Bio

Prof. Gilliard is a native of Hartsville, South Carolina. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Clemson University where he was an undergraduate researcher in the laboratory of Prof. Rhett C. Smith. He earned his doctorate in chemistry at The University of Georgia working in the laboratory of Prof. Gregory H. Robinson.

Gilliard was a Merck Postdoctoral Fellow and a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow where completed joint postdoctoral studies at both the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) and Case Western Reserve University. As a part of this collaboration, he  worked with Profs. Hansjörg Grützmacher and John Protasiewicz to synthesize highly reactive phosphorus species as new chemical synthons. Gilliard joined the faculty at the University of Virginia as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in August 2017. 

Recent Publications

Wang, Guocang; Walley, Jacob E.; Dickie, Diane A.; Pan, Sudip; Frenking, Gernot; Gilliard Jr., Robert J. "A Stable, Crystalline Beryllium Radical Cation" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 4560-4564. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b13777. *Highlighted by Chemical & Engineering News: "Beryllium Radical Cation Isolated"

Yang, W.; Krantz, K.; Freeman, Lucas A.; Dickie, Diane A.; Molino, Andrew; Wilson, David J. D.; Gilliard Jr., Robert J. "Crystalline BP-Doped Phenanthryne via Photolysis of the Elusive Boraphosphaketene" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 3971-3975. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201916362

Yang, W.; Krantz, K.; Freeman, Lucas A.; Dickie, Diane A.; Molino, Pan S.; Frenking, G.; Andrew; Wilson, David J. D.; Gilliard Jr., Robert J. "Persistent Borafluorene Radicals" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 3850-3854. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201909627

Yang, W.; Krantz, K.; Freeman, Lucas A.; Dickie, Diane A.; Molino, Andrew; Aishvaryadeep, K.; Wilson, David J. D.; Gilliard Jr., Robert J. "Stable Borepinium and Borafluorenium Heterocycles: A Reversible Thermochromic "Switch" Based on Boron-Oxygen Interactions" Chem.−Eur. J. 2019, 25, 12512-12516. DOI: 10.1002/chem.201903348 *Hot Paper

Wang, Guocang; Freeman, Lucas A.; Dickie, Diane A.; Mokrai, Réka; Benkő, Zoltán; Gilliard Jr., Robert J. "Isolation of a Cyclic(Alkyl)(Amino) Carbene-Bismuthinidene Mediated by a Beryllium(0) Complex" Chem.−Eur. J. 2019, 25, 4335-4339. DOI: 10.1002/chem.201900458. *Special Collection: United Nations International Year of the Periodic Table 
* Highlighted in ChemistryViews Magazine

Walley, Jacob E.; Breiner, Grace; Wang, Guocang; Dickie, Diane A.; Molino, Andrew; Dutton, Jason L.; Wilson, David J. D.; Gilliard Jr., Robert J. "s-Block Carbodicarbene Chemistry: C(sp3)−H Activation and Cyclization Mediated by a Beryllium Center" Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 1967-1970. DOI: 10.1039/C8CC10022E