Research
in my group is split between work related to
Nanotechnology and Bioinorganic
Chemistry (the chemistry of metals in biology). Both of
these areas of research focus on the use of organic chemistry
to build compounds (ligands) which will bind to metals and impart
interesting properties on the metallic complexes. Students can
expect to gain expertise in organic synthesis, purification and
characterization. Techniques employed include the air-free manipulation
of compounds (both Schlenk and glovebox techniques), the use of
all of the departmental spectroscopic equipment, and possibly
even X-ray crystallography.
Nanotechnology
A
variety of projects are available in this area further split between
Supramolecular Chemistry and Molecular Motors. For
supramolecular chemistry students will use both organic and inorganic
synthesis to develop new methods for preparing large macrocyclic
systems which have applications in catalysis, host-guest chemistry,
and molecular sensing. In the area of Molecular Motors we will be
trying to prepare a new class of compounds we call "molecular
apertures" which are cyclic compounds with the ability to adjust
their diameters upon chemical stimulus, a potentially useful property
for separations.
Bioinorganic
Chemistry
One
of the potentially hazardous byproducts of dioxygen metabolism is
the superoxide ion O2-. Living systems have
developed the Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) class of enzymes to disproportionate
superoxide ions and protons into hydrogen peroxide and dioxygen.
Researchers have know for years of superoxide dimutases containing
redox active manganese, iron, or copper centers. Recently a new
nickel superoxide dismutase has been discovered, but there is disagreement
in the scientific community as to what the structure of the active-site
of this enzyme is. Students working in this area would develop a
synthetic strategy to prepare a new set of compounds that would
bind nickel in a specific way. We will then compare our new nickel
complexes to what is known about the active-site of Ni-SOD to try
and help determine what the active-site might look like.
