California NanoSystems Institute

Print friendly page

People

Paula Diaconescu, B.Sc., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Inorganic Chemistry

Lab Director, Diaconescu Lab

Member, California NanoSystems Institute

Education:

Degrees:

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003
B.Sc., University of Bucharest, 1998

Honors and Awards:

2007 UCLA, Faculty Career Development Award
2003 - 2005 BP Postdoctoral Fellowship
2002 Bruker/MIT Symposium Poster Prize
2002 MIT Department of Chemistry Teaching Assistant Award
1997 - 1998 P & G Fellowship
1994 - 1998 University of Bucharest, National Scholarship

Academic Experience:

Academic Experience:

2003 - 2005 California Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology

Contact Information:

Email Address:	pld@chem.ucla.edu
Work Email Address:	pld@chem.ucla.edu

Laboratory Address:	Mol Sci Bldg 1210
Laboratory Address:	Mol Sci Bldg 1220
Office Address:	Mol Sci Bldg 1515

Laboratory:	http://copper.chem.ucla.edu/pldgroup/index.htm

Fax Number:	1 (310) 206-4038 Fax
Lab Number:	1 (310) 825-7937 Lab
Work Phone Number:	1 (310) 794-4809 Work

Technical Research Interest:

These elements (rare earths) perplex us in our researches, baffle us in our speculations and haunt us in our dreams. They stretch like an unknown sea before us - mocking, mystifying and murmuring strange revelations and possibilities.

Sir William Crookes, Address to the British Association, 1887

The group will focus on applications of lanthanide and actinide organometallic chemistry to organic synthesis, small molecule activation, and biological mimics. Lanthanide and early actinide chemistry has witnessed an ever increasing interest over the past two decades. Lanthanides have already found multiple uses in organic synthesis, materials, and biomedical applications. In contrast, the development of applications for early actinide and especially uranium chemistry has lagged behind and most of the studies are still of mainly academic importance. The increased study of f element chemistry reflects the belief that the unique properties of these elements will give rise to chemistry that differs from transition metal chemistry, thus extending applications beyond the d element frontier.

Samarium diiodide (SmI2) has become one of the most widely used reducing agents in organic chemistry since the report of its facile synthesis in 1977. The chemistry of SmI2 has been thoroughly reviewed and it has been found that this compound can be successfully employed in a wide variety of transformations such as radical cyclizations, ketyl-olefin coupling, pinacolic coupling, Barbier-type reactions, aldol-type reactions, Reformatsky-type reactions, conjugate additions, and nucleophilic acyl substitutions. Shortly after the initial application of SmI2 to organic synthesis, it was observed that its reactivity and/or selectivity can be strongly influenced by the presence of various additives. One direction of research in the group will have as objective the development of well defined complexes to serve as models for the observed reactivity of SmI2 in the presence of additives. These studies should ultimately lead to the design of complexes that can be used in enantioselective/catalytic applications besides adding to the understanding of low valent organolanthanide chemistry.

The relative importance of the valence 5f orbitals in the bonding and electronic structure of actinide compounds continues to be the subject of considerable debate. To address such fundamental issues, the synthesis and investigation of a diverse range of organoactinides are necessary. In this respect, low valent, on one side, and high valent, on the other side, uranium complexes are targeted. Objectives such as uranium-nitride, uranium-phosphide, uranium-carbide, and uranium-uranium bonds have so far eluded synthetic chemists, but their feasibility has been supported by theoretical studies. Once generated, these and other types of unprecedented functionality will certainly exhibit new types of interesting and equally unprecedented reactivity.

Additional Information:

Paula Diaconescu has joined the UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry department in 2005 after spending two-years as a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Robert Grubbs at California Institute of Technology. She obtained her Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Prof. Christopher Cummins at Massachusetts Institute of Technology working on arene-bridged complexes of uranium. Her earlier education was completed in Romania, where she obtained her B.S. from University of Bucharest and worked on coordination complexes of transition metals and lanthanides at University Politehnica of Bucharest. Her current research efforts focus on the design of reactive metal complexes with applications to small molecule activation, organic synthesis, and polymer formation.

Selected Publications:

Broderick, E. M. Diaconescu, P. L. , Cerium(IV) catalysts for the ring-opening polymerization of lactide, Inorg Chem, 2009, 48 (11), 4701-6.

Monreal MJ (Monreal, Marisa J.), Diaconescu PL (Diaconescu, Paula L.) , A weak interaction between iron and uranium in uranium alkyl complexes supported by ferrocene diamide ligands , Organometallics, 2008, 27 (8), 1702-1706.

Colin T. Carver and Paula L. Diaconescu, Ring-Opening Reactions of Aromatic N-Heterocycles by Scandium and Yttrium Alkyl Complexes, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 24 (130), 7558-7559.

Carver CT (Carver, Colin T.), Monreal MJ (Monreal, Marisa J.), Diaconescu PL (Diaconescu, Paula L.) , Scandium alkyl complexes supported by a ferrocene diamide ligand, Organometallics, 2008, 27 (3), 363-370.

Bercaw JE (Bercaw, John E.), Diaconescu PL (Diaconescu, Paula L.), Grubbs RH (Grubbs, Robert H.), Hazari N (Hazari, Nilay), Kay RD (Kay, Richard D.), Labinger JA (Labinger, Jay A.), Mehrkhodavandi P (Mehrkhodavandi, Parisa), Morris GE (Morris, George E.), Sunley GJ (Sunley, Glenn J.), Vagner P (Vagner, Patrick) , Conversion of methanol to 2,2,3-trimethylbutane (triptane) over indium(III) iodide, Inorganic Chemistry, 2007, 46 (26), 11371-11380.

Gallon BJ (Gallon, Benjamin J.), Kojima RW (Kojima, Robert W.), Kaner RB (Kaner, Richard B.), Diaconescu PL (Diaconescu, Paula L.) , Palladium nanoparticles supported on polyaniline nanofibers as a semi-heterogeneous catalyst in water, Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 2007, 46 (38), 7251-7254.

Monreal MJ (Monreal, Marisa J.), Carver CT (Carver, Colin T.), Diaconescu PL (Diaconescu, Paula L.) , Redox processes in a uranium bis(1,1'-diamidoferrocene) complex, Inorganic Chemistry, 2007, 46 (18), 7226-7228.

Bercaw JE, Diaconescu PL, Grubbs RH, Kay RD, Kitching S, Labinger JA, Li XW, Mehrkhodavandi P, Morris GE, Sunley GJ, Vagner P , On the mechanism of the conversion of methanol to 2,2,3-trimethylbutane (triptane) over zinc iodide, Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2006, 71 (23), 8907-8917.

Cherry JPF, Diaconescu PL, Cummins CC , Portability of the RNNMo(3+) core - Application to the synthesis of dinitrogen-derived trialkoxymolybdenum organodiazenido complexes, Canadian Journal of Chemistry, 2005, 83 (4), 302-307.

Soo, Han Sen; Diaconescu, Paula L.; Cummins, Christopher C. , A Sterically Demanding Enolate Ligand: Tantalum Ligation and Pyridine Coupling, Organometallics, 2004 (23(3)), 498-503.

Clough, Christopher R.; Greco, Jane B.; Figueroa, Joshua S.; Diaconescu, Paula L.; Davis, William M.; Cummins, Christopher C., Organic Nitriles from Acid Chlorides: An Isovalent N for (O)Cl Exchange Reaction Mediated by a Tungsten Nitride Complex, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004 (126(25)), 7742-7743.

Stephens, Frances H.; Figueroa, Joshua S.; Diaconescu, Paula L.; Cummins, Christopher C., Molybdenum-Phosphorus Triple Bond Stabilization by Ancillary Alkoxide Ligation: Synthesis and Structure of a Terminal Phosphide Tris-1-methylcyclohexanoxide Complex, J. Am. Chem. Soc. , 2003 (125(31)), 9264-9265.

Diaconescu, Paula L.; Cummins, Christopher C. , Diuranium Inverted Sandwiches Involving Naphthalene and Cyclooctatetraene, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2002 (124(26)), 7660-7661.

Agapie, Theodor; Diaconescu, Paula L.; Cummins, Christopher C., Methine (CH) Transfer via a Chlorine Atom Abstraction/Benzene-Elimination Strategy: Molybdenum Methylidyne Synthesis and Elaboration to a Phosphaisocyanide Complex, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2002 (124(11)), 2412-2413.

Agapie, Theodor; Diaconescu, Paula L.; Mindiola, Daniel J.; Cummins, Christopher C. , Radical Scission of Symmetrical 1,4-Dicarbonyl Compounds: C-C Bond Cleavage with Titanium(IV) Enolate Formation and Related Reactions, Organometallics, 2002 (21(7)), 1329-1340.

Brask, Justin K., Dura-Vila, Victor, Diaconescu, Paula L., Cummins, Christopher C. , Vanadium nitride functionalization and denitrogenation by carbon disulfide and dioxide, Chem. Commun., 2002, 902-903.