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:

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
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 carboranes 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 carborane 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-Carborane 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 Carborane Mediated C-H Functionalization of Perhalogenated 12-vertex Carborane Anions. Chem. Commun.
2022 Book Chapter: Ligands Featuring Covalently Tethered Moderate to Weakly Coordinating Anions. Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry IV (Fourth Edition)