CAREER: Trimetallic Complexes as Mechanistically Novel Reductants

Seth N. Brown博士，圣母大学化学系，获得无机、生物无机和有机金属化学项目的早期职业发展（Career）奖。具有配位不饱和钛中心的三金属配合物，每个都能作为单电子还原剂，将使用各种具有胺或羟基部分的靶向配体作为模板合成。三钛团簇通过还原解理从小分子中提取原子形成帽状团簇的能力将被检验。此外，我们将设计一门本科生实验课程，并将其引入课程中，作为教授学生如何建立模型的工具。本课程的目标是培养大学生良好的实验设计技能。氧或氮的还原是生物系统或工业过程中使用这些含钛分子的关键步骤。拟议的研究将为从氨的生物生产到表面催化反应等主题提供额外的见解。本项目的教育部分将探讨本科化学教育的新方法。

Dr. Seth N. Brown, Department of Chemistry, University of Notre Dame, is supported by a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program. Trimetallic complexes with coordinatively unsaturated titanium centers, each capable of acing as a one-electron reductant, will be synthesized using a variety of targeted ligands, possessing amine or hydroxyl moieties, as templates. The ability of tri-titanium clusters to abstract atoms from small molecules, forming capped-clusters, via reductive cleavage will be examined. Additionally, an undergraduate experimental laboratory course will be designed and introduced into the curriculum as a vehicle to teach students about model-building. The goal of the course is to develop good experimental design skills in undergraduates. The reduction of oxygen or nitrogen is a key step in the use of these titanium-containing molecules by biological systems or in industrial processes. The proposed studies will provide additional insight into topics ranging from the biological production of ammonia to surface catalyzed reactions. The education component of this project will examine new approaches in undergraduate chemistry education.