The LaVallo Lab

Translational Synthetic Chemistry

Batteries ~ Cancer Therapeutics ~ Catalysis

Natural Product Isolation from Stigmatized Plants

Left to Right: Vishal (UG), Luke (G), Stephen (G), Aaron (G), Sergio (G), Dr. Vincent Lavallo (PI)

Our Lab

Welcome to our new website!

Recent News:

May 2025:
- Congratulations to Stephen Proctor for being accepted to the DOE SCGSR program. He will be spending this Summer at NREL studying electrode interphases of Si anodes for next generation battery technology!
- JACS publication of an unusual oxoborane formed via a reversible cluster C–B bond scission of "Inert" carborates.
- ChemRXIV pre-print of a spatially-aware diffraction mapping method that enables fully autonomous MicroED.
April 2025: Check out our two new publications! Great work team.
- ACS Central Science: publication on nonflammable borohydrides and a unique ionic liquid.
- Science Advances publication of a water stable carbene! See Also UCR News and Bioengineering, and SciTechDaily
April 2025: Congrats Kathy for being accepted to the UC Leads program!
March 2025: Stephen, Aaron and Vince presented at ACS Spring 2025 in San Diego, CA.
Jan 2025: See our new collaborative paper published in Angewandte that employs carborates as counterions for active cancer therapeutics. See recent news articles at the links here: UCR News and Bioengineer
Jan 2025: Check out our new paper on the thermal dehydrocoupling of the 10v carborate anion.
December 2024: Congrats to Dr. Sergio Lovera for his successful Ph.D. defense!
October 2024: Congratulations to Ph. D. Candidate Luke Jackson for passing his Candidacy Exam.
May 2024: Congrats to Aaron & Stephen for completing their 4th Year Departmental Talks!
May 2024: Congrats to Aaron for winning the Grad Student Teaching Award!
April 2024: Aaron & Stephen Presented @ UCCS in Lake Arrowhead
Feb 2024: Big Bear Cabin Retreat with Spokoyny Lab (UCLA)
Jan 2024: Welcome Kathy, Nico, and Tony - our newest undergrads to have joined our lab!
Dec 2023: Congrats to Dr. Anton Tomich on his new ACS Central Science paper on Mg-battery electrolytes.
Dec 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Isaac Banda for successfully defending his thesis.
Dec 2023: Congratulations to Ph.D. Candidate Aaron Gregory for passing his Candidacy Exam.
Dec 2023: Congratulations to 2nd year Luke Jackson for passing his Second Year Research Exam.
June 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Varun Tej and Dr. Anton Tomich for their successful final defenses.
July 2023 Publication: V. Tej, et al. When the Ferrocene Analogy Breaks Down: Metallocene Transitionmetallation Chemistry. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
Nov 2022: Congratulations to Ph.D. Candidate Stephen Proctor for passing his Candidacy Exam.
Oct 2022 Publication: A. W. Tomich, et al. A Carboranyl Electrolyte Enabling Highly Reversible Sodium Metal Anodes via a 'Fluorine-Free' SEI. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
Aug 2022 Publication: V. Tej, et al. Fusing 10-vertex closo-Carborate Anions with N-Heterocylic Carbenes. Chem. Commun.
July 2022 Perspective: S. Proctor, et al. Searching for the Truth: Elemental Analysis - A Powerful but Often Poorly Executed Technique. ACS. Cent. Sci.
March 2022 Publication: S. O. Lovera, et al. Cesium Carborate Mediated C-H Functionalization of Perhalogenated 12-vertex Carborate Anions. Chem. Commun.
2022 Book Chapter: Ligands Featuring Covalently Tethered Moderate to Weakly Coordinating Anions. Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry IV (Fourth Edition)