Yvan was born in 1970. He graduated from l'X (École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France) in 1993. In 1997, after the completion of his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Yves Lallemand at the same institution, he joined the group of Prof. William B. Motherwell at University College London (UK), where he worked on the design of polymer catalysts using the molecular imprinting technology. He returned to France in 1999 to take a second postdoctoral position, with Prof. Samir Z. Zard at the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN) in Gif-sur-Yvette, where his main project dealt with cascade reactions using the radical chemistry of dithiocarbonates (xanthates).

He was hired by the CNRS as a "Chargé de Recherche" in 2000. He started developing his own research topics at ICSN and moved back to l'X in 2010. His current scientific interests focus on the development of novel methods based on the combined use of polar organometallic reagents and Ti(OiPr)4, the chemistry of cyclopropanes and the synthesis of biologically active molecules.