Dean Tantillo

Research in the Tantillo group is driven by puzzling mechanistic questions. The group is particularly interested in elucidating the origins of low activation barriers and high regio- and stereoselectivities for various cascade polycyclization reactions used by Nature and by organic chemists to synthesize complex natural products, in designing new metal-promoted pericyclic reactions, and in applying quantum chemical predictions of NMR spectra to structure elucidation. A synergistic combination of theory and experiment is used to tackle such problems.

Education, Awards and Professional Highlights

• Royal Society of Chemistry's Inclusion & Diversity Prize (2017)
• Fellow, American Chemical Society, ACSF (2017)
• Associate Editor, ACS Omega (2017-2019)
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS (2016)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, FRSC (2016)
• Plenary Speaker, 27th Symposium on Physical Organic Chemistry (2016, Hiroshima, Japan)
• Bertram Dillon Steele Lectureship, U Queensland (2016)
• Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award: Graduate and Professional, UC Davis (2016)
• Editorial Board, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry (2015-present)
• Andrew Streitwieser Lectureship, UC Berkeley (2014)
• Soaring to New Heights Diversity and Principles of Community Faculty Diversity Award, UC Davis (2014)
• Natural Product Reports Lectureship (2012)
• Lawrence J. Schaad Lectureship in Theoretical Chemistry, Vanderbilt University (2011)
• Academic Senate Distinguished (Undergraduate) Teaching Award, UC Davis (2011)
• Kavli Fellow, US National Academy of Sciences (2010 and 2011)
• Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry Award for Early Excellence in the Field of Physical Organic Chemistry (2007)
• NSF CAREER Award (2005)
• Appointed to UC Davis faculty (2003)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University (2000-2003)
• Ph.D., UCLA (2000)
• A.B., Harvard University (1995)

Representative Publications

• Hare, S. R.; Pemberton, R. P.; Tantillo, D. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 7485-7493: "Navigating Past a Fork in the Road—Carbocation–π Interactions Can Manipulate Dynamic Behavior of Reactions Facing Post-Transition State Bifurcations”
• Tantillo, D. J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 10040-10045: "Importance of Inherent Substrate Reactivity in Enzyme Promoted Carbocation Cyclization/Rearrangements" 
• Hong, Y. J.; Tantillo, D. J. Nature Chem. 2014, 6, 104-111: "Biosynthetic Consequences of Multiple Sequential Post-Transition State Bifurcations"
• Nguyen, Q. N. N.; Tantillo, D. J. Chem. Asian J. 2014, 9, 674-680: "The Many Roles of Quantum Chemical Predictions in Synthetic Organic Chemistry"
• Lodewyk, M. W.; Soldi, C.; Jones, P. B.; Olmstead, M. M.; Larrucea, J. R.; Shaw, J. T.; Tantillo, D. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 18550-18553: "The Correct Structure of Aquatolide - Experimental Validation of a Theoretically-Predicted Structural Revision"
• Gutierrez, O.; Tantillo, D. J. J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 8845-8850: "Analogies Between Synthetic and Biosynthetic Reactions in which [1,2]-Alkyl Shifts are Combined with Other Events - Dyotropic, Schmidt and Carbocation Rearrangements"
• Wedler, H. B.; Cohen, S. R.; Davis, R. L.; Harrison, J. G.; Siebert, M. R.; Willenbring, D.; Hamann, C. S.; Shaw, J. T.; Tantillo, D. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1400-1404: "Computational Chemistry for the Blind and Visually Impaired"
• Zu, L.; Xu, M.; Lodewyk, M. W.; Cane, D. E.; Peters, R. J.; Tantillo, D. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 11369-11371: "Effect of Isotopically Sensitive Branching on Product Distribution for Pentalenene Synthase - Support for a Mechanism Predicted by Quantum Chemistry"
• Tantillo, D. J. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2011, 28, 1035-1053: "Biosynthesis via Carbocations: Theoretical Studies on Terpene Formation"