Casey was raised near the small town of Lynch, Nebraska where he spent his formative years fixing fence, cultivating corn, and baling hay on the family farm. Although seemingly mundane, these experiences afforded him plenty of opportunities to contemplate the workings of the natural world. As a result, he eventually ventured off to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to learn about science and "big city" life. As an undergraduate at UNL, he joined the lab of Dr. John Belot. It was there that he discovered f-orbitals and developed a passion for inorganic chemistry. After receiving his B.S. degree from UNL in 2006, Casey traveled to Texas A&M University to pursue his Ph.D. Fascinated by the chemistry of p-block elements, he joined the research group of Prof. François Gabbaï and completed his Ph.D. research studying the Lewis acidic properties of boron and heavy main group elements. In 2011, Casey moved to MIT to work with Prof. Mircea Dincă and study the chemistry of metal-organic frameworks. He started his current position as an assistant professor of chemistry at Brandeis University in 2013.

Inorganic/organometallic/and materials synthesis. Study of site-isolated reactive sites for catalyst design and aqueous ion separation/remediation with porous materials.

Our laboratory seeks to interface molecular inorganic/organometallic chemistry and materials science with the goals of developing more effective catalysts for energy-relevant chemical transformations and materials for small molecule and ion separation. Within this scope, we will focus on understanding how the reactivity of metal fragments site-isolated in porous coordination networks differs from that of homogeneous analogs and how factors such as pore size, hydrophilicity, and charge influence the interaction of molecules and ions with functional porous materials. The development of new synthetic methods and materials will play a key role in these studies. Solution and solid state characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction, gas porosimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, ICP-OES, and NMR, IR, and UV-Vis spectroscopies will provide the toolbox for delineating the structure and function of these materials.

High Electrical Conductivity in Ni3(2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaiminotriphenylene)2, a Semiconducting Metal-Organic Graphene Analogue. Sheberla, D.; Sun, L.; Blood-Forsythe, M. A.; Er, S.; Wade, C. R.; Brozek, C. K.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Dincă, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 8859-8862. Redox and anion exchange chemistry of a stibine-nickel complex: Writing the L, X, Z ligand alphabet with a single element. Jones, J. S.; Wade, C. R.; Gabbaï, F. P. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 8876-8879. Facile deposition of multicolored electrochromic MOF thin films. Wade, C. R.; Li, M.; Dincă, M. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 13377-13381. Post-synthetic tuning of hydrophilicity in pyrazolate MOFs to modulate water adsorption properties. Wade, C. R.; Corrales-Sanchez, T.; Narayan, T.; Dincă, M. Energy Environ. Sci. 2013, 6 , 2172-2177. Investigation of the synthesis, activation, and isosteric heats of CO2 adsorption of the isostructural series of metal-organic frameworks M3(BTC)2 (M = Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Mo, Ru). Wade, C. R.; Dincă, M. Dalton Trans. 2012, 41, 7931-7938. (Link ) Harvesting 18F-fluoride ions in water via direct 18F-19F isotopic exchange: radiofluorination of zwitterionic aryltrifluoroborates and in vivo stability studies. Li, Z.; Chansaenpak, K.; Liu, S.; Wade, C. R.;Conti, P. S.; Gabbaï, F. P. Med. Chem. Commun. 2012, 3, 1305-1308. Sensing of aqueous fluoride anions by cationic stibine-palladium complexes. Wade, C. R.; Ke, I.-S.; Gabbaï, F. P. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 478-481. Fluoride anion chelation by a bidentate stibonium-borane Lewis acid. Wade, C. R.; Gabbaï, F. P. Organometallics. 2011, 30, 4479-4481. Two-electron redox chemistry and reversible umpolung of a gold-antimony bond. Wade, C. R.; Gabbaï, F. P. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 7369-7372. Synthesis, structure, and properties of a T-shaped 14 electron stiboranyl-gold complex. Wade,C. R.; Lin, T.-P.; Nelson, R. C.; Marder, E. A.; Miller, J. T.; Gabbaï, F. P. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 8948-8955. Synthesis and structure of peri-substituted boron/pnictogen naphthalene derivatives. Wade,C. R.; Saber, M. R.; Gabbaï, F. P. Heteroat. Chem. 2011, 22, 500-505. A mercury → antimony interaction. Lin, T. P.; Wade, C. R.; Pérez, L. M.; Gabbaï, F. P. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 6357-6360. Stabilization of zwitterionic aryltrifluoroborates against hydrolysis. Wade, C. R.; Zhao, H.; Gabbaï, F. P. Chem. Commun. 2010, 6380-6381. Synthesis and Lewis Acidic Behavior of a Cationic 9-Thia-10-boraanthracene. Matsumoto, T.; Wade, C. R.; Gabbaï, F. P. Organometallics 2010, 29, 5490-5495. Synthesis, structure and luminescence of 1,8-diaurionaphthalenes. Wade, C. R.; Yakovenko, A.; Gabbaï, F. P. New J. Chem. 2010, 34, 1646-1651. Fluoride ion complexation and sensing using organoboron compounds. Wade, C. R.; Broomsgrove, A. E. J.; Aldridge, S.; Gabbaï, F. P. Chem. Rev. 2010, 110, 3958-3984. Cyanide anion binding by a triarylborane at the outer rim of a cyclometalated ruthenium(II) cationic complex. Wade, C. R.; Gabbaï, F. P. Inorg. Chem. 2010, 49, 714-720. Colorimetric turn-on sensing of fluoride ions in H2O/CHCl3 mixtures by pyridinium boranes. Wade, C. R.; Gabbaï, F. P. Dalton Trans. 2009, 9169-9175. Tris(dialkylamino)aluminums: Syntheses, characterization, volatility comparison and atomic layer deposition of alumina thin films. Wade, C. R.; Silvernail, C.; Banerjee, C.; Soulet, A.; McAndrew, J.; Belot, J. A. Materials Letters 2007, 61(29), 5079-5082.

Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Two Five Coordinate Aluminum Alkyl and Bis(trimethylsilyl)amino Complexes Bearing Acyclic Tetradentate Schiff Bases. Wade, C. R.; Lamprecht, B. J.; Day, V.W.; Belot, J. A. Polyhedron 2007, 26(13), 3286-3290.