David W. C. MacMillan

71.7k total citations · 45 hit papers
232 papers, 60.2k citations indexed

About

David W. C. MacMillan is a scholar working on Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry and Molecular Biology. According to data from OpenAlex, David W. C. MacMillan has authored 232 papers receiving a total of 60.2k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 214 papers in Organic Chemistry, 36 papers in Inorganic Chemistry and 32 papers in Molecular Biology. Recurrent topics in David W. C. MacMillan's work include Catalytic C–H Functionalization Methods (112 papers), Radical Photochemical Reactions (104 papers) and Asymmetric Synthesis and Catalysis (69 papers). David W. C. MacMillan is often cited by papers focused on Catalytic C–H Functionalization Methods (112 papers), Radical Photochemical Reactions (104 papers) and Asymmetric Synthesis and Catalysis (69 papers). David W. C. MacMillan collaborates with scholars based in United States, Spain and South Korea. David W. C. MacMillan's co-authors include Christopher K. Prier, Danica A. Rankic, Megan H. Shaw, Jack Twilton, David A. Nagib, David A. Nicewicz, Alan B. Northrup, Anna Allen, Chi “Chip” Le and Jack A. Terrett and has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science and Chemical Reviews.

In The Last Decade

David W. C. MacMillan

226 papers receiving 59.5k citations

Hit Papers

Visible Light Photoredox Catalysis with Tra... 2000 2026 2008 2017 2013 2016 2008 2008 2017 2.5k 5.0k 7.5k
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. Visible Light Photoredox Catalysis with Transition Metal Complexes: Applications in Organic Synthesis
    2013 8.1k citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Chemical Reviews profile →
  2. Photoredox Catalysis in Organic Chemistry
    2016 2.5k citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  3. Merging Photoredox Catalysis with Organocatalysis: The Direct Asymmetric Alkylation of Aldehydes
    2008 2.1k citations David A. Nicewicz, David W. C. MacMillan Science profile →
  4. The advent and development of organocatalysis
    2008 2.0k citations David W. C. MacMillan profile →
  5. The merger of transition metal and photocatalysis
    2017 1.9k citations Chi “Chip” Le, David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  6. Merging photoredox with nickel catalysis: Coupling of α-carboxyl sp 3 -carbons with aryl halides
    2014 1.4k citations Zhiwei Zuo, Derek T. Ahneman et al. Science profile →
  7. New Strategies for Organic Catalysis:  The First Highly Enantioselective Organocatalytic Diels−Alder Reaction
    2000 1.3k citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  8. Metallaphotoredox: The Merger of Photoredox and Transition Metal Catalysis
    2021 1.2k citations Amy Chan, Ian B. Perry et al. Chemical Reviews profile →
  9. Trifluoromethylation of arenes and heteroarenes by means of photoredox catalysis
    2011 1.2k citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  10. Synergistic catalysis: A powerful synthetic strategy for new reaction development
    2012 1.0k citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  11. Discovery of an α-Amino C–H Arylation Reaction Using the Strategy of Accelerated Serendipity
    2011 885 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Science profile →
  12. Enantioselective α-Trifluoromethylation of Aldehydes via Photoredox Organocatalysis
    2009 873 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  13. Alcohols as alkylating agents in heteroarene C–H functionalization
    2015 650 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  14. Enantioselective Organocatalytic Reductive Amination
    2005 645 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  15. Enantioselective Organo-Cascade Catalysis
    2005 637 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  16. The First Direct and Enantioselective Cross-Aldol Reaction of Aldehydes
    2002 618 citations Alan B. Northrup, David W. C. MacMillan Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  17. Modern strategies in organic catalysis: The advent and development of iminium activation
    2006 575 citations G. Lelais, David W. C. MacMillan profile →
  18. Native functionality in triple catalytic cross-coupling: sp 3 C–H bonds as latent nucleophiles
    2016 538 citations Jack A. Terrett, David W. C. MacMillan et al. Science profile →
  19. Switching on elusive organometallic mechanisms with photoredox catalysis
    2015 535 citations Jack A. Terrett, David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  20. Enantioselective Organocatalytic Indole Alkylations. Design of a New and Highly Effective Chiral Amine for Iminium Catalysis
    2002 535 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  21. Aryl amination using ligand-free Ni(II) salts and photoredox catalysis
    2016 523 citations Ian W. Davies, David W. C. MacMillan et al. Science profile →
  22. Decarboxylative Arylation of α-Amino Acids via Photoredox Catalysis: A One-Step Conversion of Biomass to Drug Pharmacophore
    2014 502 citations Zhiwei Zuo, David W. C. MacMillan Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  23. O–H hydrogen bonding promotes H-atom transfer from α C–H bonds for C-alkylation of alcohols
    2015 499 citations Jack A. Terrett, David W. C. MacMillan et al. Science profile →
  24. Visible Light Photocatalysis in Organic Chemistry
    2018 496 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  25. Photoredox Activation for the Direct β-Arylation of Ketones and Aldehydes
    2013 487 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Science profile →
  26. Selective sp3 C–H alkylation via polarity-match-based cross-coupling
    2017 472 citations Chi “Chip” Le, Yufan Liang et al. profile →
  27. Direct arylation of strong aliphatic C–H bonds
    2018 462 citations Ian B. Perry, David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  28. Photoredox-catalyzed deuteration and tritiation of pharmaceutical compounds
    2017 461 citations Kazunori Nagao, Andrew J. Hoover et al. Science profile →
  29. Enantioselective Decarboxylative Arylation of α-Amino Acids via the Merger of Photoredox and Nickel Catalysis
    2016 460 citations Zhiwei Zuo, David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  30. Photosensitized, energy transfer-mediated organometallic catalysis through electronically excited nickel(II)
    2017 455 citations Chi “Chip” Le, David W. C. MacMillan et al. Science profile →
  31. The direct arylation of allylic sp3 C–H bonds via organic and photoredox catalysis
    2015 454 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  32. Enantioselective α-Benzylation of Aldehydes via Photoredox Organocatalysis
    2010 446 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  33. Direct α‐Arylation of Ethers through the Combination of Photoredox‐Mediated CH Functionalization and the Minisci Reaction
    2014 404 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  34. Merging Photoredox and Nickel Catalysis: Decarboxylative Cross-Coupling of Carboxylic Acids with Vinyl Halides
    2014 394 citations Stefan J. McCarver, David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  35. Metallaphotoredox-catalysed sp3–sp3 cross-coupling of carboxylic acids with alkyl halides
    2016 384 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  36. Photoredox α-Vinylation of α-Amino Acids and N-Aryl Amines
    2014 384 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  37. A radical approach to the copper oxidative addition problem: Trifluoromethylation of bromoarenes
    2018 382 citations Chi “Chip” Le, David W. C. MacMillan et al. Science profile →
  38. Decarboxylative sp3 C–N coupling via dual copper and photoredox catalysis
    2018 370 citations Yufan Liang, David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  39. Microenvironment mapping via Dexter energy transfer on immune cells
    2020 267 citations Jacob B. Geri, James V. Oakley et al. Science profile →
  40. Carboxylic Acids as Adaptive Functional Groups in Metallaphotoredox Catalysis
    2022 183 citations David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →
  41. Nontraditional Fragment Couplings of Alcohols and Carboxylic Acids: C(sp3)–C(sp3) Cross-Coupling via Radical Sorting
    2022 173 citations Holt A. Sakai, David W. C. MacMillan Journal of the American Chemical Society profile →
  42. General access to cubanes as benzene bioisosteres
    2023 108 citations James A. Rossi‐Ashton, Ian B. Perry et al. profile →
  43. Exploiting the Marcus inverted region for first-row transition metal–based photoredox catalysis
    2023 106 citations Amy Chan, Holt A. Sakai et al. Science profile →
  44. Alcohol-alcohol cross-coupling enabled by S H 2 radical sorting
    2024 77 citations James A. Rossi‐Ashton, Colin A. Gould et al. Science profile →
  45. Alkene dialkylation by triple radical sorting
    2024 69 citations Johnny Wang, David W. C. MacMillan et al. profile →

Peers

David W. C. MacMillan
Phil S. Baran United States
F. Dean Toste United States
Frank Glorius Germany
Magnus Rueping Germany
John F. Hartwig United States
Aiwen Lei China
Chao‐Jun Li Canada
Lutz Ackermann Germany
Stephen L. Buchwald United States
Armido Studer Germany
Phil S. Baran United States
David W. C. MacMillan
Citations per year, relative to David W. C. MacMillan David W. C. MacMillan (= 1×) peers Phil S. Baran

Countries citing papers authored by David W. C. MacMillan

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of David W. C. MacMillan's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by David W. C. MacMillan with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites David W. C. MacMillan more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by David W. C. MacMillan

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by David W. C. MacMillan. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by David W. C. MacMillan. The network helps show where David W. C. MacMillan may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of David W. C. MacMillan

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of David W. C. MacMillan. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of David W. C. MacMillan based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with David W. C. MacMillan. David W. C. MacMillan is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Wang, Johnny, et al.. (2025). Aminoalkylation of Alkenes Enabled by Triple Radical Sorting. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 147(3). 2296–2302. 20 indexed citations
2.
Großkopf, Johannes, et al.. (2025). A General Metallaphotoredox Platform for N-Alkylated Sulfoximines as Bioisosteric Building Blocks. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 147(39). 35995–36006.
3.
Lin, Eva, Johnny Wang, Edna Mao, et al.. (2025). Aryl Acid-Alcohol Cross-Coupling: C(sp3)–C(sp2) Bond Formation from Nontraditional Precursors. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 147(18). 14905–14914. 4 indexed citations
4.
Knutson, Steve D., et al.. (2024). µMap proximity labeling in living cells reveals stress granule disassembly mechanisms. Nature Chemical Biology. 21(4). 490–500. 25 indexed citations
5.
Liu, Wei, et al.. (2024). Iron-Catalyzed Cross-Electrophile Coupling for the Formation of All-Carbon Quaternary Centers. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 146(48). 32925–32932. 15 indexed citations
6.
Rossi‐Ashton, James A., et al.. (2024). Alcohol-alcohol cross-coupling enabled by S H 2 radical sorting. Science. 383(6689). 1350–1357. 77 indexed citations breakdown →
7.
Oakley, James V., Ciaran P. Seath, Jacob B. Geri, et al.. (2023). μMap Photoproximity Labeling Enables Small Molecule Binding Site Mapping. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 145(30). 16289–16296. 33 indexed citations
8.
Meyer, Claudio F., Ciaran P. Seath, Steve D. Knutson, et al.. (2022). Photoproximity Labeling of Sialylated Glycoproteins (GlycoMap) Reveals Sialylation-Dependent Regulation of Ion Transport. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 144(51). 23633–23641. 28 indexed citations
9.
Chan, Amy, Ian B. Perry, Noah B. Bissonnette, et al.. (2021). Metallaphotoredox: The Merger of Photoredox and Transition Metal Catalysis. Chemical Reviews. 122(2). 1485–1542. 1242 indexed citations breakdown →
10.
Liu, Wei, Marissa N. Lavagnino, Colin A. Gould, Jesús Alcázar, & David W. C. MacMillan. (2021). A biomimetic S H 2 cross-coupling mechanism for quaternary sp 3 -carbon formation. Science. 374(6572). 1258–1263. 143 indexed citations
11.
Kautzky, Jacob A., Kazunori Nagao, Andrew J. Meichan, et al.. (2020). Static to inducibly dynamic stereocontrol: The convergent use of racemic β-substituted ketones. Science. 369(6507). 1113–1118. 110 indexed citations
12.
Geri, Jacob B., James V. Oakley, Tamara Reyes Robles, et al.. (2020). Microenvironment mapping via Dexter energy transfer on immune cells. Science. 367(6482). 1091–1097. 267 indexed citations breakdown →
13.
Lavagnino, Marissa N., et al.. (2020). HARC as an open-shell strategy to bypass oxidative addition in Ullmann–Goldberg couplings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117(35). 21058–21064. 46 indexed citations
14.
Li, Beryl X., et al.. (2020). Site-Selective Functionalization of Methionine Residues via Photoredox Catalysis. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 142(51). 21260–21266. 113 indexed citations
15.
Nagao, Kazunori, Andrew J. Hoover, David Hesk, et al.. (2017). Photoredox-catalyzed deuteration and tritiation of pharmaceutical compounds. Science. 358(6367). 1182–1187. 461 indexed citations breakdown →
16.
Le, Chi “Chip”, Michael K. Wismer, Rui Zhang, et al.. (2017). A General Small-Scale Reactor To Enable Standardization and Acceleration of Photocatalytic Reactions. ACS Central Science. 3(6). 647–653. 210 indexed citations
17.
Zuo, Zhiwei, Derek T. Ahneman, Lingling Chu, et al.. (2014). Merging photoredox with nickel catalysis: Coupling of α-carboxyl sp 3 -carbons with aryl halides. Science. 345(6195). 437–440. 1376 indexed citations breakdown →
18.
Nicewicz, David A. & David W. C. MacMillan. (2008). Merging Photoredox Catalysis with Organocatalysis: The Direct Asymmetric Alkylation of Aldehydes. Science. 322(5898). 77–80. 2076 indexed citations breakdown →
19.
Lelais, G. & David W. C. MacMillan. (2006). Modern strategies in organic catalysis: The advent and development of iminium activation. 39(3). 79–87. 575 indexed citations breakdown →
20.
Northrup, Alan B. & David W. C. MacMillan. (2004). Two-Step Synthesis of Carbohydrates by Selective Aldol Reactions. Science. 305(5691). 1752–1755. 336 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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