Aaron D Sadow
- Professor
Contact
Contact Info
Appointments
| David C. Henderson Professor | Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University | 2024–present |
| Director | Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP) | 2020–present |
| Professor | Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University | 2016–present |
| Senior Scientist | Ames National Laboratory | 2018–present |
| Director | Center for Catalysis, Iowa State University | 2012–2020 |
| Associate Professor | Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University | 2011–2016 |
| Faculty Scientist | Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University | 2010–2018 |
| Assistant Professor | Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University | 2005–2011 |
Training
My interest in organometallic chemistry and catalysis began in Ayusman Sen's research group. As an undergraduate at Penn State, I worked on synthesis of polyesters, using CO and activated alcohols as co-monomers. I continued to study organometallics in Don Tilley's group as a graduate student at UC Berkeley, working first on catalysts for polymerization of silanes to make long chains with silicon-only backbones, synthesizing possible intermediates containing reactive metal-silicon bonds, and then on related CH activation reactions and hydrocarbon functionalization catalysis. We developed two new catalytic reactions that used methane as a source for methyl groups, hydromethylation of propene and dehydrogenative simulation of methane. I then moved to ETH Zürich, where I worked with Antonio Togni on enantioselective hydroamination and hydrophosphination for the synthesis of chiral amines and phosphines.