CAREER: Synthesis and Fundamental Organometallic Reactivity of Low-Valent Uranium Alkyls

有了这个职业奖，化学合成项目将支持普渡大学苏珊娜·巴特教授的研究。在这个项目中，巴特教授将专注于用于小分子活化的还原铀配合物的合成、表征和反应性。这项计划中的研究将检验低价铀烷基是难以捉摸的铀靶的有用合成子的假设。将进行以下实验：1)获得一系列具有多种辅助配体的铀(III)烷基；2)了解铀在什么条件下可以经历类似于后过渡金属的两个电子过程，包括还原消除、氧化加成和迁移插入；3)探索铀烷基对多键形成的作用。计划中的研究包括合成方法、光谱分析和计算方法，以充分了解这些化合物的反应性。在教育计划方面，苏珊娜·巴特教授将继续并扩大她的倡议，通过她的十几岁化学会议(以前的“女生高中日”)，增加大学年龄科学专业的女性人口。通过这个项目，初级和高级女性学生被邀请与普渡大学化学科学的主要女性教员互动，以了解职业、大学专业以及在科学职业生涯中的好处和挑战。在这次活动中，参与者还与现在的本科生和研究生建立了联系，他们可以作为导师，在参与者开始他们的大学生涯时消除对理科专业的恐吓。巴特教授还将参加一个针对印第安纳州高中教师的项目。通过这个项目，高中教师可以在巴特教授的实验室里表演和录像那些在他们自己的教室里不可能做到的演示。这些演示有助于突出稀土和鳗系元素的重要性。

With this CAREER Award, the Chemistry Synthesis program is supporting the research of Professor Suzanne Bart at Purdue University. In this project, Professor Bart will focus on the synthesis, characterization, and reactivity of reduced uranium complexes for small molecule activation. The planned research will test the hypothesis that low-valent uranium alkyls are useful synthons for elusive uranium targets. Experiments will be carried out to 1) obtain a family of uranium(III) alkyls with a variety of ancillary ligands, 2) understand under what conditions uranium can undergo two electron processes, similar to late transition metals, including reductive elimination, oxidative addition, and migratory insertion, 3) explore the utility of uranium alkyls for multiple bond formation. The planned research includes synthetic methods, spectroscopic analysis, and computational approaches to fully understand the reactivity of these compounds.In terms of the educational plan, Professor Suzanne Bart will continue and expand her initiative to increase the population of women among college age science majors with her ChemTeens conference (formerly "High School Day on Campus for Girls"). Through this program, junior and senior female students are invited to interact with leading female faculty in the chemical sciences at Purdue to learn about careers, college majors, and the benefits and challenges of a career in the sciences. At this event, participants also make connections with current undergraduate and graduate students who can serve as mentors and take the intimidation out of a major in science as the participants begin their college careers. Professor Bart will also participate in a program aimed at high school teachers in Indiana. Through this program, the high school teachers could perform and videotape in Professor Bart's laboratory those demonstrations not possible in their own classrooms. These demonstrations help to highlight the importance of rare earth and actinide elements.