Professor Bill Morandi studied at ETH Zürich (2003–2008), receiving a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Chemical Biology. From 2008 to 2012, he pursued his PhD in organic synthesis at the same institution in the labs of Professor Erick M. Carreira. Afterwards, he moved to the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA) for a postdoctoral stay with Professor Robert H. Grubbs. From 2014 to 2018, he was an independent Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (Mülheim, Germany), before subsequently returning to ETH Zürich as a Professor in 2018. He is currently Full Professor of Synthetic Organic Chemistry (Laboratorium für Organische Chemie) at ETH Zürich. He was the Head of the Institute of Organic Chemistry (Laboratorium für Organische Chemie) at ETH Zürich from 2022-2023. His research program targets the design and development of new catalytic reactions for the synthesis of small molecules and materials, as well as the valorization of renewable feedstocks and waste material. He has received numerous awards, among them the Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award, a Novartis Early Career Award in Organic Chemistry, the Carl Duisberg Memorial Prize from the German Chemical Society and a selection as a C&EN's Talented 12. He is currently an Associate Editor for Organic Chemistry Frontiers, a journal from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The Morandi Lab has a fundamental interest in developing innovative synthetic methodologies for applications across the molecular sciences, with a particular interest in establishing new concepts in catalysis. An interdisciplinary approach drawing from the areas of organic synthesis, organometallic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and inorganic chemistry is used to rationally design innovative catalytic solutions to major synthetic challenges in organic chemistry and polymer sciences.

Oxidative amination of unactivated alkenes via nitrogen atom insertion into carbon-carbon double bonds Yannick Brägger§, Ann-Sophie Paschke§, Nima Nasiri, Bence Botlik, Francesco Felician and Bill Morandi*Science 2025 external page DOI external page Preprint external page Chemistry World external page Chemical & Engineering News Ligand Design Enables the Palladium-Catalyzed Intermolecular Carbochlorocarbonylation of Alkynes and Cyclopentenone Formation Elliott Denton, Hendrik Schmitt, Olivera Stepanovic, Patrick Müller, Alexander Müller, Daniel Svoboda, Bill Morandi*ChemRxiv 2025 external page Preprint Shuttle HAT for mild alkene transfer hydrofunctionalization Tanner C. Jankins, Philip M. Blank, Andrea Brugnetti, Philip Boehm, Francoise Aouane, Bill Morandi*Nat. Commun. 2024, 15, 9397 Coupling of unactivated alkyl electrophiles using frustrated ion pairs Sven Roediger, Emilien Le Saux, Philip Boehm, Bill Morandi* Nature 2024 The Divergent Reactivity of Acid Chlorides Under Transition Metal Catalysis Elliott H. Denton, Olivera Stepanović, Bill Morandi* Chemistry–A European Journal 2024, e202401852 Olefination of Activated Alkyl Halides with Phosphonium Salts Sven Roediger‡, Adriana Neves Vieira‡, Cosima L. Brudy, Mischa Trabesinger, Jan Hübscher, Bill Morandi∗ Synthesis 2024 Carbon-to-nitrogen atom swap enables direct access to benzimidazoles from drug-like indoles Ann-Sophie Paschke, Yannick Brägger, Bence Botlik, Erich Staudinger, Ori Green and Bill Morandi* ChemRxiv 2024 external pagePreprint Streamlining the Synthesis of Pyridones through Oxidative Amination of Cyclopentenones Bence B. Botlik, Micha Weber, Florian Ruepp, Kazuki Kawanaka, Patrick Finkelstein and Bill Morandi* Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202408230 external pagePreprint Versatile dehydrogenation of carbonyls enabled by an iodine(III) reagent Bence B. Botlik, Patrick Finkelstein, Ann-Sophie K. Paschke, Julia C. Reisenbauer, and Bill Morandi* Chem. Commun. 2024, 60, 9254–9257 Oxidative amination of unactivated alkenes via nitrogen atom insertion into carbon-carbon double bonds Yannick Brägger§, Ann-Sophie Paschke§, Nima Nasiri, Bence Botlik, Francesco Felician and Bill Morandi* ChemRxiv 2024 external pagePreprint Regiodivergent Ring-Expansion of Oxindoles to Quinolinones Hendrik L. Schmitt, Den Martymianov, Ori Green, Tristan Delcaillau, Young Seo Park Kim, and Bill Morandi* JACS 2024, 146, 7, 4301–4308 Shuttle HAT for mild alkene transfer hydrofunctionalization Tanner C. Jankins, Philip M. Blank, Andrea Brugnetti, Philip Boehm, Francoise Aouane, Bill Morandi ChemRxiv 2024 external pagePreprint Escaping from directing groups: Enantioselective C–C bond construction from unactivated olefins Hongyu Zhong, Bill Morandi* Sci. Bull. 2024, 69, 3, 290-292 Nickel-Catalyzed Enantioselective Hydrothiocarbonylation of Cyclopropenes Song-Zhou Cai, Rongrong Yu, Can Li, Hongyu Zhong, Xichang Dong, Bill Morandi, Juntao Ye, and Xianjie Fang* Org. Lett. 2023, 25, 48, 8683–8687 Reactivity and Selectivity of Azaspirocycles in Radical C–H Functionalization Chad N. Ungarean, Egor M. Larin, Dominic T. Egger, Philipp Ziegler, Quentin Lefebvre, Thomas C. Fessard*, and Bill Morandi* Org. Lett. 2024, 26, 14, 2784–2789 Mechanistic Investigation of the Rhodium-Catalyzed Transfer Hydroarylation Reaction Involving Reversible C–C Bond Activation Marius D. R. Lutz, Sven Roediger, Miguel A. Rivero-Crespo, and Bill Morandi* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 49, 26657–26666 Direct Access to Quinazolines and Pyrimidines from Unprotected Indoles and Pyrroles through Nitrogen Atom Insertion Julia C. Reisenbauer, Ann-Sophie K. Paschke, Jelena Krizic, Bence B. Botlik, Patrick Finkelstein, and Bill Morandi* Org. Lett. 2023, 25, 47, 8419–8423 Nickel(I)–Phenolate Complexes: The Key to Well-Defined Ni(I) Species Patrick Müller, Patrick Finkelstein, Nils Trapp, Alessandro Bismuto*, Gunnar Jeschke*, and Bill Morandi* Inorg. Chem. 2023, 62, 41, 16661–16668 Modular Access to Bifunctional Norbornenes and Their Application in Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization Elliott H. Denton, Minyoung Cho, Bill Morandi, and Tae-Lim Choi* Macromolecules 2023, 56, 18, 7490–7495 Skeletal metalation of lactams through a carbonyl-to-nickel-exchange logic Hongyu Zhong, Dominic T. Egger, Valentina C. M. Gasser§, Patrick Finkelstein§, Loris Keim, Merlin Z. Seidel, Nils Trapp and Bill Morandi* Nat. Commun. 2023, 14:5273 external pagePreprint external pageResearch Highlight Late-Stage Molecular Editing Enabled by Ketone Chain-Walking Isomerization Yannick Brägger, Ori Green, Benjamin N. Bhawal*, and Bill Morandi* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 36, 19496–19502 EveRplot: A Web-Based Shiny Application for Creating Energy vs Reaction Coordinate Diagrams Michael K. Bogdos and Bill Morandi J. Chem. Educ. 2023, 100, 9, 3641–3644 Link to application external pageGitHub external pageZenodo Mechanistic Investigation of the Nickel-Catalyzed Transfer Hydrocyanation of Alkynes Julia C. Reisenbauer, Patrick Finkelstein, Marc-Olivier Ebert, and Bill Morandi ACS Catal. 2023, 13, 11548–11555 external pageSynfacts Direct Synthesis of Unprotected Indolines Through Intramolecular sp3 C–H Amination Using Nitroarenes as Aryl Nitrene Precursors Giedre Sirvinskaite, Celine S. Nardo, Patrick Müller, Aurelio C. Gasser, Bill Morandi Chem. Eur. J. 2023, e202301978 Ni-catalyzed mild hydrogenolysis and oxidations of C–O bonds via carbonate redox tags Georgios Toupalas, Loélie Ribadeau-Dumas, Bill Morandi* Nat. Commun. 2023, 14, 2604 external pagePreprint Synthesis and Reversible H2 Activation by Coordinatively Unsaturated Rhodium NHC Complexes Marius D. R. Lutz, Hongyu Zhong, Nils Trapp, Bill Morandi* Helv. Chim. Acta 2023,106, e202200199 Azide-Free Synthesis of N-Alkyliminophosphoranes from Phosphines and Hydroxylamine Derivatives Eric Falk, Allegra Franchino, Teresa Horak, Laura Gürtler, and Bill Morandi* Org. Lett. 2023 25, 1695–1700 Nitrogen atom insertion into indenes to access isoquinolines Patrick Finkelstein, Julia C. Reisenbauer, Bence B. Botlik, Ori Green, Andri Florin, and Bill Morandi* Chem. Sci. 2023 14, 2954-2959 external pagePreprint external pageChemistry World Deaminative coupling of benzylamines and arylboronic acids Giedre Sirvinskaite, Julia C. Reisenbauer and Bill Morandi* Chem. Sci. 2023 14, 1709-1714 Intermolecular Pauson–Khand-Type Reaction of Vinyl Iodides with Alkynes and a CO Surrogate Philip Boehm, Elliott H. Denton, Joel Wick, and Bill Morandi* J. Org. Chem. 2023, 88, 8, 5069–5077 Structural Evidence for Aromatic Heterocycle N–O Bond Activation via Oxidative Addition Michael K. Bogdos§, Patrick Müller§, Bill Morandi* Organometallics 2023 42, 3, 211–217 external pageCover Picture external pagePreprint Rhodium-catalyzed Anti-Markovnikov Transfer Hydroiodination of Terminal Alkynes Philip Boehm, Niklas Kehl, Bill Morandi* Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022 e202214071 external pagePreprint Controlling Selectivity in Shuttle Hetero-difunctionalization Reactions: Electrochemical Transfer Halo-thiolation of Alkynes Xichang Dong, Martin Klein, Siegfried R. Waldvogel*, Bill Morandi* Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 62, e20221363 external pageCover Picture Mechanistically informed selection rules for competing β-hydride and β-heteroatom eliminations Michael K. Bogdos, Olivera Stepanović, Alessandro Bismuto, Mauro G. Luraschi, Bill Morandi* Nat. Synth 2022, 1, 787–793 external pagePreprint external pageNat. Synth News & Views Late-​stage diversification of indole skeletons through nitrogen atom insertion Julia C. Reisenbauer§, Ori Green§, Allegra Franchino, Patrick Finkelstein, Bill Morandi* Science 2022, 377, 1104-​1109 The advent of electrophilic hydroxylamine-​derived reagents for the direct preparation of unprotected amines Valentina C. M. Gasser§, Szabolcs Makai§ and Bill Morandi * Chem. Commun., 2022, Mechanistic Investigation of the Nickel-​Catalyzed Metathesis between Aryl Thioethers and Aryl Nitriles Philip Boehm§, Patrick Müller§, Patrick Finkelstein, Miguel A. Rivero-​Crespo, Marc-​Olivier Ebert, Nils Trapp, and Bill Morandi* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 13096–13108 Pd-​Catalyzed Direct Deoxygenative Arylation of Non-​π-​Extended Benzyl Alcohols with Boronic Acids via Transient Formation of Non-​Innocent Isoureas Georgios Toupalas, Gianin Thomann, Lukas Schlemper, Miguel A. Rivero-​Crespo, Hendrik L. Schmitt, and Bill Morandi* ACS Catal. 2022, 12, 8147–8154 Nickel-​catalysed diversification of phosphine ligands by formal substitution at phosphorus Sven Roediger, Sebastian Leutenegger, Bill Morandi Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 7914–7919 Palladium-​Catalyzed Carbothiolation of Alkenes and Alkynes for the Synthesis of Heterocycles Tristan Delcaillau§, Hendrik L. Schmitt§, Philip Boehm, Eric Falk, and Bill Morandi* ACS Catal. 2022, 12, 6081–6091 Activity-​Based Approach for Selective Molecular CO2 Sensing Ori Green§, Patrick Finkelstein§, Miguel A. Rivero-​Crespo, Marius D. R. Lutz, Michael K. Bogdos, Michael Burger, Jean-​Christophe Leroux, and Bill Morandi* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 8717–8724 Non-​innocent electrophiles unlock exogenous base-​free coupling reactions Georgios Toupalas & Bill Morandi Nature Catalysis 2022, 5, 324-​333 News & Views: Carbon–carbon bond formation in reverse Hongyu Zhong and Bill Morandi Nature Synthesis 2022, 1, 264-​266 β-X vs. β-H Elimination. Selection Rules for Chemoselectivity Enabled by Mechanistic Studies Michael K. Bogdos, Olivera Stepanović, Alessandro Bismuto, Mauro G. Luraschi, Bill Morandi* ChemRxiv 2022 Development of an Operationally Simple, Scalable, and HCN-​Free Transfer Hydrocyanation Protocol Using an Air-​Stable Nickel Precatalyst Julia C. Reisenbauer, Benjamin N. Bhawal, Nicola Jelmini, and Bill Morandi* Org. Process Res. Dev. 2022, 26, 1165-​1173 A Combined Spectroscopic and Computational Study on the Mechanism of Iron-​Catalyzed Aminofunctionalization of Olefins Using Hydroxylamine Derived N–O Reagent as the “Amino” Source and “Oxidant”Sayanti Chatterjee*, Ingolf Harden, Giovanni Bistoni, Rebeca G. Castillo, Sonia Chabbra, Maurice van Gastel, Alexander Schnegg, Eckhard Bill, James A. Birrell, Bill Morandi, Frank Neese*, and Serena DeBeer* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 2637-​2656 Preparation of Recyclable and Versatile Porous Poly(aryl thioether)s by Reversible Pd-​Catalyzed C–S/C–S Metathesis Miguel A. Rivero-​Crespo, Georgios Toupalas, and Bill Morandi* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 21331-​21339 The Journey of Ni(I) Chemistry Alessandro Bismuto, Patrick Finkelstein, Patrick Müller, Bill Morandi Helv. Chim. Acta 2021, 104, e202100177. Nickel-​Catalyzed Cyanation of Aryl Thioethers Tristan Delcaillau§, Adrian Woenckhaus-​Alvarez§, and Bill Morandi* Org. Lett. 2021, 23, 18, 7018-​7022. Catalytic Carbochlorocarbonylation of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons via C–COCl Bond Cleavage Elliott H. Denton§, Yong Ho Lee§, Sven Roediger, Philip Boehm, Maximillian Fellert and Bill Morandi* Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 23435-​23443. One to Find Them All: A General Route to Ni(I)–Phenolate Species Alessandro Bismuto§, Patrick Müller§, Patrick Finkelstein, Nils Trapp, Gunnar Jeschke*, and Bill Morandi* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021 143, 10642–10648. Palladium-​Catalyzed Decarbonylative Iodination of Aryl Carboxylic Acids Enabled by Ligand-​Assisted Halide Exchange Philip Boehm§, Tristano Martini§, Yong Ho Lee, Bastien Cacherat, Bill Morandi* Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021 60, 17211–17217. Nickel-​Catalyzed Thiolation of Aryl Nitriles Tristan Delcaillau, Bill Morandi Chem. Eur. J. 2021, 27, 11823-​11826 Shuttle Arylation by Rh(I) Catalyzed Reversible Carbon–Carbon Bond Activation of Unstrained Alcohols Marius D. R. Lutz, Valentina C. M. Gasser and Bill MorandiChem 2021, 7, 1108–1119. A Site-​selective and Stereospecific Cascade Suzuki-​Miyaura Annulation of Alkyl 1,2-​Bisboronic Esters and 2,2’-​Dihalo 1,1’-​Biaryls Suzanne Willems, Georgios Toupalas, Julia C. Reisenbauer, and Bill Morandi Chem. Commun. 2021, 57, 3909.