Published Investigations

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9. Cu-catalyzed 1,1-Aminoboration

Leonel Jimenez Barrios, Stephanie Wu,+ Nicholas R. McDonald, Wesley D. Hatcher, Manuel L. Manzanares Jr.,+ Erik A. Romero*. "An Exogenous Base-Free Cu-Catalyzed Multicomponent Synthesis of 1,1-Aminoboranes from Alkylamines and Aldehydes" ACS Catal. 2026, online. DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.6c04564.

+Undergraduate author

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8. B2pin2 Degradation

Wesley D. Hatcher, Satheesh Vanaparthi, Michael C. Young, Erik A. Romero*. "Revisiting the Bench Stability of B2pin2" Organometallics 2026, online. DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.6c00167.

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7. Highlight: Chalcone Transposition

Carlos Cruz, Jonathan Galicia, Erik A. Romero*. "Diverting Established Enone Reactivity through Excited-State Umpolung" Synlett 2026, online. DOI: 10.1055/a-2919-0927.

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6. Chalcone Transposition

Carlos Cruz,† Jonathan Galicia,† Samantha Bowers,+ Junze Hua,+ Erik A. Romero*. "Visible Light-Driven Contra-Thermodynamic Functional Group Transposition of Chalcones" J. Am Chem. Soc. 2026, 148, 801.

†Contributed equally, +Undergraduate author

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5. Cu-catalyzed 1,1-Aminosilylation

Leonel Jimenez Barrios, Manuel L. Manzanares Jr.,+ Melissa Zamora,+ Erik A. Romero*. "Sustainable synthesis of diverse 1,1-aminosilane libraries using a multicomponent Cu-catalyzed reaction" Org. Lett. 2025, 27, 7100.

+Undergraduate author

Organic Synthesis Portal

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4. Pd-catalyzed C-H Arylation

Delphine Pichon-Barré,† Nicholas McDonald,† Erik A. Romero*. "Fluorine-Based Oxidant Enables Room-Temperature Pd-Catalyzed C–H Arylation with Boronic Acids" J. Org. Chem. 2025, 90, 3989.

†Contributed equally

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3. Photoredox C-H Arylation

Christopher W. Bennett, Nicholas R. McDonald, Almeera Siddiqui,+ Erik A. Romero*. "Organophotoredox Pd-Catalyzed C–H Arylation at Room Temperature using Diaryliodonium Salts" ChemPhotoChem 2024, e202400285.

+Undergraduate author

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2. PC-free Aryl Radical Generation

Jonathan Galicia,† Nicholas R. McDonald,† Christopher W. Bennett, Jiajun He,+ Mark D. Glossbrenner,+ Erik A. Romero*. "Exogenous Photocatalyst-Free Aryl Radical Generation from Diaryliodonium Salts and use in Pd-Catalyzed C–H Arylation" Chem. Commun. 2024, 60, 6929.

†Contributed equally, +Undergraduate author

Mobirise

1. Understanding Aminoboranes

Alexander A. Braddock, Grace E. Lee,+ Emmanuel A. Theodorakis, Erik A. Romero*. "Interrogating Redox and Lewis Base Activations of Aminoboranes" Organometallics 2022, 41, 3845.

+Undergraduate author

Pre-print Articles

Publications Prior to Independence

Postdoctoral Research
3. M. Angeles Fuentes, R. Gava, N. I. Saper, E. A. Romero, A. Caballero, J. F. Hartwig, P. J. Pérez. “Copper‐Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Amidation of Light Alkanes” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 18467.
2. R. Oeschger, B. Su, C. Ehinger, I. Yu, E. A. Romero, S. He, J. F. Hartwig. “Diverse Functionalization of Strong, Alkyl C-H Bonds by Undirected Borylation” Science 2020, 368, 736.
1. J. F. Hartwig and E. A. Romero. “Iridium-Catalyzed Silylation of Unactivated C-H Bonds” Tetrahedron 2019, 75, 4059. Invited special issue in honor of Professor John Hartwig; 2018 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry; 'Methods, Applications and Synthesis'.

Doctoral Research
10. E. A. Romero, G. Chen, M. Gembicky, R. Jazzar, J.-Q. Yu, G. Bertrand. “Understanding the Activity and Enantioselectivity of Acetyl-Protected Aminoethyl Quinoline Ligands in Palladium-Catalyzed β-C(sp3)-H Bond Arylation Reactions” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 16726.
9. G. P. Junor, E. A. Romero, X. Chen, R. Jazzar, G. Bertrand. “Readily Available Primary Aminoboranes as Powerful Reagents for Aldimine Synthesis” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 2875. Designated as a Very Important Paper (VIP).
8. V. Regnier, E. A. Romero, F. Molton, R. Jazzar, G. Bertrand, D. Martin. “What are the radical intermediates in oxidative NHC-organocatalysis?” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 1109.
7. E. A. Romero, T. Zhao, R. Nakano, X. Hu, Y. Wu, R. Jazzar, G. Bertrand. “Tandem Copper Hydride - Lewis Pair Catalyzed Reduction of Carbon Dioxide into Formate with Dihydrogen” Nat. Catal. 2018, 1, 743. Highlighted in Nat. Catal. 2018, 1, 739.
6. J. K. Mahoney, V. Regnier, E. A. Romero, F. Molton, G. Royal, R. Jazzar, D. Martin, G. Bertrand. “The Serendipitous Discovery of a Readily Available Redox-Bistable Molecule Derived from Cyclic(alkyl)(amino)carbenes” Org. Chem. Front. 2018, 5, 2073.
5. E. A. Romero, P. M. Olsen, R. Jazzar, M. Soleilhavoup, M. Gembicky, G. Bertrand. “Spectroscopic Evidence for a Monomeric Copper(I) Hydride, and Crystallographic Characterization of a Monomeric Silver(I) Hydride” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 4024. Designated as a Hot Paper and highlighted in chemistryviews.
4. E. A. Romero, R. Jazzar, G. Bertrand. “(CAAC)CuX-Catalyzed Hydroboration of Terminal Alkynes with Pinacolborane Directed by the X-Ligand” J. Organomet. Chem. 2017, 829, 11.
3. E. A. Romero, R. Jazzar, G. Bertrand. “Copper-Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Borylation of Terminal Alkynes with Pinacolborane” Chem. Sci. 2017, 8, 165. Highlighted by P. Knochel and D. Haas in Synfacts 2016, 12, 1191.
2. E. A. Romero, J. L. Peltier, R. Jazzar, G. Bertrand. “Catalyst-Free Dehydrocoupling of Amines, Alcohols, and Thiols with Pinacolborane and 9-Borabicyclononane (9-BBN)” Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 10563.
1. L. Jin, E. A. Romero, M. Melaimi, G. Bertrand. “The Janus Face of the X Ligand in the Copper Catalyzed Azide Alkyne Cycloaddition” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 15696.

Undergraduate Research
1. E. A. Romero, B. Nguyen, J. Sanabria, E. Varady, I.-C. Wang, T. H. Morton. “Two Faces of Dimethoxyalkanes: Steric Repulsion and Hyperconjugative Stabilization” UCR Undergraduate Research Journal 2014, 8, 57.

earomero@ucsd.edu

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