Matt Whited

Education & Professional History

Davidson College, BS; California Institute of Technology, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Southern California (2009-2011)

Visiting Scholar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2022)

Highlights & Recent Activity

Organizations & Scholarly Affiliations

My research program aims to develop new molecular transformations with applications in energy and organic synthesis. We focus on synthetic and mechanistic studies of transition-metal complexes featuring unusual interactions with heavier main-group elements (especially silicon), with the goal of understanding how metals and metalloids can work in synergy to activate and transform Nature’s strongest chemical bonds. Our recent work has elucidated new mechanisms for transforming carbon dioxide and ethylene, which are ubiquitous feedstocks, at metal/silicon single and double bonds.

Research in the Whited lab is propelled by Carleton undergraduates (typically 4-8 at a time, 38 students since 2011!) during the summer and academic year. Students employ a wide range of techniques from air-sensitive synthesis to analysis by NMR and X-ray crystallography to theory and computation. They have gone on to everything from fields closely related to our work (polyurethanes chemist at Dow) to fields far from our research (software engineer, District Court law clerk), and much in between.

Check out the Whited Research Group page to learn more about out research projects and recent results!

I teach an array of courses covering introductory, organic, and inorganic chemistry, as well as lab-based courses in spectroscopy and kinetics. I am particularly passionate about helping students engage with the chemical primary literature, make connections between classes, and deal with complexity and ambiguity in the laboratory and the classroom. I have worked to bring authentic research experiences into Chemistry courses both as modules and term-long projects; an ongoing project in this area involves collaboration with the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton to explore how students develop and articulate “adaptive expertise” through undergraduate research experiences. All these projects are conducted with an eye toward implementing evidence-based, inclusive pedagogies in the classroom and laboratory.

I maintain strong interests in faculty development and mentoring and have been involved in local and national efforts in this area, such as running an early-career faculty workshop with funding from NSF-CHE. I furthered these interests during the 2020-21 academic year by serving as a Fellow of the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching at Carleton, and I will be continuing faculty development work in the sciences and mathematics as STEM Director beginning in 2023.

Since 2018 (undergraduate co-authors are underlined)

• Whited, M. T.; Han, W.; Jin-Lee, H.; DiNardo, Z.; Watson, E.; Zhang, J.; Kohen, D. “Cobalt Silylenes as Platforms for Catalytic Nitrene-Group Transfer by Metal-Ligand Cooperation” Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202205748 (“Hot Paper”).
• Whited, M. T. “Pincer-Supported Metal/Main-Group Bonds as Platforms for Cooperative Transformations” Dalton Trans. 2021, 50, 16443–16450 (invited Perspective article).
• Whited, M. T.; Ball, M. A.; Block, A.; Brewster, B. A.; Ferrer, L.; Jin-Lee, H. J.; King, C. J.; North, J. D.; Shelton, I. L.; Wilson, D. G. “Crystal structures of phosphine-supported (η⁵-cyclopentadienyl)molybdenum(II) propionyl complexes” Acta Crystallogr., Sect. E: Crystallogr. Commun. 2021, 77, 912–918.
• Whited, M. T.; Zhang, J.; Conley, A. M.; Ma, S.; Janzen, D. E.; Kohen, D. “Bimetallic, Silylene-Mediated Multielectron Reductions of Carbon Dioxide and Ethylene” Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 1615–1619.
• Anstey, M. R.; Bost, J. L.; Grumman, A. S.; Kennedy, N. D.; Whited, M. T. “Crystal Structures of trans-Acetyldicarbonyl(η⁵-cyclopentadienyl)(1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane)molybdenum(II) and trans-Acetyldicarbonyl(η5-cyclopentadienyl)(3,7-diacetyl-1,3,7-triaza-5-phosphabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane)molybdenum(II)” Acta Crystallogr., Sect. E: Crystallogr. Commun. 2020, 76, 547–551.
• Whited, M. T.; Taylor, B. L. H. “Metal/Organosilicon Complexes: Structure, Reactivity, and Considerations for Catalysis” Comm. Inorg. Chem. 2020, 40, 217–276 (Invited Contribution).
• Whited, M. T.; Zhang, J.; Donnell, T. M.; Eng, V. H.; Peterson, P. O.; Trenerry, M. J.; Janzen, D. E.; Taylor, B. L. H. “Cooperative CO₂ Scission by Anomalous Insertion into a Rh–Si bond” Organometallics 2019, 38, 4420–4432.
• Whited, M. T.; Trenerry, M.; DeMeulenaere, K. E.; Taylor, B. L. H. “Computational and Experimental Investigation of Alkene Hydrogenation by a Pincer-Type [P₂Si]Rh Complex: Alkane Release via Competitive σ-Bond Metathesis and Reductive Elimination” Organometallics 2019, 38, 1493–1501.
• Zhang, J.; Foley, B. J.; Bhuvanesh, N.; Zhou, J.; Janzen, D. E.; Whited, M. T.; Ozerov, O. V. “Synthesis and Reactivity of Pincer-Type Cobalt Silyl and Silylene Complexes” Organometallics 2018, 37, 3956–3962.
• Wei, W.; Lima, S. A. M.; Djurovich, P. I.; Bossi, A.; Whited, M. T.; Thompson, M. E. “Synthesis and Characterization of Phosphorescent Isomeric Iridium Complexes with a Rigid Cyclometalating Ligand” Polyhedron 2018, 140, 138–145.

• Jazz piano
• Running
• Oenology
• Cooking
• Science Policy
• Video games
• Board games