• NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology, CA, 2012-2015
• PhD, University of California-Irvine, CA, 2012
• BS, Colorado State University, CO, 2007

• UB’s Exceptional Scholar – Young Investigator Award, 2020
• Arthur E. Martell Early Career Researcher Prize, 2020
• NSF CAREER Award, 2019
• NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F32GM106726)

Coordination chemistry, reactivity, and mechanisms of transition metal catalysts

The medicinal chemist’s synthesis toolbox consists of toxic and expensive Rh, Ru, and Pd catalysts. Continued use of these metals is unsustainable since they are not made from earth-abundant materials. A solution to this problem is to use abundant transition metal elements. However, to achieve this outcome, significant research is required to make new compounds and understand their properties and potential applications. This is where our research is focused: synthesis and application of new transition metal catalysts and reagents made from earth abundant elements. Our research spans the entire first row, with focused efforts on Ti, Mn, Fe, and Zn. The fruit of this labor has been the discovery of several new bench-stable reagents and catalysts, such as [MnCl₃(OPPh₃)₂] and [(CO)₄Mn(µ-H)(µ-PR₂)Mn(CO)₄].

• Saju,^§ A.; Gunasekera,^§ P. S.; Morgante, P.; MacMillan, S. N.; Autschbach,* J.; Lacy,* D. C. Experimental and computational determination of a M–Cl homolytic bond dissociation free energy: Mn(III)Cl mediated C–H cleavage and chlorination. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c03651. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c03651. § = equally contributing.
• Lacy,* D. C.; Abhyankar, P. C. Dinuclear Mn(I) complexes with phosphido and hydrido bridges: synthesis, reactivity, and hydrogenative catalysis Chem. Eur. J. 2023, e202300518. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202300518
• Saju, A.; Griffiths, J. R.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy,* D. C. Synthesis of a bench-stable manganese(III) chloride compound: coordination chemistry and alkene dichlorination. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 16761-16766 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c08509
• Abhyankar, P. C.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy,* D. C. Bench-stable dinuclear Mn(I) catalysts in E-selective alkyne semihydrogenation: a mechanistic investigation Chem., Eur. J. 2022, 28, e202201766. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202201766
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202201042
• Fanara,^§ P. M.; Vigneswaran,^§ V.; Gunasekera, P. S.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy,* D. C. Reversible photoisomerization in a Ru cis-dihydride catalyst accessed through atypical metal–ligand cooperative H₂ activation: photoenhanced acceptorless alcohol dehydrogenation Organometallics 2022, 41, 93-98. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.organomet.1c00648. § = equally contributing.
• Lacy,* D. C. Applications of the Marcus cross relation to inner sphere reduction of O₂: implications in small-molecule activation. Inorg. Chem. Front. 2019, 6, 2396-2403. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9QI00828D  
• Kadassery, K. J.; Lacy,* D. C. Pentacarbonylmethylmanganese(I) as a synthon for Mn(I) pincer catalysts. Dalton Trans. 2019, 48, 4467-4470. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9DT00529C
• Vigneswaran, V.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy,* D. C. Beta-amino phosphine Mn catalysts for 1,4-transfer hydrogenation of chalcones and allylic alcohol isomerization. Organometallics 2019, 38, 4387-4391. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.organomet.9b00692
• Surendhran,^‡ R.; D’Arpino,^‡ A. A.; Sciscent,^‡ B. Y.; Cannella, A. F.; Friedman, A. E.; MacMillan, S. N.; Rupal, G.; Lacy,* D. C. Deciphering the mechanism of O₂ reduction with electronically tunable non-heme iron enzyme model complexes. Chem. Sci. 2018,9, 5773-5780. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC01621F. ‡ = undergraduate author.
• Kadassery, K. J.; Dey, S. K.; Cannella, A. F.; Surendhran,^‡ R.; Lacy,* D. C. Photochemical water-splitting with organomanganese complexes. Inorg. Chem. 2017, 56, 9954-9965. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01483. ‡ = undergraduate author.