Synthetic inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and organometallic chemistry. Coordination chemistry of transition metal catalysts and reagents. Catalysis and reaction mechanism.
Coordination chemistry, reactivity, and mechanisms of transition metal catalysts
Manganese(III), nature’s highest-potential one-electron oxidant (1.23 V vs NHE), plays a central role in biological processes such as photosynthesis and carbon cycling. Despite its natural significance, its high-potential properties in synthetic chemistry remain untapped due to the absence of well-defined, accessible Mn(III) reagents. The Lacy group has overcome this limitation by developing bench-stable high-potential (>1.23 V vs NHE) Mn(III) complexes and is now investigating their reactivity to enable new synthetic methodologies with implications across several disciplines. Some publications describing this work are provided below.