UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry : UCLA Portal

Website:

Yves Rubin's Laboratory.

Work Email Address:

rubin@chem.ucla.edu

Laboratory Address:

Mol Sci Bldg 4224

Work Address:

Mol Sci Bldg 4515

Lab Number:

1 (310) 825-9505

Work Phone Number:

1 (310) 206-2338

Professor
Chemistry and Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry

A Short Biography:

Yves Rubin received his diploma in chemistry in 1987 from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland with Professors Albert Gossauer and Alexander von Zelewski as thesis advisors. He received his Ph.D. degree at UCLA in 1991 under the guidance of Professor François Diederich. After working as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Ronald Breslow at Columbia University in joined the faculty at UCLA in 1992.

Awards and Honors:

(National Prize for a Young Swiss Chemist) Ruzicka Prize ; NSF Young Investigator Award ; UCLA Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award ; UCLA Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award ; UCLA Departmental Teaching Assistant Award ; UCLA Faculty Career Development Award ; UCLA Herbert Newby McCoy Award ; UCLA Seaborg Award ; Products Research Corporation Research Award ; Saul Winstein Dissertation Award ; Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow ; Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship

Research Interest:

Our research program is motivated by the need to create and explore novel organic materials for future technological applications. We use the tools of modern synthetic and physical-organic chemistry to prepare and study novel and often esthetically pleasing molecules with important electronic properties. Our major research effort is aimed at the synthesis of endohedral metal complexes of buckminsterfullerene (C60). We have been using a "molecular surgery" strategy consisting in the opening of the fullerene cage through controlled reactions, insertion of small atoms or molecules, and reclosure through chemical transformations. We are also studying organic ferromagnets based on high spin networks constructed from novel stable organic radicals. A third area of research is dealing with electron-rich molecules as precursors of organic conductors and superconductors.

Detailed Biography:

Prof. Yves Rubin has been a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry since 1992. He came to UCLA after doing Postdoctoral research with Prof. Ronald Breslow at Columbia University. Prior to this, he received his Ph.D. under the guidance of Prof. François Diederich at UCLA. Prof. Rubin is a native of the French part of Switzerland and received received his diploma in chemistry in 1987 from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland with Professors Albert Gossauer and Alexander von Zelewski. Dr. Rubin was promoted to full professor in 2001. His current research is aimed at the synthesis of the still unknown endohedral fullerene complexes of the transition metals, which should display remarkable electronic and materials properties once available.

Publications:

Clavaguera, S.; Khan, S. I.; Rubin, Y. Unexpected De-Arylation of a Pentaaryl Fullerene Org. Lett., 2009; 11: 1389-1391.

Chuang, S.-C.; Sander, M. Jarrosson, T.; James, S.; Rozumov, E. Khan, S. I.; Rubin, Y. Approaches to Open Fullerenes: Synthesis and Kinetic Stability of Diels-Alder Adducts of Substituted Isobenzofurans and C60 J. Org. Chem., 2007; 72: 2716-2723.

Sander, M. Jarrosson, T.; Chuang, S.-C.; Khan, S. I.; Rubin, Y. Approaches to Open Fullerenes: Synthesis and Thermal Stability of cis-1 Bis(isobenzofuran) Diels-Alder Adducts of C60 J. Org. Chem., 2007; 72: 2724-2731.

Chuang, S.-C.; Clemente, F. R.; Khan, S. I.; Houk, K. N.; Rubin, Y. Approaches to Open Fullerenes: A 1,2,3,4,5,6-Hexaadduct of C60 Org. Lett., 2006; 8: 4525-4528.

Chuang, S.-C.; Clemente, F. R.; Khan, S. I.; Houk, K. N.; Rubin, Y. Switch of Electronic Reactivity in Fullerene C60: Activation of Three trans-4 Positions via Temporary Saturation of the cis-1 Positions Org. Lett., 2006; 8: 6075-6078.

Clark, A. P.-Z.; Cadby, A. J.; Shen, C. K.-F.; Rubin, Y.; Tolbert, S. H. Synthesis and Self-Assembly of an Amphiphilic Poly(Phenylene Ethynylene) Ionomer J. Phys. Chem. B, 2006; 110: 22088-22086.

Clark, A. P.-Z.; Shen, K.-F.; Rubin, Y. F.; Tolbert, S. H. An Amphiphilic Poly(phenylene ethynylene) as the Structure-Directing Agent for Periodic Nanoscale Silica Composite Materials Nano Lett., 2005; 5: 1647-1652.

Zheng, S.; Thompson, J. D.; Tontcheva, A.; Khan, S. I.; Rubin, Y. Perchloro-2,5,8-triazaphenalenyl Org. Lett., 2005; 7: 1861-1863.

Qian, W.; Chuang, S.-C.; Amador, R. B.; Jarrosson, T.; Sander, M.; Pieniazek, S.; Khan, S. I.; Rubin, Y. Synthesis of Stable Derivatives of C62: The First Nonclassical Fullerene Incorporating a Four-Membered Ring J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2003; 125: 2066-2067.

Zheng, S.; Lan, J.; Khan, S. I.; Rubin, Y. Synthesis, Characterization, and Coordination Chemistry of the 2-Azaphenalenyl Radical J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2003; 125: 5786-5791.

Asselberghs, I.; Zhao, Y.; Clays, K.; Persoons, A.; Comito, A.; Rubin, Y. Reversible Switching of Molecular Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Polarizability Through Proton Transfer Chem. Phys. Lett., 2002; (364): 279-283.

Rubin, Y.; Jarrosson, T.; Wang, G.-W.; Bartberger, M. D.; Schick, G.; Saunders, M.; Cross, R. J.; Houk, K. N. Insertion of Helium and Molecular Hydrogen Through the Orifice of an Open Fullerene Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 2001; (40): 1543-1546.