Sanford began her academic career as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan in 2003. She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2007 and full professor in 2013.
Research
Sanford is best known for her studies of high-valent organopalladium species, particularly those implicated in Pd-catalyzed C–H functionalization reactions.[6][7] Her group has also developed new methods to access fluorinated and radiofluorinated materials for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals[8] and radiology.[9] In a collaboration with Matthew Sigman at the University of Utah her group has designed new compounds for use in redox flow batteries.[10][11]
Awards and honors
Sanford has received numerous awards and honors including but not limited to:
Ferguson, D. M.; Bour, J. R.; Canty, A. J.; Kampf, J. W.; Sanford, M. S. "Aryl–CF3 Coupling from Phosphinoferrocene-Ligated Palladium(II) Complexes," Organometallics2019, ASAP Article.[50]
Lee, S. J.; Makaravage, K. J.; Brooks, A. F.; Scott, P. J. H.; Sanford, M. S. "Cu‐Mediated Aminoquinoline‐Directed Radiofluorination of Aromatic C–H Bonds with K18F," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2019, ASAP Article.[51]
Yang, L.; Brooks, A. F.; Makaravage, K. J.; Zhang, H.; Sanford, M. S.; Scott, P. J. H.; Shao, X. "Radiosynthesis of [11C]LY2795050 for Preclinical and Clinical PET Imaging Using Cu(II)-Mediated Cyanation," ACS Med. Chem. Lett.2018, 9, 1274–1279.[52]
Malapit, C. A.; Bour, J. R.; Brigham, C. E.; Sanford, M. S. "Base-free nickel-catalysed decarbonylative Suzuki–Miyaura coupling of acid fluorides," Nature2018, 563, 100–104.[53]
Aguilera, E. Y.; Sanford, M. S. "Model Complexes for the Palladium-Catalyzed Transannular C–H Functionalization of Alicyclic Amines," Organometallics2018, 1, 138–142.[54]
Mantell, M.; Kampf, J. W.; Sanford, M. S. "Improved Synthesis of [CpRRhCl2]2 Complexes," Organometallics2018, 37, 3240–3242.[55]
Schimler, S. D.; Froese, R. D. J.; Bland, D. C.; Sanford, M. S. "Reactions of Arylsulfonate Electrophiles with NMe4F: Mechanistic Insight, Reactivity, and Scope," J. Org. Chem.201883, 11178–11190.[55]
Cabrera, P. J.; Lee, M.; Sanford, M. S. "Second-Generation Palladium Catalyst System for Transannular C–H Functionalization of Azabicycloalkanes," J. Am. Chem. Soc.2018, 140, 5599–5606.[56]
Makaravage, K. J.; Shao, X.; Brooks, A. F.; Yang, L.; Sanford, M. S.; Scott, P. J. H. "Copper(II)-Mediated [11C]Cyanation of Arylboronic Acids and Arylstannanes," Org. Lett.2018, 20, 1530–1533.[57]
Hendricks, K. H.; Robinson, S. G.; Braten, M. N.; Sevov, C. S.; Helms, B. A.; Sigman, M. S.; Minteer, S. D.; Sanford, M. S. "High-Performance Oligomeric Catholytes for Effective Macromolecular Separation in Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries," ACS Cent. Sci.2018, 4, 189–196.[58]
James, B. R.; Boissonnault, J. A.; Wong-Foy, A. G.; Matzger, A. J.; Sanford, M. S. "Structure activity relationships in metal–organic framework catalysts for the continuous flow synthesis of propylene carbonate from CO2 and propylene oxide," RSC Adv.2018, 8, 2132–2137.[59]
Topczewski, J. T.; Cabrera, P. J.; Saper, N. I.; Sanford, M. S. "Palladium-Catalysed Transannular C–H Functionalization of Alicyclic Amines," Nature2016, 531, 220–224.[60]
Cook, A. K.; Schimler, S. D.; Matzger, A. J.; Sanford, M. S. "Catalyst-Controlled Selectivity in the C–H Borylation of Methane and Ethane," Science2016, 351, 1421–1424.[61]
Camasso, N. M.; Sanford, M. S. "Design, Synthesis, and Carbon-Heteroatom Coupling Reactions of Organometallic Nickel (IV) Complexes," Science2015, 347, 1218–1220.[62]
Hickman, A. J.; Sanford, M. S. "High-Valent Organometallic Copper and Palladium in Catalysis," Nature2012, 484, 177–185.[63]
^Dick, Allison R.; Hull, Kami L.; Sanford, Melanie S. (2004). "A Highly Selective Catalytic Method for the Oxidative Functionalization of C–H Bonds". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (8): 2300–2301. doi:10.1021/ja031543m. PMID14982422.
^Allen, Laura J.; Lee, Shin Hee; Cheng, Yang; Hanley, Patrick S.; Muhuhi, Joseck M.; Kane, Elisabeth; Powers, Stacey L.; Anderson, John E.; Bell, Bruce M. (2014-07-16). "Developing Efficient Nucleophilic Fluorination Methods and Application to Substituted Picolinate Esters". Organic Process Research & Development. 18 (8): 1045–1054. doi:10.1021/op5001258. ISSN1083-6160.
^Cabrera, Pablo J.; Yang, Xingyi; Suttil, James A.; Hawthorne, Krista L.; Brooner, Rachel E. M.; Sanford, Melanie S.; Thompson, Levi T. (2015-07-06). "Complexes Containing Redox Noninnocent Ligands for Symmetric, Multielectron Transfer Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries". The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 119 (28): 15882–15889. doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b03582. ISSN1932-7447.
^Sevov, Christo S.; Hickey, David P.; Cook, Monique E.; Robinson, Sophia G.; Barnett, Shoshanna; Minteer, Shelley D.; Sigman, Matthew S.; Sanford, Melanie S. (2017-02-21). "Physical Organic Approach to Persistent, Cyclable, Low-Potential Electrolytes for Flow Battery Applications". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 139 (8): 2924–2927. doi:10.1021/jacs.7b00147. ISSN0002-7863. PMID28219237.
^"Franco-Spanish Prize: C. Nájera / ACS Pure Chemistry Award: M. S. Sanford / AstraZeneca Award in Chemistry: V. M. Dong". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 50 (4): 801. 2011-01-24. doi:10.1002/anie.201006893. ISSN1521-3773.
^Ferguson, Devin M.; Bour, James R.; Canty, Allan J.; Kampf, Jeff W.; Sanford, Melanie S. (2019-01-04). "Aryl–CF3 Coupling from Phosphinoferrocene-Ligated Palladium(II) Complexes". Organometallics. 38 (2): 519–526. doi:10.1021/acs.organomet.8b00828. ISSN0276-7333. S2CID104361738.