John Gilbertson
Western Washington University, WA·Chemistry
Nitrous oxide (N2O) depletes the ozone layer and is a greenhouse gas about 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It forms as part of the nitrogen cycle, when nitrate and nitrite, which are also water pollutants, are converted step by step into nitrogen gases.
- Fields
Chemistry
Biochemistry
Earth & Environmental Science
- Topics
inorganic chemistry
coordination chemistry
catalysis
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- 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.
- Investigate how N–N bonds form from NOx- sources to produce nitrous oxide (N2O), using structure–function studies across a series of bioinspired PDI metal complexes.
- Test whether electric fields created in the secondary coordination sphere, the groups surrounding the metal, can drive NOx- binding and reduction.
- Design PDI and pyridinemonoimine (PMI) complexes with hydrogen-bond-donating anilines, and tune their bulk, pKa and reduction potentials, to produce complexes active for N–N bond formation.
- Characterize how these ligands interact with NOx- substrates and map reaction mechanisms, combining laboratory measurements with computer calculations of electronic structure.
More about the research
A key step joins two nitrogen atoms into an N–N bond, and chemists still do not fully understand how that happens. The lab builds small synthetic metal complexes that imitate metalloenzymes, the metal-containing proteins that carry out these reactions in nature, to study and control N–N bond formation.
Why it matters
Nitrate and nitrite pollute water, and nitrite is a suspected carcinogen. Nitrous oxide, made when these ions are broken down, damages the ozone layer and traps heat far more strongly than carbon dioxide. Learning how metal complexes form N–N bonds could guide the design of tunable catalysts for denitrification. It may also clarify how enzymes in the nitrogen cycle produce N2O.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
John Anderson
University of Chicago, IL·Chemistry
Use metal oxo complexes that can be made highly basic to test how separate proton- and electron-transfer driving forces control concerted proton-electron transfer during C–H bond oxidation.
Christopher Graves
Swarthmore College, PA·Chemistry
Synthesize group 13 metal complexes (boron, aluminum, gallium, indium) of tripodal nitroxide ligands, (RTriNOx3–)M, with systematically varied electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents.
Gayan Wijeratne
University of Alabama, AL·Chemistry
Synthesize heme-nitrogen oxide model complexes with systematically varied ligands in the primary and secondary coordination spheres, to find which features of the heme center control the geometry and electronic structure of these intermediates.
The school
Western Washington University: 3 labs on PI Pages, $23M a year on research, 15 research doctorates a year.
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