• Request Info
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Give
  • Request Info
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Give

Search

  • A-Z Index
  • Map

Chemistry

  • About
    • Student Organizations
    • Connect With Us
    • Careers With Us
    • Employee/Student Travel Request
    • Share Your Dr. Schweitzer Story
  • Undergraduate Students
    • Majors and Minors
    • First Year Students
    • Undergraduate Research
    • Summer Programs
    • Chemistry Lab Excused Absence
    • Apply
  • Graduate Students
    • Our Programs
    • Graduate Student Resources
    • Research Open House
    • Apply
  • Faculty
  • People
  • Research
    • Research Areas
    • Facilities
  • News
Home » Jenkins Group Published in Langmuir and Chemical Science

Jenkins Group Published in Langmuir and Chemical Science

Jenkins Group Published in Langmuir and Chemical Science

May 12, 2021 by Kayla Benson

The Jenkins Group published their work “Imidazolinium N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands for Enhanced Stability on Gold Surfaces” in Langmuir. This work explores the preparation and stability of NHC-coated gold surfaces using imidazolium and imidazolinium NHC ligands. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy demonstrate the attachment of NHC ligands to the gold surface and show enhanced stability of imidazolinium compared to the traditional imidazolium under harsh acidic conditions.

The Jenkins Group also published their work “Actinide tetra-N-heterocyclic carbene ‘sandwiches’” in Chemical Science. “We synthesized new “sandwich” complexes by placing two NHC macrocycles around a single actinide ion,” Jenkins said. “I am particularly excited about this paper since it is work that I began on my sabbatical at the University of Edinburgh almost four years ago.  It is the beginning of a new research area in my group, which is f-block NHC chemistry.” 

Graphical abstract: Actinide tetra-N-heterocyclic carbene ‘sandwiches’The complexes were characterized by a range of experimental methods and DFT calculations. X-ray crystallography confirms the geometry at the metal centre can be set by the size of the macrocyclic ring, leading to either square prismatic or square anti-prismatic shapes; the geometry of the latter is retained in solution, which also undergoes reversible, electrochemical one-electron oxidation or reduction for the uranium variant. DFT calculations reveal a frontier orbital picture that is similar to thorocene and uranocene, in which the NHC ligands show almost exclusively σ-donation to the metal without π-backbonding.

Filed Under: Artsci, Jenkins, News

Chemistry

College of Arts & Sciences

552 Buehler Hall
1420 Circle Dr.
Knoxville, TN 37996-1600

Email: chemistry@utk.edu

Phone: 865-974-3141

 

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996
865-974-1000

The flagship campus of the University of Tennessee System and partner in the Tennessee Transfer Pathway.

ADA Privacy Safety Title IX