Education /
Background |
B.S., summa cum laude,
1992 University
of Illinois;
Ph.D.
1997
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
NSF-NATO
and Alexander
von
Humboldt Fellow 1997-1999, University of
Münster,
Germany.
NSF CAREER Award (2002)
|
Research Interests |
Organometallic
and inorganic chemistry: design, synthesis, and
mechanistic study of homogeneous catalysts for
alkane oxidation, olefin hydroamination, a-olefin
polymerization; metal-ligand structure-reactivity
relationships; low coordinate metal-oxo complexes.
The catalytic, selective functionalization of simple
chemical building blocks such as alkanes and alkenes
under mild conditions represents an intellectual and
technological challenge whose applications span from
the cost-effective production of both bulk and fine
chemicals to the development of new polymeric materials
based on simple organic repeat units. Key to these
processes are very often transition metal complexes
which impart heightened reactivity, regioselectivity,
and/or stereoselectivity when compared with uncatalyzed
reactions.
With an ultimate goal of delveloping new homogeneous
catalysts, we use synthetic organometallic and inorganic
chemistry to probe transition metal complexes bearing
relevant metal-bound functional groups. Through independent
synthesis, species both inside and outside the catalytic
cycles may be identified as well as modified, and stoichiometric
transformations may potentially be rendered catalytic
through a detailed understanding of the reactive metal
complexes at hand.
A general theme that runs throughout each project
is the development of appropriate coordination environments
by using specifically designed ancillary ligands. Control
over the steric and electronic environment of the relevant
functional groups is essential to achieve the desired
reactivity, as well as to approach the more subtle
issues of regio- and stereoselectivity. Furthermore,
once a promising class of ligands has been identified,
in some instances the catalyst can be optimized using
specially adapted combinatorial techniques.
Group members can expect to gain a great deal of experience
in the synthesis and characterization of reactive,
air-sensitive transition metal complexes. To facilitate
the handling and exploration of these compounds, much
of our synthesis work is carried out in a nitrogen
filled glove box in which purified solvents are "on
tap" and standard bench techniques such as vacuum filtration
and rotary evaporation can be used. In addition, we
employ single crystal X-ray crystallography as well
as a wide variety of solution techniques such as IR,
multinuclear NMR, and UV-Vis spectroscopy to better
understand the structure and reactivity of the molecules
we make. |