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Professional Experience

• Assistant Professor, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2020–2023
• Postdoc, Texas A&M University, 2017–2020

Education

• Ph.D., Chemistry, University of South Florida, 2016
• B.E., Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, China, 2011

Research

• Materials Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Synthesis
• Chemical Catalysis
• Sustainability

Research efforts in the Gao group focus on driving the synthetic innovation of advanced materials and leveraging them for energy- and sustainability-related critical issues. Projects span inorganic, organic, materials, and organometallic chemistries. Confined nanospace within porous materials, including metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and organic cages, provides unlimited opportunities and intriguing tools to interrogate fundamental questions in a variety of areas. We are seeking students who wish to gain expertise in synthetic chemistry and material applications.

Students working in the Gao group will gain expertise in various facets of synthetic inorganic and material chemistry. They will become skilled at using NMR, FT-IR, gas adsorption, UV-vis spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction methods to characterize their synthesized materials. They have opportunities to access Synchrotron X-ray radiation to investigate their material structures. They are encouraged to attend local and national conferences to disseminate their most exciting results.

Selected Publications

• Salvador, F. E.; Barajas, J. O.; Gao, W.-Y.* Mechanochemical Access to Catechol-derived Metal-Organic Frameworks. Inorg. Chem. 2023, 62, 3333–3337. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c04019.
• Salvador, F. E.; Miller, V.; Shimada, K.; Wang, C.-H.; Wright, J.; Das, M.; Chen, Y.-P.; Chen, Y.-S.; Sheehan, C.; Xu, W.; Rubasinghege, G.; Gao. W.-Y.* Mechanochemistry of Group 4 Element-Based Metal−Organic Frameworks. Inorg. Chem. 2021, 60, 16079–16084. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c02704.
• Jackson, N.; Vazquez, I. R.; Chen, Y.-P.; Chen, Y.-S.; Gao, W.-Y.* A porous supramolecular ionic solid. Chem. Commun. 2021, 57, 7248–7251. DOI: 10.1039/D1CC02806E.
• Gao, W.-Y.; Sur. A.; Wang, C.-H.; Lorzing, G. R.; Antonio, A. M.; G. A. Taggart; Ezazi, A. A.; Bloch, E. D.; Powers, D. C. Atomically Precise Crystalline Materials Based on Kinetically Inert Metal Ions via Reticular Mechanopolymerization. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 10878–10883. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202002638.
• Wang, C.-H.; Gao, W.-Y.; Powers, D. C. Measuring and Modulating Substrate Confinement during Nitrogen-Atom Transfer in a Ru₂-Based Metal-Organic Framework. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 19203–19207. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b09620.
• Gao, W.-Y.; Wu, H.; Leng, K.; Sun, Y.; Ma, S. Inserting CO₂ into Aryl C–H Bonds of Metal-Organic Frameworks: CO₂ Utilization for Direct Heterogeneous C-H Activation. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 5472–5476. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201511484.
• Gao, W.-Y.; Chen, Y.; Niu, Y.; Williams, K.; Cash, L.; Perez, P. J.; Wojtas, L.; Cai, J.; Chen, Y.-S.; Ma, S. Crystal Engineering of an nbo Topology Metal-Organic Framework for Chemical Fixation of CO₂ under Ambient Conditions. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 2615–2619. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201309778.