David C. Lacy

PhD

David C. Lacy.

David C. Lacy

PhD

David C. Lacy

PhD

Research Interests

Synthetic inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and organometallic chemistry. Coordination chemistry of transition metal catalysts and reagents. Catalysis and reaction mechanism.

Education and Training

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

Awards and Honors

  • 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)

Specializations

Coordination chemistry, reactivity, and mechanisms of transition metal catalysts

Research Summary

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.

Selected Recent Publications

  • Paul, S.; Saju, A.; Cohen, C.; Crawley, M. R.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy, D. C. Synthesis of Mn(III)X3 (X = Cl, Br, I) Compounds with Phosphine (R3P) Ligands. Inorg. Chem. 2024, 63, 15791-15803.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c01820
  • Saju, A.; Crawley, M. R.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy, D. C. Manganese(III) Nitrate Complexes as Bench-Stable Powerful Oxidants. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2024, 146, 11616-11621. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c03411
  • 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, 145, 13384-13391. 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.