and will be working on the fluoroalkylation project. Welcome!
September
  • Lots of new faces in the lab! Welcome to our new rotators - Dylan and Christian - and new undergrads - Kelly, Maddie, and Anushka!
May
  • Ben and Alice have officially joined the Szymczak group!
  •  Congrats to the new Dr. Michael Wade Wolfe on his successful defense!
January
  • Welcome to our group members! Post-doc Alyssa joins us from Indiana U, rotation students Alice and Ben joined for the semester, and our newest undergrad, Ethan, starts this month! We're excited to have you!
Group News, 2021
December
  • Jessi successfully defended her thesis describing secondary sphere H-bonding complexes! Congrats to the new Dr. Wilson!
November
  • Congrats to alum Jim and Cameron for the publication of their work with iridium post-metalation functionalization! Posted on our publications page now!
September
  • A new school year begins and we are excited to welcome some new members to the group: Ila and Jarrod join us as rotation students, and Trey joins Jared and Lucy as another undergraduate researcher! Welcome all!
August
  • We are thrilled to welcome two new post doctoral researchers to our group: Chris, from the Morris group at Toronto, and Daniel, from the Caulton group at Indiana. Welcome!
July
  • Right behind the IC paper, on his last day, John's Organometllics paper on challenges of late stage hydroboration is published. Congrats John on a great paper and good luck in your next position!
  • Congrats to John and Emily on the IC publication on substrate-specific binding using Lewis acid/Lewis base pairs! 
June
  • Andrew LaDuca officially joined the lab, and we also gained a summer rotator - welcome to Emily Nolan! We're excited to have some new faces and see what they can accomplish!
  • We are excited to welcome a new post doc researcher, Alex Davies, to the group! Alex will be working jointly with the Stephenson group on some exciting new catalysis research. Welcome Alex!
May April
  • Congratulations to Jessi for being award a PPG Summer Research Fellowship!
March
  • Time for a second recruitment weekend and we're really excited about all the talent we've seen over the two visits. Can't wait to have you join us!
February
  • Snow and gray turned sunny toward the end of the month - an unusual sight in MI. But it gets us excited to think of spring, new beginnings, and our first virtual recruitment weekend! Welcome new recruits!
January
  • We are back from the holidays and excited to welcome two new rotators - Michela and Trenton! We are looking forward to working with them this semester.
Group News, 2020
December
  • Jessi's paper in Chem Comm demonstrating H-bonds in low valent nickel is live! Congrats! 
  • We couldn't have our usual holiday party, but we did our best to celebrate the end of a long year via Zoom! Thanks to Nate for dinner and the beautiful handmade mugs!
  • Wei successfully passed his candidacy exam! Congratulations Wei!
October
  • Michael and Jim's JACS article on defluorination of Pd(II) complexes is live today! A great piece featuring our favorite - borazine! Check out the link on our publications page.
September
  • John, Emily, and Myles have published another great paper in Chem Comm! Team Lewis Acid coming in hot with a study on hydrazine deprotonation - check it out!
  • We are excited to welcome two new rotation students - Andrew and Michael L.. We are looking forward to seeing what great chemistry they can accomplish with us!
August
  • Jim's deep dive into general effects of Lewis acid/substrate-metal interactions using a computational approach went live in Organometallics - check it out on our publications page. Congrats Jim!
  • We have officially welcomed Wei as our newest member and are excited to see what he does with some ruthenium chemistry!
July
  • Jim successfully defended his thesis over Zoom! Congratulations to the new Dr. Shanahan!
June
  • We are back! A gradual, phased process to ramp up research is happening across the university, following advice of public health officials. We are excited to be back in the lab even with some reduced capacity and shift schedules!
  • John's Inorganic Chemistry manuscript has been accepted - check out the link here!
May
  • An unusual graduation weekend, but congratulations to Anna Li and Cheyanne for graduating with their masters degrees, and Myles for graduating with his bachelors degree! 
  • To keep things relatively normal, an interdepartmental virtual seminar was held, and Jessi gave a nice update on her current project!
  • Big congrats to Michael for receiving the PPG Summer Reserach Fellowship! 
April
  • Jim and Danielle's JACS paper using -CF2H as a weak H-bond donor went live at the end of April! Congratulations!
  • In spite of the shut down, we have had the pleasure of welcoming some new members! Shreya has officially joined the lab as our newest graduate student, and Zhongyuan joined us as a new post doc! We have also added Wei as a summer rotation student. Welcome all!
  • Research shut down has meant a real change in lab, but we press on (from our respective homes, of course)! Group meetings are currently being held over Zoom, we've started a new journal club, and there is a lot of reading and writing happening!
March
  • While we're saddened on-campus recruitment has been cancelled, we are looking forward to meeting our prospective students in a virtual recruitment weekend! Follow us on Twitter for highlights of our lab members, see photos of the lab in action, and keep up with our research! @SzymczakLab
  • Spring is just around the corner!
February
  • Recruitment season is here; welcome to the prospective students!
  • The first Szymczak lab bowling event was a great success!
January
  • A new year, a new rotator, and two new undergrads! Welcome to the group Shreya, Lucy, and Jared!

Group News, 2019
December
  • The group traveled to Michigan State University for the first Michigan Inorganic Chemistry Symposium (MICS). Posters were presented by Emily, Cheyanne, and Michael, and Jessi gave a talk on her current H-bonding project! Thanks to Emily for organizing a great symposium!
  • Along with the Shultz group, the lab enjoyed a fun holiday party hosted by the boss!
November
  • The lab was well-represented at Ohio Inorganic Weekend (OIW) at the University of Toledo in Toledo, OH, with posters from Jessi, Emily, Anna Li, Madison, Cheyanne, Siqi, and Jim!
  • Congratulations to Emily for completing her oral exam to become a Ph.D. candidate!
September
  • A new school year is upon us and with it come a bunch of new members! Welcome to visiting scholar Deeb, visiting undergrad Zhe, post-doc Shuo, and rotators Audrey, Madison, and Siqi! We're excited to have so many new faces!
  • John and Emily's Chem Comm paper featuring tetrahedral iron complexes with appended boranes is live - congrats!
August
  • Marianne received the Margaret & Herman Sokol Graduate Summer Research Fellowship to support her summer work. Congrats Marianne!
  • Marianne also traveled to San Diego to present her work on C-C bond formation and hydrogen transfer at the ACS National Meeting! 
June
  • Szymczak Lab group trip is a great success! Check out some photos in the Group Photos tab.
May
  • Emily and Cheyanne have officially joined the lab!
  • The boss has returned from a productive sabbatical at KAIST in Daejeon, South Korea–we're glad to have you back!
  • Lily returned to Ann Arbor for graduation and to get her PhD hood. Danielle and Anna Li also graduated with their Bachelors degrees! Congrats to the graduates!
  • John and Jim's recent paper on tuning ligand field strength with Lewis acids is published in Chemical Science! Great work!
  • Lily and Marianne's Angewandte Chemie paper featuring ruthenium-keteniminates as intermediates for catalytic hydrogen transfer goes live! Congratulations!
  • The Szymczak lab is rolling out yet another great paper! Jim's study on hydrogen bonding to N2 at room temperature is published in JACS - congrats Jim!
April
  • Jacob's final paper with Ellen (Sanford Lab) describing difluoromethyl-borate adducts went live on ChemComm! Congrats!
February and March
  • We really enjoyed meeting everyone at the recruitment weekends! We hope to see you soon, and GO BLUE!
January
  • We are excited to have Cheyanne join us for her second rotation--welcome back!
  • Congrats to John on his paper in Inorg Chem detailing Lewis acid requirements to capture and cleave hydrazine!

Group News, 2018
December
  • Marianne successfully completed her candidacy exam to become a PhD candidate! Congrats!
September
  • The new school year has arrived and with it three new rotators and a new undergrad! Welcome to the Szymczak Lab Emily, Winston, Anthony, and Myles!
August
  • The Szymczak group was well-represented at the annual Karle Symposium: 5 posters were presented, and Jim and Jessi both took home inorganic poster awards! Congratulations Jim and Jessi!
  • Eric and John's zinc-peroxo JACS Comm goes live! Congrats!
  • Congratulations to Dr. Lily Hale for her successful thesis defense!!
July
  • Jacob and Michael's aryl-CF2 communications paper is published in JACS! Congrats!
June
  • Congrats to Jacob and Joanna on their CO2 hydrogenation paper!
  • Summer rotation students start early! Welcome to the lab Cheyanne!
  • Lily's perspective on Hydrogen Transfer Catalysis beyond the Primary Coordination Sphere is published in ACS Catalysis! Congratulations Lily!
May
  • Summer REU begins! Welcome Omar!
  • Group Trip 2018 was a success. No bear attacks, one Jenga champion, two tired dogs.
April
  • Dr. Jiaxiang Chu joins the lab!
  • John takes home bragging rights from the March-Madness pool!
March
  • Congratulations to Dr. Jacob Geri on his successful PhD defense!
January
  • Welcome winter rotation students Connor and Marianne!

Group News, 2017
December
  • Eric's hydrogen bond supported peroxodicopper complexes goes live in Chem. Commun.
  • John's paper on appended boron facilitated hydrazine capture and cleavage is published in JACS!
  • Congratulations to Michael and Jessi on becoming PhD candidates
  • The Jacob and Michael HCF3 collaboration made it into ACIE! Nice work!
  • Congratulations to Dr. Eric Dahl on his wonderful thesis defense!
September
  • New group undergrad Taim joins the fold!
​August
  • Josh joins the lab! Welcome!
​July
  • Jacob's HCF3 paper brings new life to borazine as recyclable trifluoromethylation reagents. Congrats Jacob!
​June
  • Michael Wade Wolfe joins the group!
​May
  • Congrats Nate Szymczak for being selected for the Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award!
​April
  • Jessi officially joins the group!
  • Jacob and Jim's Fe-N2 paper is published in JACS!
​February
  • Eric and Toma's paper is accepted for publication in Chemical Communications!
January
  • A new year, a new batch of rotation students ready to take on the world. Welcome Wesley, Sibin and Jessica!

Group News, 2016
December
  • John joins the lab! Welcome John!
September
  • The group expands with three new rotation students Brad, Bernadette and Ellen as well as two new undergraduate researchers Anna Li and Danielle!
August
  • Another year, another great group trip! Expert paddler Nate Szymczak fearlessly leads the team down the Huron River
  • The Szymczak Group storms ACS-Philadelphia with the successful section "Secondary Coordination Sphere Influences: Stability, Reactivity & Everything in Between."
July
  • Tim's paper on the modular attachment of appended boron Lewis acids is accepted into JACS! Well done Tim!
June
  • Lily's paper on the mechanism of acceptorless amine dehydrogenation via N,N,N-Amide Ruthenium(II) Hydrides is published in ACS Catalysis!
  • Welcome to our new rotation students Michael and Hai!
  • A big welcome to the lab to Tufan!
  • Lily leaves for summer for ICIQ and the lab welcomes our collaborative exchange researcher Nicola!
May April
  • Tim successfully defends his thesis!!!
February
  • Cameron's paper on the dramatic influence of simple ligand modifcations on ruthenium catalyzed transfer hydrogenation is published in ACS Catalysis.
January​
  • A warm welcome to our new rotation student Mark Mantell
  • Congratulations to Tim and Steve for their work on ungrading ethanol to butanol now in Chem. Commun.
  • Eric's paper on an H-bond promoted entatic state with a square planar copper complex is accepted to Angewandte Chemie.
  • Welcome to the group Victor!























































































Group News, 2015
October
  • Both Jacob's and Tyler's manuscripts are now published in JACS and Chem Sci!
September
  • Dr. Wes Brogden joins the group as our new postdoctoral researcher in a collaboration with the Thompson Group.
  • A warm welcome to our new rotators Max and Shantel!
August
  • Tim's mechanistic paper on N,N,N-Amide Ruthenium(II) Hydride Mediated Acceptorless Alcohol Dehydrogenation is accepted to ACS Catalysis!
  • A fond farewell to our visiting undergraduate researcher Ruxi Dai.
July
  • NIH funding awarded for the lab!
  • Congratulations to Dr. Moore on his successful thesis defense.
May
  • ​A warm Szymczak welcome to our new official lab members, Grayson and Jim!
April
  • Cameron's elegant examination of the impact of hydrogen bonding on NO generation, "Nitrite reduction by copper through ligand-mediated proton and electron transfer", has been accepted to Chemical Science! 
March
  • Cameron's paper, "Redox-induced fluoride ligand dissociation stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonding", made the front cover of Chemical Communications! 
January​
  • Congratulations to Cameron and Eric for their review article in Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, "Beyond H2: exploiting 2-hydroxypyridine as a design element from [Fe]-hydrogenase for energy-relevant catalysis"!

Group News, 2014
December
  • Tim's paper, "Regulation of Iron-Catalyzed Olefin Hydroboration by Ligand Modifications at a Remote Site", has been published in ACS catalysis. Congratulations!
  • Finishing the academic year in style, the lab enjoyed a night of fine food and drinks at our annual holiday party.
September
  • Congratulations to Cameron for his article in Chemical Communications, "Redox-induced fluoride ligand dissociation stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonding"!
August
  • After another year of productive science, the group went to Ionia State Park for three days of canoe races, exploration, and grilling.
July
  • Tim's review, "Dehydrogenative Oxidation fo Primary Amines to Nitriles", was accepted to Synlett. Congratulations!.
May
  • This month, we warmly welcome Jim and Grayson Ritch as new rotators in the group.
April
  • This month, we welcome Lily Hale as an official graduate student in the group.
March
  • Cam's paper was recently accepted to Inorganic Chemistry! Congrats Cam!
  • Tyler's paper was also accepted this month to Organometallics! Congrats Tyler!
February January
  • This month, we send a warm Szymczak welcome to our two new rotators, Lily Hale and Andy Vitek.

Group News, 2013
October
  • This month, Tim and Andrew’s paper detailing the oxidant-free conversion of primary amines to nitriles was accepted to JACS! Congrats to both of you!!
September
  • This month, we described Tyler’s recent work on borazine reduction during an ACS press conference.
  • The Szymczak group presented at the National ACS meeting in Indianapolis, IN.
  • We also send a warm welcome to our newest rotator, James Bour.
August
  • This month, Tim's paper, "Base-Free, Acceptorless, and Chemoselective Alcohol Dehydrogenation Catalyzed by an Amide-Derived NNN-Ruthenium(II) Hydride Complex," was one of the top 10 most read articles: April-June 2013!
July
  • Kicking back after a year of good science, the group is going on its offical camping trip. Pictures to come!
May
  • This month, we warmly welcome our new summer rotators, Jacob Geri and Alex Nett.
March February
  • Oscar’s manuscript was accepted to JACS, congrats Oscar!
  • This month, we also extend a warm Szymczak welcome to our newest undergraduate researcher, Justin.
January
  • This month we give a warm Szymczak welcome to our new rotator, Nomaan Rezayee.























































































Group News, 2012
November
  • Camerons’s manuscript introducing dihydroxy terpyridine as a proton-responsive, bifunctional ligand was accepted to ChemComm. Congrats Cameron!
October
  • Tyler’s manuscript illustrating metal-mediated borazine reduction was accepted to Angewandte Chemie. Congrats Tyler!
September
  • This month, we give a warm Szymczak welcome to our two new rotators: Eric Dahl and Chelsea Cates, and one undergraduate: Andrew Rizzi
June
  • This month, Cameron’s communication in Dalton Transactions was listed as one of the top ten most accessed articles in May 2012
May
  • This month we welcome Tiffany Chuang, Timothy Tseng, and Qi Zhang to the lab, We look forward to working with you guys!!
  • The group's first manuscript detailing a hydrogen-bond appended ligand appears as an invited contribution to Dalton Transaction (New Talent: The America's). Congratulations to Cameron!
  • The lab has been officially certified as a sustainable lab, and been given a rating of 'Gold'.
April
  • This month we bid a fond farewell to Charles Lhermite, and Mitchell Smith, you will both be missed, good luck in your new labs.
February
  • This month we give a warm Szymczak welcome to our newest undergraduate researcher; Laura Essex.
January
  • This month we have the pleasure of welcoming two new rotation students, Mitchell and Charles, to the lab. We also welcome our newest undergraduate students; David Quist.























































































Group News, 2011
November
  • This month we said goodbye to Chengbao Ni, his excellence in analyzing raw crystallographic data will be missed. Good luck in your next post-doc CB!
September
  • We give a warm welcome to our two newest graduate students, Katie Craigo and Tim Tseng!
August
  • We wave a fond farewell to Yineng Xioa, and say thanks for a wonderful semester!
July
  • The group outing to Silver Lake was great fun!
  • Congratulations to Cameron Moore on being awarded the Vaughan Symposium Travel Award for top poster!
  • Cameron Moore and Tyler Carter presented posters at the Vaughan Symposium on the 28th
  • On the first of the month, we welcome Yineng Xiao, an exchange student from Peking Universty, to the Lab!
June
  • On the 13th we welcome Tanvi Ratani, our newest University of Michigan undergrad to the Szymczak Group!
  • On the first of this month we give a hearty Szymczak welcome to our newest post-doc, Chengbao Ni!
May
  • We welcome Cameron Moore and Tyler Carter as permanent members of the lab! Congratulations you two!!
April
  • Congratulations to Cameron Moore on being awarded the NSF Graduate Fellowship!
March
  • The vacuum has been set up in both the Szymczak 1 and 2 gloveboxes
February
  • The IR spectrometer is installed and ready for use, as is the UV spectrometer
January
  • The glove boxes are officially ready for use
Follow us on Twitter! @SzymczakLab
Proudly powered by Weebly