Education

1986              B.A. University of California, San Diego

1991              Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley

1991-1994    The Scripps Research Institute

Professional Experiences

2008-present           Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Chemistry

2005-present           Professor of Chemistry, U. of Pennsylvania

2002-2005                Associate Prof., U. of Pennsylvania

1999-2002                Assistant Prof., U. of Pennsylvania

1996-1999                Professor, Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana

1994-1999                Assistant Prof., San Diego State University

Research Interests

Walsh’s research interests focus on the development of new reactions, synthetic methods, and catalysts and the study of reaction mechanisms.  Current interests include enantio- and diastereoselective tandem reactions and the study of lanthanide-based catalysts.

Awards and Honors

2011                         2011 Novartis Lecturer, UC Irvine

2010                         2010 Abbott Lecturer, UC Berkeley

2008                         Alan MacDiarmid Chair in Chemistry, UPenn

2006                         Philadelphia Section Award of the ACS

2000 - 2005              Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award

1999 - 2000              SDSU Mortar Board Outstanding Faculty Award

1997 - 2002              National Science Foundation Career Award

1991 - 1993              National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship

Patrick J. Walsh received his B.A. from UC San Diego (1986) and Ph.D. in chemistry at UC Berkeley with Prof. Robert G. Bergman (Ph.D., 1991).  He was an NSF postdoctoral fellow with Prof. K. B. Sharpless at the Scripps Research Institute.  Moving across town from 1994-1999 he was an assistant professor at San Diego State University and also professor at Centro de Graduados e Investigación, Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana, Mexico (1996-1999).  In 1999 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania where he was promoted to associate professor in 2002, professor in 2005, and to the Alan G. MacDiarmid Professor of Chemistry in 2008.  Walsh’s interests are in asymmetric catalysis, development of new synthetic methods, reaction mechanisms, and inorganic synthesis.  With Prof. Marisa Kozlowski, Walsh coauthored “Fundamentals of Asymmetric Catalysis” (University Science Books, 2008).  Walsh’s outreach program has resulted in over 20 publications with Mexican scientists.

Abstract: New reactions with heterobimetallic catalysts and organocatalysts

We have been interested in the arylation of weakly acidic C–H's catalyzed by heterobimetallic catalysts with palladium and main-group metals (Li, Na, K) under basic conditions.  These catalysts exhibit increased reactivity in oxidative additions and enable the control of regioselectivity in reductive eliminations.  The application of these catalysts to a variety of challenging C–H arylation reactions will be presented.   The chemistry of sulfenate anions will be a second topic of this lecture.  These highly reactive intermediates undergo a variety of reactions, including metal catalyzed arylation reactions to generate sulfoxides.  We have demonstrated for the first time that sulfenate anions can act as catalysts and promote novel reactions.