Chemical Sciences

Biographical Details:

Dr O'Brien started his academic career at UMIST with a degree in chemistry. He later moved to Sheffield and obtained his PhD under the supervision of Prof. V. K. Aggarwal. Dr O'Brien then undertook employment at Peakdale Molecular Ltd. Dr O'Brien returned to academic chemistry with post-doctoral stints in the groups of Profs. D. J. Procter and M. G. Organ. Dr O'Brien began his independent career as an Assistant Professor of Synthetic Organic Chemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in September 2007. It was at UTA that Dr O'Brien invented the first catalytic in phosphine Wittig reaction. In September 2010 Dr O'Brien became a Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Dublin City University.

Research Interests:

The O'Brien research group's main interests are the development of robust catalytic synthetic methodology and target oriented synthesis. This is achieved by a holistic combination of computation and organic chemistry.

Selected Peer Reviewed Journals

• Research statistics. 2012. H-Index 16, total citations 1,460.
• Niloufar Hadei, George T. Achonduh, Cory Valente, Christopher J. O'Brien, and Michael G. Organ. 2011. Differentiating C-Br and C-Cl Bond Activation by Using Solvent Polarity: Applications to Orthogonal Alkyl-Alkyl Negishi Reactions. Angewandte Chemie-international Edition In English, 50, 17, pp3896-3899.
• George T Achonduh, Niloufar Hadei, Cory Valente, Stephanie Avola, Christopher J O'Brien, and Michael G Organ. 2010. On the role of additives in alkyl-alkyl Negishi cross-couplings. Chemical Communications, , pp4109-4111.
• Joanna Nasielski, Nilofaur Hadei, George T Achonduh, Eric Assen B Kantchev, Christopher J O'Brien, Alan Lough, and Michael G Organ. 2010. Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis of Pd-PEPPSI Complexes in Cross-Couplings: A Close Inspection of the Catalytic Cycle and the Precatalyst Activation Model. Chemistry - A European Journal, 16, 35, pp10844-10853.
• Christopher J O'Brien, Jennifer L Tellez, Zachary S Nixon, Lauren J Kang, Andra L Carter, Stephen R Kunkel, Katherine C Przeworski, and Gregory A Chass. 2009. Recycling the Waste: The Development of a Catalytic Wittig Reaction. Angewandte Chemie-international Edition In English, 48, 37, pp6836-6839.
• Gregory A Chass, Christopher J O'Brien, Niloufar Hadei, Eric Assen B Kantchev, Wei-Hua Mu, De-Cai Fang, Alan C Hopkinson, Imre G Csizmadia, and Michael G Organ. 2009. Density Functional Theory Investigation of the Alkyl-Alkyl Negishi Cross-Coupling Reaction Catalyzed by N-Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC)-Pd Complexes. Chemistry - A European Journal, 15, 17, pp4281-4288.
• Cory Valente, Sylvia Baglione, David Candito, Christopher J O'Brien, and Michael G Organ. 2008. High yielding alkylations of unactivated sp3 and sp2 centres with alkyl-9-BBN reagents using an NHC-based catalyst: Pd-PEPPSI-IPr. Chemical Communications, , pp735-737.
• Michael G Organ, Mirvat Abdel-Hadi, Stephanie Avola, Igor Dubovyk, Niloufar Hadei, Eric Assen B Kantchev, Christopher J O'Brien, Mahmoud Sayah, and Cory Valente. 2008. Pd-catalyzed aryl amination mediated by well defined, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-Pd precatalysts, PEPPSI. Chemistry - A European Journal, 14, 8, pp2443-2452.
• Thomas M Baker, David J Edmonds, Deborah Hamilton, Christopher J O'Brien, and David J Procter. 2008. Synthesis and Reactions of the Pestalotiopsin Skeleton. Angewandte Chemie-international Edition In English, 47, 30, pp5631-5633.
• Eric Assen B Kantchev, Christopher J O'brien, and Michael G Organ. 2007. Palladium Complexes of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes as Catalysts for Cross-Coupling Reactions¿A Synthetic Chemist's Perspective. Angewandte Chemie-international Edition In English, 46, 16, pp2768-2813.
• Michael G Organ, Mirvat Abdel-Hadi, Stephanie Avola, Niloufar Hadei, Joanna Nasielski, Christopher J O'Brien, and Cory Valente. 2007. Biaryls Made Easy: PEPPSI and the Kumada¿Tamao¿Corriu Reaction. Chemistry - A European Journal, 13, 1, pp150-157.
• Christopher J O'Brien, Eric Assen B Kantchev, Cory Valente, Niloufar Hadei, Gregory A Chass, Alan Lough, Alan C Hopkinson, and Michael G Organ. 2006. Easily Prepared Air- and Moisture-Stable Pd¿NHC (NHC=N-Heterocyclic Carbene) Complexes: A Reliable, User-Friendly, Highly Active Palladium Precatalyst for the Suzuki¿Miyaura Reaction. Chemistry - A European Journal, 12, 18, pp4743-4748.
• Michael G Organ, Stephanie Avola, Igor Dubovyk, Niloufar Hadei, Eric Assen B Kantchev, Christopher J O'Brien, and Cory Valente. 2006. A User-Friendly, All-Purpose Pd¿NHC (NHC=N-Heterocyclic Carbene) Precatalyst for the Negishi Reaction: A Step Towards a Universal Cross-Coupling Catalyst. Chemistry - A European Journal, 12, 18, pp4749-4755.
• Niloufar Hadei, Eric Assen B Kantchev, and Christopher J O'Brien, and Michael G Organ. 2005. Electronic Nature of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands:  Effect on the Suzuki Reaction. Organic Letters, 7, 10, pp1991-1994.
• Niloufar Hadei, Eric Assen B Kantchev, and Christopher J O'Brien, and Michael G Organ. 2005. The First Negishi Cross-Coupling Reaction of Two Alkyl Centers Utilizing a Pd−N-Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC) Catalyst. 7, 17, pp3805-3807.
• Niloufar Hadei, Eric Assen B Kantchev, Christopher J O'Brien, and Michael G Organ. 2005. Room-temperature Negishi cross-coupling of unactivated alkyl bromides with alkyl organozinc reagents utilizing a Pd/N-heterocyclic carbene catalyst. Journal Of Organic Chemistry, 70, 21, pp8503-8507.
• Aggarwal; V. K.; Charmant, J. P. H.; Ciampi, C.; Hornby, J. M.; O¿Brien, C. J.; Hynd, G.; Parsons, R. 2001. Additions of Stabilised and Semi-Stabilised Sulfur Ylides to Tosyl Protected Imines: Are They Under Kinetic or Thermodynamic Control?. Journal Of The Chemical Society-perkin Transactions 1, , pp3159-3166.
• Aggarwal; V. K.; Ferrara, M; O¿Brien, C. J.; Thompson, A; Jones, R. V. H.; Fieldhouse, R. 2001. Scope and Limitations in Sulfur Ylide Mediated Catalytic Asymmetric Aziridination of Imines: Use of Phenyldiazomethane, Diazoesters and Diazoacetamides. Journal Of The Chemical Society-perkin Transactions 1, , pp1635-1643.

• O'Brien, C. J.; Nixon, Z. S.; Kunkel, S. R.; Chen, C.; Vogel, S.; Doonan, B., Recycling the Waste: Phosphine Oxides as Organocatalysts, The 46th Bürgenstock Conference, 01-MAY-11 - 06-MAY-11, Brunnen, Switerland
• O'Brien, Christopher J.; Carter, Andra L., Development of a Mitsunobu-like process catalytic in phosphine, 240th ACS National Meeting, 22-AUG-10 - 26-AUG-10, Boston, MA, USA
• O'Brien, Christopher J.; Tellez, Jennifer L.; Nixon, Zachary S.; Kang, Lauren J.; Carter, Andra L.; Kunkel, Stephen R.; Prezeworski, Katherine C.; Chass, Gregory A., Recycling the waste: The development of a catalytic Wittig reaction, 239th ACS National Meeting, 21-MAR-10 - 25-MAR-10, San Francisco, CA, USA
• O'Brien, Christopher J., Development of a Catalytic Wittig Reaction with Complete Stereocontrol, Gordon Research Conference: Organic Reactions and Processes, 19-JUL-09 - 24-JUL-09, Bryant University, Smithfield, RI, USA
• O'Brien, Christopher J.; Hadei, Niloufar; Kantchev, Eric Assen B.; Organ, Michael G., User-friendly palladium-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes for coupling reactions: Employing a throw away ligand approach, 230th ACS National Meeting, 28-AUG-05 - 01-SEP-05, Washington DC, USA