Expanding the Scope of Group 13 Chemistry with Redox-Active Ligands

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With funding from the Chemical Synthesis Program in the Chemistry Division, Professor Louise Berben in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California – Davis will explore the fundamental ability of aluminum and related elements to transfer electrons during chemical reactions. The project is motivated by the fact that in many important useful chemical processes involve electron transfer to or from a metal species. While metals that are capable of doing this are well known, they are often rare and expensive. In order to obtain more economical electron transfer species this project focuses on aluminum, which is an inexpensive and plentiful metal. The research puts forward designs of new aluminum compounds that can transfer electrons and may lead to applications in large scale energy storage and in many industrial processes. Collaborations with ACS Project SEED, the UC-Davis NSF REU program, and First-Gen College student programs at the University of California will provide research mentoring and project experience to economically disadvantaged high school students, and undergraduates, respectively. This project centers on the development of two areas of group 13 chemistry. In the first, organoaluminum compounds containing redox-active ligands will be prepared and the ligand-based donor-acceptor properties will be investigated. A focus is on developing structure-function relationships so that redox processes in the molecules can be controlled by modulation of molecular structure. In the second area, the reaction chemistry of square planar group 13 element metallo-aromatic compounds will be developed. The goal of this portion of the project is to explore metal-ligand multiple bonding and metallo-aromatic reaction chemistry. In pursuing this project, the Berben group will employ inorganic synthesis techniques to obtain new materials and molecules for study, and we will characterize these new compounds using electrochemical methods, single crystal X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic and electron paramagnetic resonance (NMR and EPR), near infra-red, infra-red, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The EPR and Xray absorption spectroscopies will be performed in collaborative efforts. Benefits and outcomes of the proposed work include an expanded ability to utilize aluminum in chemistry and materials applications, and training of a skilled workforce to work with aluminum and other group 13 elements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.