Welcome to AJ Research Group!
From fundamental to applied
MAIN-GROUP CHEMISTRY
A brief description of Dr. Jayaraman’s research experience before joining UNLV:
Before joining UNLV, Dr. Jayaraman built a notable career in experimental inorganic chemistry, with a special focus on organometallic and sustainable main-group chemistry. His academic journey, spanning an M.Sc., Ph.D., and two postdoctoral fellowships, provided him with a wealth of hands-on experience and a strong foundation in computational chemistry, enriched by international research in Canada and Germany.
Throughout his training, Dr. Jayaraman leveraged his expertise to investigate a diverse array of research projects centered on the development of earth-abundant, cost-effective, and environmentally benign main-group compounds. His pursuit of sustainable solutions led to important advancements in catalysis and the promotion of greener chemical processes.
Notably, his work as an NSERC and Humboldt postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Holger Braunschweig at the University of Würzburg in Germany focused on the synthesis, reactivity, and computational characterization of low-valent boron compounds, including diborenes—boron-based analogues of alkenes. During his first postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Frédéric-Georges Fontaine at Université Laval in Canada, he designed industrial-scale, greener processes for the C–H borylation and hydroboration of heteroarenes using robust boron-/nitrogen-based frustrated Lewis pair catalysts. Impressively, this research was adopted by a fine-chemical company in Canada.
Dr. Jayaraman’s doctoral studies with Prof. Brian T. Sterenberg at the University of Regina, Canada, focused on preparing transition metal-complexed, highly Lewis acidic, low-coordinate phosphorus compounds, known as phosphenium ions, and examining their interactions with less nucleophilic unsaturated hydrocarbons. Earlier, as a master’s student with Prof. Allan L.L. East at the same institution, he conducted computational mechanistic studies on organometallic and organic reactions, including the rearrangement of norbornadiene to an alkylidene within a tungsten coordination sphere and the permanganate oxidation of organic sulfides.
Collectively, Dr. Jayaraman’s multifaceted international training and research have uniquely equipped him to contribute to advancing the frontiers of inorganic and sustainable chemistry at UNLV.
Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Prof. Jayaraman regarding available positions.
arumugam.jayaraman@unlv.edu