Main Group Metal Compounds with Terminal Hydride and Hydroxide Ligands: Synthesis and Applications award

In this project funded by the Chemical Synthesis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Gerard Parkin of Columbia University seeks to prepare new chemical compounds containing calcium, zinc, and related metals. These elements underpin applications as diverse as pharmaceuticals, catalysis, and materials science. Parkin has identified a new approach to exploiting these abundant resources in ways that are of fundamental interest and of potentially practical value. One project aims to generate bonds from these metals to hydrogen. This new structural motif is being sought using new synthetic methodology. Specifically, the hydrogen is attached only to one calcium or one zinc atom. It is expected that this hydrogen atom may exhibit unusual behavior in reactions that can be used to detoxify pollutants. Another reaction being pursued is the production of new kinds of polymers. The project explores the extent that calcium and zinc, which are earth-abundant, can replace precious metals such as platinum, which is not found in the United States. In this way, the research addresses our nation's economic and security interests. Professor Parkin's program provides hands-on training to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in chemical synthesis, measurement, and theory. The project also supports an outreach program that focuses on chemical demonstrations for children from New York City's public schools. This program helps to attract an ethnically diverse pool into chemistry and related technical fields.

Funded by the Chemical Synthesis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Gerard Parkin of Columbia University investigates the synthesis and the reactivity of metal hydride and hydroxide compounds. New reactivity may result from the relatively unadorned structurees of the hydride and hydroxide groups, owing to the use of large multidentate ligands. These ligands enforce well-defined coordination environments and prevent pairs of complexes from combining. One specific objective of comparing the Groups 2 and 12 main group metals is to demonstrate how completion of the 3d, 4d and 4f5d levels influence chemistry. The research involves the use of single crystal X-ray diffraction and NMR spectroscopic methods to determine the structures of the synthesized molecules, and computational methods to analyze the bonding. An important component of the broader impacts of the research activities involves training students to be future professionals, be it in an academic or industrial setting. The activities within the research group not only involve graduate and undergraduate students (including those from Barnard College), but also high school students, thereby providing an important STEM experience at a critical point in their education. In addition, the research group also performs chemistry demonstrations for children from ethnically diverse New York City public middle schools.

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.