Honors Day 2020

July 1, 2020 by Kayla Benson

Volunteers in Action

June 19, 2020 by Kayla Benson

Jenkins Group Published in Angewandte Chemie

March 1, 2020 by Kayla Benson

The Jenkins Group published their work “A Benchtop Method for Appending Protic Functional Groups to N‐Heterocyclic Carbene Protected Gold Nanoparticles” in the highly-profiled journal Angewandte Chemie. Joseph DeJesus is the first author and recent PhD alumus from the Department of Chemistry’s program. 

This piece explores the resilience of N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) gold bonds. They synthesize NHC‐functionalized gold surfaces from gold(I) NHC complexes and aqueous nanoparticles without the need for additional reagents, enabling otherwise difficult functional groups to be appended to the carbene.

The resilience of the NHC−Au bond allows for multi‐step post‐synthetic modification. “Beginning with the nitro‐NHC, we form an amine‐NHC terminated surface, which further undergoes amide coupling with carboxylic acids,” DeJesus said.  “The simplicity of this approach, its compatibility with aqueous nanoparticle solutions, and its ability to yield protic functionality, greatly expands the potential of NHC‐functionalized noble metal surfaces.”

Roy and Long Collaborative Work Published

January 30, 2020 by Kayla Benson

Catalysis Science & Technology published a collaborative piece from the Roy and Long groups titled  “A mechanistic study of microstructure modulation in olefin polymerizations using a redox-active Ni(ii) alpha-diimine catalyst.”

Polyolefins are among the world’s most widely produced and utilized classes of polymers, serving as synthetic alternatives to traditional materials such as wood, glass, and metal. While numerous prior research efforts have focused on the development of faster, more efficient, and less expensive catalysts, recent studies have demonstrated that redox-active olefin polymerization catalysts may also be employed to modulate catalytic activity, reactivity, and selectivity in situ.

The group reports a computational study based on density functional theory designed to better understand the structure and underlying olefin polymerization mechanisms of the active catalytic species in two distinct redox states. These findings are further supported through experimental evidence and suggest that upon activation of the reduced catalyst species, the added electron density of the catalyst is transferred from the active metal center to the alpha-diimine ligand.

The observed decrease in polyethylene branching that results from catalyst reduction is believed to stem from changes in the subtle balance of steric, electronic, and entropic effects, primarily perturbing the coordination of subsequent monomer units. This perturbation is expressed not only in the monomer-inserted-product energy differences but also in the catalysts’ deviation from square planarity about the Ni center. Through these studies, we can better understand how the addition of an electron to a Ni(ii) alpha-diimine catalyst perturbs its catalytic behavior, which may influence the design of future generations of redox-active olefin polymerization catalysts.

BOV 2019

November 15, 2019 by Kayla Benson

The Department of Chemistry’s Board of Visitors (BOV) is a volunteer advisory body dedicated to helping the Department successfully fulfill its teaching, research and service missions and become one of the preeminent chemistry departments in the nation. The BOV has a vision of enriching the research and teaching endeavors and the intellectual capital of the Department.

This year’s annual meeting was held November 1-2, 2019. Activities included dinner downtown, faculty presentations, 10 year academic program review discussion, student poster session, invited speaker, Shea Kidd Houze, Homecoming Parade, banquet dinner at the Foundry, alumni tailgate, and attending the UAB football game.

Two graduate students were awarded for their posters presentations:

• Jinchao Lou from the Best group titled”Calcium-triggered release of contents from liposomes for drug delivery applications”
• Brandon Colon from the Calhoun group titled “Imaging excited-state dynamics of IR-144 with total internal reflection transient absorption microscopy (TIRTAM)”

View Poster Session Program 

The department recognizes and appreciates all of the support and interaction it receives from its engaged board.

Pictures from event