Overview
Dr. LaPointe is the director of the Catalyst Discovery and Development Laboratory in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and has been at Cornell since 2010. Prior to Cornell, she was a senior staff scientist at Symyx Technologies. While at Symyx, Dr. LaPointe developed methods for high throughput catalyst screening and discovered several new families of olefin polymerization catalysts which are used commercially. She is an inventor on more than 40 U.S. and international patents.
Research Focus
Dr. LaPointe's research interests include synthetic and mechanistic inorganic and organometallic chemistry, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, polymer chemistry, sustainable chemistry and high throughput experimentation.
Publications
Hubbell, A. K.; LaPointe, A. M.; Lamb, J. R.; Coates, G. W. “Regioselective Carbonylation of 2,2-Disubstituted Epoxides: An Alternative Route to Ketone-Based Aldol Products” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2019, 141, 2474–2480. (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b12286)
Trotta, J. T.; Watts, A.; Wong, A.; LaPointe, A. M.; Hillmyer, M. A.; Fors, B. P. "Renewable Thermosets and Thermoplastics from Itaconic Acid" ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2019, 7, 2691–2701. (DOI: 10.1021/ acssuschemeng.8b05766)
Lee, M; Lamb, J. R.; Sanford, M. J.; LaPointe, A. M.; Coates, G. W. “Nucleophilic ring opening of trans-2,3-disubstituted epoxides to b-amino alcohols with catalyst-controlled regioselectivity” Chem. Commun. 2018, 54, 12998-13001. DOI:10.1039/c8cc07200k
Xu, J; Eagan, J. M.; Kim, S.-S.; Pan, S.; Lee, B.; Klimovica, K.; Jin, K.; Lin, T.-W.; Howard, M. J.; Ellison, C. J.; LaPointe, A. M.; Coates, G. W.; Bates, F. S. “Compatibilization of Isotactic Polypropylene (iPP) and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) with iPP−PE Multiblock Copolymers” Macromolecules 2018 51, 8585-8563. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b01907
Fieser, M. E.; Schimler, S. D.; Mitchell, L. A.; Wilborn, E. G.; John, A.; Hogan, L. T.; Benson, B.; LaPointe, A. M.; Tolman, W. D. “Dual-Catalytic Decarbonylation of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters to Form Olefins” Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 7669-7672 DOI: 10.1039/C8CC03823F.
Domski, G. J.; Eagan, J. M.; De Rosa, C.; Di Girolomo, R.; LaPointe, A. M.; Lobkovsky, E. B.; Talarico, G.; Coates, G. W. “Combined Experimental and Theoretical Approach for Living and Isoselective Propylene Polymerization” ACS Catalysis 2017, 7, 6930-6937. DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.7b02107
O’Connor, K. S.; Lamb, J. R.; Vaidya, T.; Keresztes, I.; Klimovica, K.; LaPointe, A. M.; Daugulis, O.; Coates, G. W. “Understanding the Insertion Pathways and Chain Walking Mechanisms of α-Diimine Nickel Catalysts for α-Olefin Polymerization: A 13C NMR Spectroscopic Investigation.” Macromolecules 2017, 50, 7010-7027. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.7b01150
Eagan, J. M.; Xu, J.; Di Girolamo, R.; Thurber, C. M.; Macosko, C. W.; LaPointe, A. M.; Bates, F. S.; Coates, G. W. “Combining polyethylene and polypropylene: Enhanced performance with PE/iPP multiblock polymers” Science 2017, 355, 814–816. DOI: 10.1126/science.aah5744
Ohtaki, H.; Deplace, F.; Vo, G. D.; LaPointe, A. M.; Shimizu, F.; Sugano, T.; Kramer, E. J.; Fredrickson, G. H.; Coates, G. W. “Allyl-Terminated Polypropylene Macromonomers: A Route to Polyolefin Elastomers with Excellent Elastic Behavior” Macromolecules, 2015, 48, 7489-7494. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5b01975
Childers, M. I.; Longo, J.; van Zee, N. J.; LaPointe, A. M.; Coates, G. W. “Stereoselective Epoxide Polymerization and Copolymerization” Chem. Rev. 2014, 114, 8129-8152. DOI: 10.1021/cr400725x
Vaidya, T.; Klimovica, K.; LaPointe, A. M.; Keresztes, I.; Lobkovsky, E. B.; Daugulis, O.; Coates, G. W. “Secondary Alkene Insertion and Precision Chain-Walking: A New Route to Semicrystalline “Polyethylene” from α‐Olefins by Combining Two Rare Catalytic Events” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 7213-7216. DOI: 10.1021/ja502130w
Diamond, G. M.; Hall, K. A.; LaPointe, A. M.; Leclerc, M. K.; Longmire, J.; Shoemaker, J. A. W.; Sun, P. “High-Throughput Discovery and Optimization of Hafnium Heteroaryl-amido Catalysts for the Isospecific Polymerization of Propylene” ACS Catalysis 2011, 1, 887–900. DOI: 10.1021/cs200180x
Boussie, T. R.; Diamond, G. M.; Goh, C.; Hall, K. A.; LaPointe, A. M.; Leclerc, M. K.; Murphy, V.; Shoemaker, J. A. W.; Turner, H.; Rosen, R. A.; Stevens, J. C.; Alfano, F.; Busico, V.; Cipullo, R.; Talarico, G. “Nonconventional Catalysts for Isotactic Propene Polymerization in Solution Developed by Using High Throughput Screening Methods” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 3278–3283. DOI:10.1002/anie.200600240
Reiff, W. M.; LaPointe, A. M.; Whitten, E. H. “Virtual free ion magnetism and the absence of Jahn-Teller distortion in a linear two-coordinate complex of high-spin iron (II)” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 10206-10207. DOI: 10.1021/ja030632w
Boussie, T. R.; Diamond, G. M.; Goh, C.; Hall, K. A.; LaPointe, A. M.; Leclerc, M. K.; Lund, C.; Murphy, V.; Shoemaker, J. A. W.; Tracht, U.; Turner, H.; Zhang, J.; Uno, T.; Rosen, R. A.; Stevens, J. C. “A Fully Integrated High-Throughput Screening Methodology for the Discovery of New Polyolefin Catalysts: Discovery of a New Class of High Temperature Single-Site Group (IV) Copolymerization Catalysts” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 4306–4317. DOI: 10.1021/ja020868k
LaPointe, A. M. “Fe[C(SiMe3)3]2: synthesis and reactivity of a monomeric homoleptic iron(II) alkyl complex” Inorg. Chem. Acta 2003, 345, 359-362. DOI:10.1016/S0020-1693(02)01309-9
Murphy, V; Bei, X.; Boussie, T. R.; Brümmer, O.; Goh, C.; Hall, K. A.; LaPointe, A. M.; Leclerc, M. K.; Longmire, J.; Shoemaker, J. A. W.; Turner, H.; Weinberg, W. H. “High-Throughput Approaches for the Discovery and Optimization of New Olefin Polymerization Catalysts” Chem. Rec. 2002, 2, 278-289. DOI:10.1002/tcr.10025
LaPointe, A. M. “Parallel Synthesis of Aminomethylphosphine Ligands” J. Comb. Chem. 1999, 1, 101–104. DOI: 10.1021/cc980013x