Christopher Graves
Swarthmore College, PA·Chemistry
Making chemicals often means breaking strong bonds in small molecules. That usually requires metals that can easily gain and lose electrons, which are often rare or expensive.
- Fields
Chemistry
- Topics
inorganic chemistry
coordination chemistry
group 13 metals
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Synthesize group 13 metal complexes (boron, aluminum, gallium, indium) of tripodal nitroxide ligands, (RTriNOx3–)M, with systematically varied electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents.
- Determine the electronic structures and Lewis acidities of (RTriNOx3–)M complexes using a suite of computational and spectroscopic tools.
- Explore metal-ligand cooperative activation of H–O, H–N and H–C bonds by these complexes and derive the structure-function relationships that govern their reactivity.
More about the research
Group 13 elements such as aluminum and gallium are Earth-abundant, but their compounds are redox-stable. They lack the multi-electron oxidation and reduction chemistry that bond activation normally relies on. This project aims to get around that limit by pairing these metals with non-innocent ligands. These are surrounding molecules that can themselves store and release electrons.
Why it matters
Breaking bonds in small molecules underlies the production of both fine and commodity chemicals. Showing that cheap, Earth-abundant metals such as aluminum and gallium can do this with help from their ligands could offer an alternative to the scarce metals usually used. Chemical manufacturers could eventually benefit from more sustainable ways to activate small molecules.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Matthew Whited
Carleton College, MN·Chemistry
Develop late-metal complexes with metal–silicon single and multiple bonds that transfer reactive nitrene and carbene groups (short-lived nitrogen and carbon fragments) onto organic substrates.
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.
John Gilbertson
Western Washington University, WA·Chemistry
Develop a class of ditopic receptors, metal complexes with two hydrogen-bond-donating sites near the metal, that capture and reduce nitrite and nitrate (NOx-), built on the redox-active pyridinediimine (PDI) ligand.
The school
Swarthmore College: 2 labs on PI Pages, $6M a year on research.
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