Kevin Shaughnessy
University of Tennessee-Knoxville, TN·Chemistry
Boron forms a family of unusual molecules in which a dozen or so boron atoms bond into a closed cage rather than a chain or ring. These closo-borate clusters behave unlike ordinary organic molecules: they are strikingly stable, have low toxicity, and move electrons efficiently, which makes them attractive as building blocks for advanced materials and as components of pharmaceuticals.
- Fields
Chemistry
Materials Science
- Topics
boron clusters
closo-borates
dodecaborate
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2028
What they work on
- Systematically study metal-catalyzed functionalization of halo-closo-borates, boron cage anions carrying a halogen handle, to establish how catalyst structure governs reactivity with these electron-rich anionic clusters.
- Use that mechanistic knowledge to rationally design catalyst systems that attach carbon substituents to specific boron vertices of 10-vertex decahedral and 12-vertex dodecahedral clusters.
- Apply the new coupling methods to synthesize specific functional anionic boron cluster targets identified for materials science and pharmaceutical applications, for study with collaborating researchers.
- Develop routes to strongly electron-donating B-boranylphosphines and evaluate them as ligands and organocatalysts for new organic synthetic methodology.
More about the research
The 10-vertex decahedral cage is especially promising on these counts, alongside the better-known 12-vertex dodecahedral cage. The obstacle is synthetic: there is no good general way to attach chosen chemical groups to specific boron atoms on the cage, so these properties remain largely unexploited.
Why it matters
Boron clusters combine high stability, low toxicity and efficient electron conduction, but their use in materials, catalysis and medicine is limited by the difficulty of making them with the desired substituents. General catalytic methods for attaching groups to the cage would give other researchers access to these compounds, and the strongly electron-donating boranylphosphines could become ligands or organocatalysts that enable reactions existing phosphines cannot support.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Melanie Sanford
University of Michigan, MI·Chemistry
Determine the mechanisms of cyclometalation and oxidative functionalization in copper, nickel and iron pincer complexes, varying the bidentate directing group, supporting ligands and oxidant to see how each controls the pathway.
Ming Chen
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, VA·Chemistry·Early-career
Develop asymmetric transformations of 1,1-bisborylalkanes bearing two chemically distinct boron groups on one carbon, so that each group can be activated separately to attach fragments in a chosen order.
Virginia Montiel-Palma
Mississippi State University, MS·Chemistry·Early-career
Design heterobimetallic complexes combining a late transition metal with a group-13 metal that bind nitrogen-containing aromatic compounds and cleave their carbon–nitrogen bonds at low hydrogen pressure.
The school
University of Tennessee-Knoxville: 16 labs on PI Pages, $387M a year on research, 426 research doctorates a year.
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