Tags: R. B. King Lecture


2025 R. B. King Lecture:
Sustainable Production of Reduced Phosphorus Compounds

This project seeks to invent novel chemical pathways from phosphate raw material inputs to value-added phosphorus chemicals of commercial importance. Traditionally, the phosphorus chemicals industry has utilized carbothermal reduction of mined phosphate rock in the production of white phosphorus as the starting point for all reduced phosphorus chemicals. This example of industrial redox malpractice needs to be replaced, and we are calling for…


R. B. King Lecture: Enabling Molecular Quantum Information Science with Electron Spins

Quantum technologies based on molecular electron spin coherence afford unique potential in miniaturization, spatial localization, and tunability through synthetic chemistry and biomolecular integration. However, many applications within molecular quantum information science hinge on slowing down spin relaxation, a process that effectively leaks quantum information into the environment. Additionally, applications such as quantum sensing with…


From Molecular Gyroscopes to Homeomorphic Isomerization: Molecules that Turn Themselves Inside-Out

Children never cease to be fascinated by toy gyroscopes, which commonly consist of (1) a rotating axis and disk, and (2) two to four spokes that connect the termini of the axis. This talk will describe syntheses of molecules that duplicate the connectivity, symmetry, and rotational ability of such gyroscopes. Complexes with trans R3P-MLn -PR3 linkages are first prepared, with R groups that terminate with a CH=CH2 moiety. Then alkene metathesis…


Metalloenzyme-Catalyzed Oxidations of Nitric Oxide in Biosynthesis and Nitrosative Stress Protection

Metalloproteins catalyze nitric oxide (NO) chemistries in bioenergetics pathways, natural product biosynthesis pathways, and to protect against cell damage caused by nitrosative stress. Our lab is interested in the mechanisms of oxidative NO-dependent metalloenzymes involved in natural product biosynthesis and nitrosative stress protection. Understanding the mechanisms of these enzymes will enable the engineering of nitration biocatalysts and…


Bonding in Heavier Group 14 Element Multiple Bonded Species: London Dispersion Force Effects and Charge-Shift Character

The main themes of the lecture are the bonding in low-coordinate or  multiple bonded heavier group 14 element compounds and the reactions of such compounds with hydrogen and other small molecules. It will be shown that the studies of these topics have led to new insights on the nature of the element-element bonding. In addition, they have highlighted the often subtle effects of London dispersion forces on their structure, stability, and…


The Application of Physical Organic Methods to the Investigation of Organometallic Reaction Mechanisms

The modern era of organotransition metal chemistry arguably began with the synthesis and characterization of ferrocene in the early 1950’s.  For the following twenty years, the field grew substantially in both industrial and academic laboratories.  While industry efforts relied on a trial-and-error approach to develop and improve catalysts, academic investigators focused on the structural characterization of new organotransition metal…


The Evolution of Host-Guest Chemistry: A Quarter Century Perspective

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