Paula Diaconescu 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.

Nanoscience and Materials/Synthesis/Theory/inorganic

Dr. Paula Diaconescu's current research efforts focus on the design of reactive metal complexes with applications to small molecule activation, organic synthesis, and polymer formation.

Synthesis of symmetrically and unsymmetrically 3,5-dimethylbenzyl-substituted 1,1'-ferrocene diamines. Jason A. Lee, Bryan N. Williams, Kevin R. Ogilby, Kevin L. Miller and Paula L. Diaconescu J. Organomet. Chem. 2011, ASAP DOI:10.1016/j.jorganchem.2011.06.043 Redox control of a polymerization catalyst by changing the oxidation state of the metal center. Erin M. Broderick, Neng Guo, Tianpin Wu, Carola S. Vogel, Cuiling Xu, Jörg Sutter, Jeffrey T. Miller, Karsten Meyer, Thibault Cantat and Paula L. Diaconescu Chem. Commun. 2011, 47 9897-9899 Molecular quadrangle formation from a diuranium mu-eta6,eta6-toluene complex. Marisa J. Monreal, Saeed I. Khan, Jaqueline L. Kiplinger and Paula L. Diaconescu Chem. Commun. 2011, 47 9119-9121 Scandium Arene Inverted-Sandwich Complexes Supported by a Ferrocene Diamide Ligand. Wenliang Huang, Saeed I. Khan, and Paula L. Diaconescu J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133(27) 10410-10413 Redox Control of a Ring-Opening Polymerization Catalyst. Erin M. Broderick, Neng Guo, Carola S. Vogel, Cuiling Xu, Joerg Sutter, Jeffrey T. Miller, Karsten Meyer, Parisa Mehrkhodavandi, and Paula L. Diaconescu J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133(24) 9278–9281 Complexes of Gold(I), Silver(I), and Copper(I) with Pentaaryl[60]fullerides. Merissa Halim, Robert D. Kennedy, Mitsuharu Suzuki, Saeed I. Khan, Paula L. Diaconescu, and Yves Rubin J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133(17) 6841–6851 An Unusual Hydrogen Migration/C–H Activation Reaction with Group 3 Metals. Bryan N. Williams, Diego Benitez, Kevin L. Miller, Ekaterina Tkatchouk, William A. Goddard, III, and Paula L. Diaconescu J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133(13) 4680–4683