Riu, Martin-Louis

Inorganic

Dr. Martin-Louis Riu

Biography

Martin was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He earned his B.S. degree at Emory University where he studied photoredox catalyzed carbon-carbon bond forming reactions under Prof. Nate Jui. He went on to obtain his Ph.D. in chemistry under the guidance of Christopher “Kit” C. Cummins at MIT. At MIT he developed new reagents and reactions for the synthesis of phosphorus-containing tetrahedranes, heterocycles, and materials. Upon completion of his doctoral degree, he underwent postdoctoral training at Caltech with Prof. Hosea Nelson where he investigated organocatalytic methods of generating and controlling the reactivity of two-coordinate carbocations. Martin is currently conducting research in the Nava lab, where he is designing new reagents and reactions for the activation of small molecules and the synthesis of binary materials.

Representative Publications

  • “Carbon-Carbon Bond Forming Reactions of Vinyl Cations: A Personal Perspective” Riu, M.-L. Y.; Popov, S.; Wigman, B.; Zhao, Z.; Wong, J.; Houk, K. N.; Nelson, H. M. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2024, 27, e202400567
  • “Reactions of Tri-tert-Butylphosphatetrahedrane as a Spring-Loaded Phosphinidene Synthon Featuring Nickel-Catalyzed Transfer to Unactivated Alkenes” Riu, M.-L. Y.; Eckhardt, A. K.; Cummins, C. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 7578-7582.
  • “Alleviating Strain in Organic Molecules by Incorporation of Phosphorus: Synthesis of Triphosphatetrahedrane” Riu, M.-L. Y.; Ye, M.; Cummins, C. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 16354-16357
  • “Dimerization and Cycloaddition Reactions of Transient Tri-tert-butylphosphacyclobutadiene Generated by Lewis Acid Induced Isomerization of Tri-tert-butylphosphatetrahedrane” Riu, M.-L. Y.; Eckhardt, A. K.; Cummins, C. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 13005-13009.
  • “An Azophosphine Synthetic Equivalent of Mesitylphosphaazide and Its 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Reactions” Riu, M.-L. Y.; Transue, W. J.; Rall, J. M.; Cummins, C. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 7635-7640
  • “Isolation of an elusive phosphatetrahedrane” Riu, M.-L. Y.; Jones, R. L.; Transue, W. J.; Müller, P.; Cummins, C. C. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6, eaaz3168,

Link to ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0900-3545