Benjamin R. Taft

E-Mail: btaft@chem.ucsb.edu

B.S. Chemistry (CSU, Chico) 2004

Honors & Awards
2007 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate Fellowship, Boehringer Ingelheim, UCSB
2006 Zymes Graduate Fellowship, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCSB
2005 Sam L. Nguyen Fellowship, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCSB
2004 UCSB Graduate Fellowship, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCSB
2004 Outstanding Graduating Senior in Chemistry, Dept. of Chemistry, CSUC
2004 Senior Honors Research Award, Dept. of Chemistry, CSUC
2003 Outstanding Integrated Lab Student, Dept. of Chemistry,
2002 Roche Biosciences Summer Research Stipend, Dept. of Chemistry, CSUC CSUC
2002 Floyd English Natural Sciences Scholar, Dept. of Chemistry, CSUC
2002 Outstanding Organic Chemistry Student, Dept. of Chemistry, CSUC

Current Research
(1) Design and synthesis of chiral phase-transfer agents for aqueous catalysis.
(2) Applications of chiral copper-hydride catalysis towards valuable natural products.
(3) Multiple-metal supported catalysts for use in tandem reactions.

Publications
(1) Lipshutz, B. H.; Taft, B. R. "Room-Temperature Heck Couplings in Aqueous Micelles" Organic Lett. (ASAP)
(2) Lipshutz, B. H.; Lee, C. T.; Taft, B. R. "A Conjugate Reduction Pathway to Chiral Silanes Using CuH" Synthesis 2007, (ASAP).
(3) Lipshutz, B. H.; Unger, J. B.; Taft, B. R. "Copper-in-Charcoal (Cu/C) Promoted Diaryl Ether Formation" Organic Lett. 2007, 9, 1089-1092.
(4) Nulwala, H. B.; Takizawa, K.; Thibault, R. J.; Taft, B. R.; Lipshutz, B. H.; Hawker, C. J. "Synthesis and
Charecterization of Vinyl-Triazole Based Monomers and Polymers" Polymer Preprints (ACS, Div. Pol. Chem.) 2007, 48, 333.
(5) Lipshutz, B. H.; Taft, B. R. "Heterogeneous Copper-in-Charcoal Catalyzed Click Chemistry" Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 8235-8238.
(6) Lipshutz, B. H.; Tanaka, N.; Taft, B. R.; Lee, C. T. "Chiral Silanes via Asymmetric Hydrosilylation with Catalytic CuH" Organic Lett. 2006, 8, 1963-1966.
(7) Lipshutz, B. H.; Frieman, B. A.; Lee, C. T.; Lower, A.; Nihan, D. M.; Taft, B. R. "Microwave-Assisted
Heterogeneous Cross-Coupling Reactions Catalyzed by Nickel-in-Charcoal (Ni/C)" Chem. Asian. J. 2006, 1, 417-429 (invited).
(8) Lipshutz, B. H.; Frieman, B. A.; Lee, C. T.; Lower, A.; Nihan, D. M.; Taft, B. R.; Butler, T.; Kogan, V.; Tomaso, A. "New Technologies in Catalysis Using Base Metals" Pure Appl. Chem. 2006, 78, 377-384.
(9) Taft, B. R.; Lipshutz, B. H. "Asymmetric Hydrosilylation with Ligated Copper Hydride" Chemistry Today 2006, 24, 8-11.
(10) Lipshutz, B. H.; Frieman, B. A.; Taft, B. R.; Lee, C. T.; Butler, T. "Nickel-in-Charcoal (Ni/C): An Efficient
Heterogeneous Catalyst for the Construction of C-C, C-N, and C-H Bonds" Synthesis 2005, 17, 2989-2993.
(11) Lipshutz, B. H.; Servesko, J. M.; Taft, B. R. "Asymmetric 1,4-Hydrosilylations of a,b-Unsaturated Esters" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 8353-8353.
(12) Ball, D. B.; Wood. M.; Lindsley, C.; Mollard, P.; Buzard, D. J.; Vivian, R.; Mahoney, M.; Taft. B. R. "Research,Teaching, and Professional Development at a Comprehensive University" J. Chem. Ed. 2004, 81, 1796-1800.