CAREER: Environmental Dechlorination Catalysis

这一奖项来自无机化学、生物无机化学和金属有机化学项目，以支持明尼苏达大学化学系克里斯托弗·麦克尼尔实施以环境化学为中心的研究和教学计划的工作。由于美国饮用水供应普遍受到氯化溶剂的污染，该计划的研究部分将开发新的、高活性的脱氯催化剂和阐明金属促进的脱氯反应机理作为其两个目标。将研究各种钴、镍和铁的络合物，并将利用已发现的机理原理合理设计具有优于维生素B12和F430等自然生成的催化剂性能的合成脱氯催化剂。拟议的实验将使人们对脱氯反应有一个更好的基本理解，并将发现对修复有用的合成催化剂。该计划中的教育活动包括开发以环境为主题的普通化学和新生研讨会课程。拟议的教育活动的一个显著特点是其评估计划，该计划将与教育心理学的合作者一起制定和实施。通过揭示金属介导的脱氯反应的工作原理和开发合成催化剂，这项工作将有助于为一个重要的环境问题提供解决方案：饮用水受到氯代甲烷、乙烯和芳烃的污染。这项研究将提高本科生对环境科学的理解，帮助他们作为个人和选民做出明智的决定。它还将为本科生和研究生研究人员提供理想的培训机会，使他们能够成为未来环境研究和教学的领导者。

This award from the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program supports work by Kristopher McNeill in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota to implement a research and teaching plan centered on environmental chemistry. Motivated by the widespread contamination of US drinking water supplies with chlorinated solvents, the research component of this plan has as its two goals the development of new, highly active dechlorination catalysts and the elucidation of mechanisms of metal-promoted dechlorination reactions. A variety of cobalt, nickel, and iron complexes will be examined, and the mechanistic principles that are uncovered will be used to rationally design synthetic dechlorination catalysts that have superior properties to naturally occurring catalysts such as vitamin B12 and F430. The proposed experiments will lead to an improved fundamental understanding of dechlorination reactions and will bring about the discovery of synthetic catalysts that will be useful for remediation. The educational activities in this plan include development of environmentally themed general chemistry and freshman seminar courses. A distinguishing feature of the proposed educational activities is its assessment plan, which will be developed and conducted with collaborators in educational psychology. By uncovering the working principles of metal-mediated dechlorination reactions and developing synthetic catalysts, this work will help provide solutions to an important environmental problem: contamination of drinking water with chlorinated methanes, ethylenes and arenes. This study will enhance the environmental science understanding of undergraduate students, helping them to make informed decisions as individuals and as voters. It will also provide an ideal training opportunity for undergraduate and graduate researchers that will enable them to become future leaders in environmental research and teaching.