Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Biography

2017-present

Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame

2011-2017

Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame

2008-2011

Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology

2009

Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of Chicago

2003

M.S. in Chemistry, The University of Chicago

2000

B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania

Selected Awards

2016

NSF CAREER Award

2016

ChemComm Emerging Investigator

2016

Dalton Transactions New Talent Americas across academia and US national laboratories

2016

Inorganica Chimica Acta Next Generation

2008-2011

BP Postdoctoral Fellowship

2002-2004

McCormick Graduate Fellowship

Research Interests

The Iluc research group focuses on the activation and functionalization of inert molecules, with an emphasis on C–H bonds. These are imperative scientific problems since less expensive and more readily available feedstocks could be employed to meet some of today's energy demands.The approach used by the Iluc group is the design of metal complexes that take advantage of latent reactivity: either electrophilic metal centers protected by weak interactions with a supporting ligand or that arising from metal-ligand cooperation. The group will span synthesis, characterization, and mechanistic studies with an emphasis on the understanding of reactivity and design of new catalytic cycles.

Recent Publications

• Hoffbauer, M. R. and Iluc, V. M. "[2+2] Cycloadditions with an Iron Carbene: A Critical Step in Enyne Metathesis" 2021 Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143 (15), pp.5592-5597. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c12175.
• Cui, P.; Hoffbauer, M. R.; Vyushkova, M. and Iluc, V. M. "Oxidation Reactions of a Nucleophilic Palladium Carbene: Mono and Bi-Radical Carbenes" 2019 Dalton Transactions, 48 (26), pp.9663-9668. DOI: 10.1039/c9dt00585d.
• Deziel, A. P.; Hoffbauer, M. R. and Iluc, V. M. "Square Planar Nucleophilic and Radical Pt(II) Carbenes" 2019 Organometallics, 38 (4), pp.879-887. DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.8b00864.
• Hoffbauer, M. R.; Comanescu, C. C. and Iluc, V. M. "Reactivity of a Pd(II) Carbene Towards 2,6-Dimesitylphenyldiazomethane and 2,6-Dimesitylphenylazide" 2019 Polyhedron, 158, pp.352-356. DOI: 10.1016/j.poly.2018.11.002.
• Hoffbauer, M. R.; Comanescu, C. C.; Dymm, B. J. and Iluc, V. M. "Influence of the Leaving Group on C-H Activation Pathways in Palladium Pincer Complexes" 2018 Organometallics, 37 (13), pp.2086-2094. DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.8b00237.
• Comanescu, C. C. and Iluc, V. M. "E-H (E = N, O) Bond Activation by a Nucleophilic Palladium Carbene" 2018 Polyhedron, 143 pp.176-183. DOI: 10.1016/j.poly.2017.10.007.