Headshot of Dr.Miles Johnson

Dr. Miles Johnson

Associate Professor of Chemistry
  • Profile

    Research in the Johnson lab is focused on the design of new transition metal catalysts that can convert simple chemical feedstocks into fine chemicals. Special emphasis is placed on the rational design of new ligands and the preparation of organometallic compounds.  Synthetic inorganic and organic techniques are used to prepare these new compounds and examine their reactivity. Spectroscopic (NMR, IR), computational (DFT), and electrochemical techniques permit the thorough characterization of these compounds while giving students experience with the tools needed for interdisciplinary research. Potential discoveries from our lab may be used in method development for designing molecules such as pharmaceuticals, converting petrochemicals into synthetic building blocks, and the activation of small molecules for energy applications.

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    • Grants and Fellowships

      Grants:

      Organic Syntheses, Inc. Grant for Summer Research at an Undergraduate Institution, “Development of Mild Nickel-Catalyzed C–N Cross-Coupling Reactions Enabled by Modular Phosphinopyrrole Ligands” (Johnson)

      National Science Foundation CAREER Award, “CAREER: Study and Design of Modular Aminophopshine Ligands for Cross-Coupling Reactions” (Johnson)

      American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (UNI), "Modular and Rational Design of Pyrrolyl Phosphine Ligands for Nickel Catalysis" (Johnson)

      Jeffress Memorial Trust Awards Program in Interdisciplinary Research, "An Integrated Synthetic-Computational Approach to Developing a Quantitative Model for Proazaphosphatrane-Enabled Cross-Coupling" (Johnson, Donald)

      Fellowships:

      2015-2016 NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Post-Doctoral Fellowship

      2009-2012 National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship

      2011-2013 Chancellor’s Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley, CA

       

    • Presentations

      Presentations 2019 

      Miles W. Johnson, Development of Modular Bis(Phosphino) Pyrrole Ligands for Late Metal-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Savannah, GA, October 22, 2019. (talk)

      Miles W. Johnson, Synthetic and Mechanistic Studies of Aminophosphine Ligands for Transition Metal-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling. Bowdoin College, Bowdoin, ME, September 27, 2019. (invited talk)

      Miles W. Johnson, Synthetic and Mechanistic Studies of Aminophosphine Ligands for Transition Metal-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling. High Point University, High Point, NC, September 13, 2019. (invited talk)

      Miles W. Johnson, Synthetic and Mechanistic Studies of Aminophosphine Ligands for Transition Metal-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling. University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC, April 12, 2019. (invited talk)

      Miles W. Johnson, Synthesis and Reactivity of Transition Metal and Main Group Proazaphosphatrane Complexes. ACS National Meeting, Orlando, FL, April 1, 2019. Symposium for “Undergraduate Research at the Frontiers of Inorganic Chemistry” (invited talk)

      Fokwa, H. D.;* Johnson, M. W. Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity of Bis(Phosphino) Pyrrole Ligands and Their Complexes. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Savannah, GA, November 22, 2019. (talk)

      Matthews, A. D.;* Johnson, M. W. Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity of Palladium Proazaphosphatrane Complexes. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Savannah, GA, November 22, 2019. (talk)

      Thomas, J. I.;* Johnson, M. W. Synthesis and Characterization of Copper Proazaphosphatrane Halide and Silylamide Complexes. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Savannah, GA, November 20, 2019. (poster)

      Shen, S.;* Johnson, M. W. Synthesis of Boronate Ester Derivatives of Triphenylphosphine. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Savannah, GA, November 20, 2019. (poster)

      Sriramaneni, N.K.;* Johnson, M. W. Synthesis of Pincer Ligands and Their Respective Complexes. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Savannah, GA, November 20, 2019. (poster)

      Vidlak, J. F.;* Johnson, M. W. Synthesis of Bidentate Bis(phosphino) Pyrrole Ligands and Their Complexes for Nickel Catalysis. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Savannah, GA, November 20, 2019. (poster)

      Matthews, A. D.;* Fokwa, H. D.;* Weinberg, S. C.;* Vidlak, J. F.;* Duplessis, I. D.;* Sriramaneni, N. K.;* Prasad, S.;* Donald, K. J.; Schley, N. S.; Johnson, M. W. Design and Synthesis of Modular Aminophosphine Ligands for Cross-Coupling. Gordon Research Conference for Organometallic Chemistry, Newport, RI, July 2019. (poster)

      Fokwa, H. D.;* Weinberg, S. C.;* Johnson, M. W. Synthesis of N-Phosphino-2-(Phosphino)Pyrrole Ligands for Catalysis. ACS National Meeting, Orlando, FL, April 3, 2019. (poster)

      Presentations 2018 

      Miles W. Johnson, Synthesis, Structure and Reactivity of Palladium Proazaphosphatrane Complexes: Insight into a Conformationally Flexible Ligand. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Augusta, GA, November 1, 2018. (talk)

      Miles W. Johnson, Synthesis and Reactivity of Proazaphosphatrane-Supported Palladium Complexes: Elusive Intermediates in Cross-Coupling. ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 20, 2018. (talk)

      Duplessis, I. D.;* Shen, S.;* Schley, N. D.; Johnson, M. W. Study of Proazaphosphatrane Ligands and Their Analogues in Cross-Coupling.  Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Augusta, GA, November 2018. (poster)

      Matthews, A. D.;* Schley, N. D.; Johnson, M. W. Synthesis and Reactivity of Palladium Proazaphosphatrane Complexes Invoked in Cross-Coupling. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Augusta, GA, November 2018. (poster)

      Matthews, A. D.;* Duplessis, I. D.;* Kotera, K.; Gravalis, G. M.;* Schley, N. D.; Johnson, M. W.* Synthesis and Reactivity of Transition Metal Proazaphosphatrane Complexes. Gordon Research Conference for Organometallic Chemistry, Newport, RI, July 2018. (poster)

      Presentations 2017 

      Johnson, M. W.;* Duplessis, I. D.;* Gravalis, G. M.;* Kotera, K.* Synthesis and Reactivity of Low-Coordinate, Proazaphosphatrane-Supported Transition Metal Complexes. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Charlotte, NC, November 10, 2017. (poster)

  • Publications
    Journal Articles

    *denotes undergraduate coauthor

    ‡denotes equal contribution 

    Osenga, V. A; Sykes, N. C.; Pa, S.; Bambha, M. K.; Schley, N. D.; Johnson, M. W. "Comparative Analysis of the Donor Properties of Isomeric Pyrrolyl Phosphine Ligands" Organometallics, 2024, 43, 14-20.

    Vidlak, J. F.;*   Cosio, M. N.; Sriramaneni, N. K.;* Bhuvanesh, N.; Overov, O. V.; Johnson, M. W. “Synthesis of Pyrrole-based PSiP PincerLigands and their Palladium, Rhodium, and Platinum Complexes” Dalton Trans., 2022, 51, 7797­–7803.

    Fokwa, H. D.;* Vidlak, J. F.;* Weinberg, S. C.;* Duplessis, I. D.;* Schley, N. D.; Johnson, M. W. “Study and Modular Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Bis(phosphino)pyrrole Ligands” Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 9957-9960. 

    Matthews, A. M.;*  Prasad, S.;*  Schley, N. S.; Donald, K. J.; Johnson, M. W. “On Transannulation in Azaphosphatranes: Synthesis and Theoretical Analysis” Inorg. Chem. 2019, 58, 15983-15992. ‡ denotes equal contribution.

    Matthews, A. D.;* Gravalis, G. M.;* Schley, N. D.; Johnson, M. W.  "Synthesis, Structure, and Reactivity of Palladium Proazaphosphatrane  Complexes Invoked in C-N Cross-Coupling" Organometallics, 2018 37, 3073-3078.

    Johnson, M. W.; Hannoun, K. I.; Tan, Y.; Fu, G. C.; Peters, J. C. “A Mechanistic Investigation of the Photoinduced, Copper-Mediated Cross-Coupling of an Aryl Thiol with an Aryl Halide” Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 4091-4100.

    Khrakovsky, D.; Tao, C.; Johnson, M. W.; Thornbury, R.; Shevick, S.L.; Toste, F. D. “Enantioselective, Stereodivergent Hydroazidation and Hydroamination of Allenes Catalyzed by Acyclic Diaminocarbene (ADC) Gold(I) Complexes” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2016, 55, 1-6.

    Johnson, M. W.; DiPasquale, A. G.; Bergman, R. G.; Toste, F. D. “Synthesis of Stable Gold(III) Pincer Complexes with Anionic Heteroatom Donors” Organometallics, 2014, 33, 4169-4172.

    Johnson, M. W.; Bagley, S. W. Mankad, N. P.; Bergman, R. G.; Mascitti, V.; Toste, F. D. “Application of Fundamental Organometallic Chemistry to the Development of a Gold-Catalyzed Synthesis of Sulfinate Derivatives” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 4404-4407.

    Johnson, M. W.; Shevick, S.L.; Toste, F. D.; Bergman, R. G. “Preparation and Reactivity of Terminal Gold(I) Amides and Phosphides” Chem. Sci., 2013, 4, 1023-1027.

    Brown, C. J.; Miller, G. M.; Johnson, M. W.; Bergman, R. G.; Raymond, K. N. “High-Turnover Supramolecular Catalysis by a Protected Ruthenium(II) Complex in Aqueous Solution” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 11964-11966.

    Downey, C. W.; Johnson, M. W.; Lawrence, D. H.; Fleisher, A. S.; Tracy, K. J. “Acetic Acid Aldol Reactions in the Presence of Trimethylsilyl Trifluoromethanesulfonate” J. Org. Chem. 2010, 75, 5351-5354.

    Downey, C. W.; Johnson, M. W.; Tracy, K. J. “One-Pot Enol Silane Formation-Mukaiyama Aldol-Type Addition to Dimethyl Acetals Mediated by TMSOTf” J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73, 3299-3302.

    Downey, C. W.; Johnson, M. W.; “A Tandem Enol Silane Formation-Mukaiyama Aldol Reaction Mediated by TMSOTf” Tetrahedron Lett. 2007, 48, 3559-3562.