Inorganic Compound Discovery for Materials Science and Catalysis

Dr. Ritch, Jamie

Issues such as renewable energy and pollution management continue to provide challenges for scientists. Synthetic chemistry provides access to novel compounds with properties that can be tailored to specific applications, such as these areas of current interest.

 We are interested in designing main group element-based ligands, to take advantage of the wide variety of chemical behaviour found in the s- and p-blocks of the periodic table. The coordination chemistry of ligands containing the heavy chalcogens selenium and tellurium is being investigated. Such complexes are of fundamental interest in terms of bonding and structure, but also as precursors to solid state materials for use in advanced electronics.

Another ligand system being explored involves compounds with both Lewis basic and acidic centres. Molecules with such arrangements can act as a scaffold to engender unusual reactivity in otherwise inert molecules, such as hydrocarbons or CO2. This type of chemical activation is highly desirable for catalytic organic transformations.

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