LEAPS-MPS: Synthesis of Photoactive Manganese Complexes With Carbene Ligands

在这个由美国国家科学基金会化学部门管理的项目中，Daniela Arias-Rotondo教授和她在卡拉马祖学院的学生将设计、制备和研究锰基化合物，这种化合物可能在将太阳能转化为电能方面有潜在的应用。锰是一种低成本、低毒性的替代材料，目前用于这些应用。来自不同背景的学生将在Arias-Rotondo教授的密切指导下参与这个项目，他还将为项目参与者提供同伴指导的机会。此外，Arias-Rotondo教授将重新设计卡拉马祖学院无机化学课程的实验部分，让学生在课堂上获得类似研究的体验。为了实现这一目标，本研究项目中开发的一些化合物将被纳入无机化学教学实验室。锰配位配合物的光物理是一个尚未开发的研究领域，锰在低氧化态下的有机金属化学也是一个尚未开发的研究领域。Arias-Rotondo教授和她的学生的目标是合成以几种氧化态与锰配合的碳配体，并通过核磁共振、光谱学、x射线衍射和电化学的组合来表征所得到的化合物。计算模型将用于帮助解释实验数据，创建这些配合物的分子和电子结构的更彻底的描述。该项目试图通过合成修饰配体来研究取代基对锰化合物性质的影响。该项目可能会产生强大的光活性锰配合物，这些配合物具有电荷分离的激发态，可以通过可见光以及设计原理来制备其他锰化合物并调整其性能。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In this project managed by the Chemistry Division at NSF, Professor Daniela Arias-Rotondo and her students at Kalamazoo College will design, prepare, and study manganese-based compounds that could have potential applications in converting solar energy into electricity. Manganese is a low-cost, low-toxicity alternative to the materials currently used for these applications. Students of varied backgrounds will work on this project, closely mentored by Prof. Arias-Rotondo, who will also establish peer-mentoring opportunities for the project participants. Additionally, Prof. Arias-Rotondo will re-design the laboratory portion of the Inorganic Chemistry course offered at Kalamazoo College to give students a research-like experience in the class. To accomplish this goal, some of the compounds developed in this research project will be incorporated into the Inorganic Chemistry teaching lab.The photophysics of manganese coordination complexes is an underexplored research area, as is the organometallic chemistry of manganese in low oxidation states. Prof. Arias-Rotondo and her students aim to synthesize carbene ligands to coordinate to manganese in several oxidation states and characterize the resulting compounds through a combination of NMR and optical spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and electrochemistry. Computational modelling will be used to aid the interpretation of experimental data, creating a more thorough description of the molecular and electronic structure of these coordination complexes. The PI seeks to synthetically modified ligands to study the effect of substituents on the properties of the Mn compounds. This project could potentially yield robust photoactive manganese complexes with charge-separated excited states that can be accessed with visible light as well as design principles to prepare other Mn compounds and tailor their properties.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.