Max Garcia Melchor
Assistant Professor
Chemistry
Trinity College Dublin
Ireland
Biography
Dr. García-Melchor received his BSc in Chemistry and MSc in Theoretical Chemistry from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. His Master and Doctorate studies, supervised by Prof. Agustí Lledós and Prof.Gregori Ujaque, involved the use of computational methods to elucidate the reaction mechanisms of several palladium-catalysed C-C cross-coupling reactions. After obtaining his PhD in Chemistry in 2012, he joined the group of Prof. Núria López at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), where he conducted a postdoctoral research that allowed him to underpin the mechanisms and factors that govern several catalytic processes on metal oxides surfaces. In 2014, he was a recipient of one of the prestigious Beatriu de Pinós Postdoctoral Fellowships to conduct a second postdoctoral stay in the research group of Prof. Jens K. Nørskov at Stanford University. During this period, his research contributed to the understanding of the electrochemical water oxidation reaction catalysed by various metal-oxide-based materials, as well as to guide the design of high-performance catalysts for this process. Since November 2016, he is an Ussher Assistant Professor in Chemical Energy Systems in the School of Chemistry at Trinity College Dublin. His research group at Trinity focuses on the theoretical description of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic reactions with energy-related applications, and the design of more efficient materials for the development of renewable energy technologies. Throughout his scientific career, he has received several national and international awards, including the Springer Theses Award and the Sant Jordi Award from the Catalan Chemical Society. Over the last five years, he has authored or co- authored more than 25 research articles in the most prestigious scientific journals such as Science, Nature Communications, and Nature Energy, as well as 2 book chapters. He is also member of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry and its Organometallic Chemistry Specialized Group (since 2010), and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (since 2015).
Research Interest
Homogeneous catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, electrocatalysis, density functional theory, reaction mechanisms, renewable energies, fuel cells, energy storage, 2D-materials.
Publications
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Carchini G, GarcÃa-Melchor M, Lodziana Z, López N, Understanding and Tuning the Intrinsic Hydrophobicity of Rare-Earth Oxides: A DFT+U Study, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 8, (1), 2016, p152 - 160
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Pérez-RodrÃguez M, Braga A A C, GarcÃa-Melchor M, Pérez-Temprano M H, Casares J A, Ujaque G, De Lera A R, Ãlvarez R, Maseras F, Espinet P, C-C reductive elimination in palladium complexes, and the role of coupling additives. A DFT study supported by experiment, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131, (10), 2009, p3650 - 3657
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Delpozo J, Carrasco D, Pérez-Temprano M H, GarcÃa-Melchor M, Ãlvarez R, Casares J A, Espinet P, Stille coupling involving bulky groups feasible with gold cocatalyst, Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 52, (8), 2013, p2189 - 2193
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Capdevila-Cortada M, GarcÃa-Melchor M, López N, Unraveling the structure sensitivity in methanol conversion on CeO2: A DFT + U study, Journal of Catalysis, 327, 2015, p58 - 64
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Wei M-M, GarcÃa-Melchor M, Daran J-C, Audin C, Lledós A, Poli R, Deydier E, Manoury E, Coordination chemistry of new chiral P,N ferrocenyl ligands with half-sandwich ruthenium(II), rhodium(III), and iridium(III) complexes, Organometallics, 31, (18), 2012, p6669 - 6680
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GarcÃa-Melchor M, Pacheco M C, Nájera C, Lledós A, Ujaque G, Mechanistic exploration of the Pd-catalyzed copper-free Sonogashira reaction, ACS Catalysis, 2, (1), 2012, p135 - 144
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Carrasco D, GarcÃa-Melchor M, Casares J A, Espinet P, Dramatic mechanistic switch in Sn/AuI group exchanges: Transmetalation vs. oxidative addition, Chemical Communications, 52, (23), 2016, p4305 - 4308
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Fuentes B, GarcÃa-Melchor M, Lledós A, Maseras F, Casares J A, Ujaque G, Espinet P, Palladium round trip in the Negishi Coupling of trans- [PdMeCl(PMePh2)2] with ZnMeCl: An experimental and DFT study of the transmetalation step, Chemistry - A European Journal, 16, (29), 2010, p8596 - 8599
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GarcÃa-Melchor M, Gorelsky S I, Woo T K, Mechanistic analysis of iridium(III) catalyzed direct C-H arylations: A DFT study, Chemistry - A European Journal, 17, (49), 2011, p13847 - 13853
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GarcÃa-Melchor M, Fuentes B, Lledós A, Casares J A, Ujaque G, Espinet P, Cationic intermediates in the Pd-catalyzed Negishi coupling. Kinetic and density functional theory study of alternative transmetalation pathways in the Me-Me coupling of ZnMe2 and trans -[PdMeCl(PMePh2) 2], Journal of the American Chemical Society, 133, (34), 2011, p13519 - 13526
