Melanie Sanford


Melanie Sarah Sanford is an American chemist, who currently works at the University of Michigan, where she holds the positions of Moses Gomberg Collegiate Professor of Chemistry and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chemistry.

Life

Sanford was born and grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. She attended Classical High School. She graduated from Yale University with a BS and MS in Chemistry in 1996, having carried out research with Robert H. Crabtree, while competing for the Yale Gymnastics NCAA team. She graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in 2001, where she studied Chemistry with Robert H. Grubbs. She did postdoctoral work at Princeton University, where she studied with John T. Groves.
Sanford began her academic career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan in 2003. She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2007 and Full Professor in 2013.

Research

Sanford is best known for her studies of high-valent organopalladium species, particularly those implicated in Pd-catalyzed C–H functionalization reactions. Her group has also developed new methods to access fluorinated and radiofluorinated materials for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and radiology. In a collaboration with Matthew Sigman at the University of Utah her group has designed new compounds for use in redox flow batteries.

Awards and Honors

Sanford has received numerous awards and honors including but not limited to:
  1. Herbert Newby McCoy Award for Graduate Research
  2. Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award
  3. Beckman Young Investigator Award
  4. Boehringer Ingelheim New Investigator Award in Organic Synthesis
  5. Eli Lilly Grantee Award
  6. National Science Foundation CAREER Award
  7. Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar Award
  8. AstraZeneca Excellence in Chemistry Award
  9. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
  10. GlaxoSmithKline Chemistry Scholars Award
  11. Roche Excellence in Chemistry Award
  12. ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award
  13. BASF Catalysis Award
  14. LSA Excellence in Teaching Award
  15. John Dewey Award for Undergraduate Education
  16. National Fresenius Award
  17. Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship
  18. ACS Award in Pure Chemistry
  19. Royal Society of Chemistry Fluorine Prize
  20. MacArthur Fellowship
  21. Classical High School Distinguished Alumni Award
  22. Moses Gomberg Collegiate Chair
  23. Thieme IUPAC Prize
  24. ACS Ipatieff Prize
  25. Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award in Synthetic Chemistry
  26. Sackler Prize in Chemistry
  27. ACS Sierra Nevada Section: Distinguished Chemist Award
  28. UM Faculty Recognition Award
  29. OMCOS Award
  30. SABIC Young Catalysis Investigator Award
  31. Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  32. Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences
  33. Distinguished University Professor
  34. ACS Fellow
  35. Blavatnik Award
She is also a Fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.

Recent Publications

  1. Ferguson, D. M.; Bour, J. R.; Canty, A. J.; Kampf, J. W.; Sanford, M. S. "Aryl–CF3 Coupling from Phosphinoferrocene-Ligated Palladium Complexes," Organometallics 2019, ASAP Article.
  2. Lee, S. J.; Makaravage, K. J.; Brooks, A. F.; Scott, P. J. H.; Sanford, M. S. "Cu‐Mediated Aminoquinoline‐Directed Radiofluorination of Aromatic C–H Bonds with K18F," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, ASAP Article.
  3. Yang, L.; Brooks, A. F.; Makaravage, K. J.; Zhang, H.; Sanford, M. S.; Scott, P. J. H.; Shao, X. "Radiosynthesis of LY2795050 for Preclinical and Clinical PET Imaging Using Cu-Mediated Cyanation," ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2018, 9, 1274–1279.
  4. Malapit, C. A.; Bour, J. R.; Brigham, C. E.; Sanford, M. S. "Base-free nickel-catalysed decarbonylative Suzuki–Miyaura coupling of acid fluorides," Nature 2018, 563, 100–104.
  5. Aguilera, E. Y.; Sanford, M. S. "Model Complexes for the Palladium-Catalyzed Transannular C–H Functionalization of Alicyclic Amines," Organometallics 2018, 1, 138–142.
  6. Mantell, M.; Kampf, J. W.; Sanford, M. S. "Improved Synthesis of 2 Complexes," Organometallics 2018, 37, 3240–3242.
  7. Schimler, S. D.; Froese, R. D. J.; Bland, D. C.; Sanford, M. S. "Reactions of Arylsulfonate Electrophiles with NMe4F: Mechanistic Insight, Reactivity, and Scope," J. Org. Chem. 2018 83, 11178–11190.
  8. Cabrera, P. J.; Lee, M.; Sanford, M. S. "Second-Generation Palladium Catalyst System for Transannular C–H Functionalization of Azabicycloalkanes," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 5599–5606.
  9. Makaravage, K. J.; Shao, X.; Brooks, A. F.; Yang, L.; Sanford, M. S.; Scott, P. J. H. "Copper-Mediated Cyanation of Arylboronic Acids and Arylstannanes," Org. Lett. 2018, 20, 1530–1533.
  10. Hendricks, K. H.; Robinson, S. G.; Braten, M. N.; Sevov, C. S.; Helms, B. A.; Sigman, M. S.; Minteer, S. D.; Sanford, M. S. "High-Performance Oligomeric Catholytes for Effective Macromolecular Separation in Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries," ACS Cent. Sci. 2018, 4, 189–196.
  11. James, B. R.; Boissonnault, J. A.; Wong-Foy, A. G.; Matzger, A. J.; Sanford, M. S. "Structure activity relationships in metal–organic framework catalysts for the continuous flow synthesis of propylene carbonate from CO2 and propylene oxide," RSC Adv. 2018, 8, 2132–2137.
  12. Topczewski, J. T.; Cabrera, P. J.; Saper, N. I.; Sanford, M. S. "Palladium-Catalysed Transannular C–H Functionalization of Alicyclic Amines," Nature 2016, 531, 220–224.
  13. Cook, A. K.; Schimler, S. D.; Matzger, A. J.; Sanford, M. S. "Catalyst-Controlled Selectivity in the C–H Borylation of Methane and Ethane," Science 2016, 351, 1421–1424.
  14. Camasso, N. M.; Sanford, M. S. "Design, Synthesis, and Carbon-Heteroatom Coupling Reactions of Organometallic Nickel Complexes," Science 2015, 347, 1218–1220.
  15. Hickman, A. J.; Sanford, M. S. "High-Valent Organometallic Copper and Palladium in Catalysis," Nature 2012, 484, 177–185.