August 2023: Sanchita Paul

Sanchita Paul, 4th year PhD student in Dr. Lacy's lab.

• 2022 Mattern Tyler Teaching Award winner, August 2022
• 2022 Oral presentation at ACS conference, San Diego, CA, USA, March 2022.
• 2022 Oral presentation at 39^th Annual chemistry GSS, UB, NY, USA, May 2022.
• 2022 Oral presentation at Northeast Regional Meeting (NERM), Rochester, NY, October 2022.
• 2023 Oral presentation at 40^th Annual Chemistry GSS, UB, NY, USA, May 2023.
• Paul, S.; Morgante, P.; MacMillan, S. N.; Autschbach,* J.; Lacy,* D.C. Hydrogenative catalysis with three-coordinate zinc complexes supported with PN ligands is enhanced compared to PNP analogs. Chem. Eur. J. 2022, 28, e202201042. Article was also chosen as a Hot paper by the journal due to its contribution in a field of high current interest.
• Lacy,* D. C.; Paul, S.; Vigneswaran, V.; Abhyankar, P. C. Carbonyl and Isocyanide complexes of manganese, Chapter 6.06 Comprehensive organometallic chemistry IV; Elsevier 2021, 6, 449-552.
• Dasgupta, S; Paul, S.; Samanta, D.; Hansda, S.; Zangrando, E.; Das,* D. Catalytic promiscuity of two novel cobalt(III) complexes derived from redox non-innocent Schiff base ligands: Unravelling the role of methyl groups in the ligand backbone on catalytic efficiency. Inorg. Chim. Acta. 2020, 501, 119336.

My research primarily discusses the synthesis and characterization of highly reactive novel zinc(II) and manganese(II) complexes towards catalytic hydrogenation of selected polar substrates. Currently, I am working on exploring the coordination chemistry of the recently discovered bench-stable Mn(III) trichlorido complex in our lab alongside stabilizing highly reactive Zn(II) and Ti(IV) centers with organophosphorus compounds.

I enjoy being a graduate student at UB because this gave me an opportunity to be a part of a research lab with an amazing advisor and lab group who serve as guides and as friends both inside and outside of the lab. Shout out to the Lacy group! Also, the research training I received in Lacy lab for the last four years helped me build traits like communication and independent thinking.

Apart from research, I enjoy playing musical instruments, community involvement activities, and photography.