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 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.

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

• Tantillo, D. J. American Scientist 2019, 107, 22-23: "Wiggling and Jiggling"
• 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. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2018, 47, 7845-7850: "Questions in Natural Products Synthesis Research that Can (and Cannot) be Answered Using Computational Chemistry"
• 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"
• 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"