Carlos Diaz

Expertise

• Polymer chemistry
• Formulation and synthesis of polymers and biopolymers
• Inorganic chemistry
• Catalysis
• Organic chemistry

Education

• Doctorate in catalysis and polymer chemistry (2021) – University of British Columbia, Vancouver
• Master in organic chemistry (2013) – Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)
• Bachelor in chemistry (2010) – Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia)

Experience

Passionate about green chemistry, Dr. Diaz has several years of R&D experience in Canada. After completing his doctoral studies in polymer chemistry, he worked in British Columbia on the development of biopolymer-based formulations and the scaling up of their production. He then moved to Ontario to work on various projects involving polymer synthesis and modification, biomass valorization, and technology transfer. He joined the Kemitek team in 2026.

Publications

• Diaz, C.; Fu, J.; Soobrattee, S.; Cao, L.; Nyamayaro, K.; Goonesinghe, C.; Patrick, B. O.; Mehrkhodavandi, P. Comparison of Imine- and Phosphinimine-Supported Indium Complexes: Tuning the Reactivity for the Sequential and Simultaneous Copolymerization of Lactide and ε-Caprolactone. Inorg. Chem. 2022, 61, 8, 3763-3773.
• Goonesinghe, C.; Jung, H-J., Roshandel, H.; Nyamayaro, K.; Diaz, C.; Hosseini, K.; Ezhova, M.; Mehrkhodavandi, P. An air stable cationic indium catalyst for the production of high molecular weight cyclic poly(lactic acid). ACS Catal. 2022, 12, 13, 7677-7686.
• Diaz, C.; Mehrkhodavandi, P. Strategies for the Synthesis of Block Copolymers with Biodegradable Polyester Segments. Polym. Chem. 2021, 12, 783-806.
• Diaz, C.; Tomkovic, T.; Goonesinghe, C.; Hatzikiriakos, S. G.; Mehrkhodavandi, P. One-pot Synthesis of Oxygenated Block Copolymers by Polymerization of Epoxides and Lactide Using Cationic Indium Complexes. Macromolecules, 2020, 53, 20, 8819-8828.
• Goonesinghe, C.; Roshandel, H.; Diaz, C.; Jung, H. J.; Nyamayaro, K.; Ezhova, M.; Mehrkhodavandi, P. Cationic indium catalysts for ring opening polymerization: tuning reactivity with hemilabile ligands. Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 6485.
• Soobrattee, S.; Zhai, X.; Nyamayaro, K.; Diaz, C.; Kelley, P.; Ebrahimi, T.; Mehrkhodavandi, P. Dinucleating Amino-Phenolate Platform for Zinc Catalysts: Impact on Lactide Polymerization. Inorg. Chem., 2020, 59, 8, 5546.
• Diaz, C.; Ebrahimi, T.; Mehrkhodavandi, P. Cationic indium complexes for the copolymerization of functionalized epoxides with cyclic ethers and lactide. Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 3347.
• MacQueen, P.; Tassone, J. P.; Diaz, C.; Stradiotto, M. Exploiting Ancillary Ligation To Enable Nickel-Catalyzed C-O Cross-Coupling of Aryl Electrophiles with Aliphatic Alcohols. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 5023.
• Diaz, C.; Alzate, D.; Rodríguez, R.; Ochoa, C.; Sierra, C. A. High yield and stereospecific synthesis of segmented poly (p-phenylenevinylene) by the Heck reaction. Synth. Met. 2013, 172, 32.