Chemistry

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are polymeric porous materials consisting of metal nodes and organic ligands that extend to form periodic crystal structures. They have ultrahigh porosity (up to 90% free volume) and enormous internal surface areas (extending beyond 6000 m2/g). These properties, together with the extraordinary degree of tunability for both the metal centers and the organic ligands, make MOFs of great interest for broad applications in gas storage, high-capacity adsorbents, membranes, thin-film devices, catalysis, and biomedical imaging [1]. However, the “ideal crystals” limit the pore sizes, the exposure of catalytic sites, the diffusion and accessibility of large molecules. ​​​Defect engineering introduce missing linker and missing node defects into MOFs is an exciting concept for tailoring material properties, which opens up great opportunities not only in sorption and catalysis, but also in controlling challenging physical characteristics such as band gap, magnetic and electrical/conductive properties [2]. In this talk, I will demonstrate MOFs and defect-engineering in Zr-MOFs with typical defect-creating methods.

Organometallic catalysis requires both the catalyst and solvent, with the catalyst consisting of two components: the metal and the ligand. Recycling the metal is easier than the ligand, which is expensive and slowly breaks down during catalysis, leading to the catalyst’s death. Therefore, ligand-free catalysis is highly desirable. However, the challenge with ligand-free catalysis is that it results in the agglomeration of metal and the lack of optimal steric and electronic properties at the metal center, which can lead to easier oxidation of the lower oxidation state of metal. To address this issue, we developed a ligand-free nano-heterogeneous catalysis that is both stereoretentive and stereoselective.

The delivery of small molecule drugs across the blood brain barrier (BBB) is difficult, making the development of therapies for neurological diseases very challenging. Efforts have persistently been underway to develop novel nanocarriers which are capable of precisely transporting drugs across the BBB to target the specific regions of brain damage. Even if drugs or nanoparticles get across the impaired BBB following brain injury or neuroinflammation, their synergistic uptake into the critical brain cells such as neurons and activated microglia/macrophages involved in brain diseases remains challenging.

Presenter: Margaret Reece
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
Chair: Xiaofeng Guo
Title: Thermodynamics of Critical Rare Earth Minerals

Title: Investigating the Formation and Reactivity of ZrII, HfII, and AnII Species Supported by Metal-Arene Interactions

Presenter: Prof. Skye Fortier, University of Texas El Paso

Host: Liane M. Moreau

Title: Molecules to Materials: Examining the Properties of Early Metal and Actinide Complexes

Speaker: Ryanne Ballard
Group: Prof. Berkman
Title: Traceless Phosphoryl Mediated Isopeptide Crosslinking

Presenter: Prof. Robert Polly, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Institut fuer Nukleare Entsorgung
Host: Xiaofeng Guo
Title: Relativistic Multiconfigurational ab initio Calculations of X-ray Spectra of Heavy Radio Nuclides

Speaker: Vincent Groner
Group: Prof. Boncella
Title: Stabilizing Low-Valent Organometallic Uranium Complexes Using Bulky, Aromatic Terphenyl Amido Ligands

Understanding how f-elements and transition metals interact/communicate are critical for pioneering new catalysts and could shed light on unusual biological interactions. Our group focuses on the synthesis and characterization of complexes that contain both f-elements and transition metals, with the intent of studying electronic structure and reactivity.