Research

As an ongoing theme in the Shaw group, we are interested in the chemical and electrochemical properties of organometallic compounds in which an nitrosyl ligand is bound to a group 8 metal atom. Our favorite complexes are octahedral d⁶-metal complexes.

This research has led us to some fruitful collaborations which have allowed us to do in-situ fiber-optic spectroelectrochemistry of species generated at an electrode surface. We can observe these species by mid-IR, near-IR, UV-VIS, and ESR methods, and (when possible) generate larger samples by bulk electrolysis in a drybox. We are also able to study reaction kinetics by cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry with the aid of simulations software such as DigiElch.

The main focus of our current research is a collaboration with the Richter-Addo group at the University of Oklahoma. We are preparing iron and ruthenium porphyrin nitrosyl complexes as structural and electronic models for certain biologically-relevant heme-NO compounds, and will determine what effects govern the formation of pi-cation radicals vs. metal-centered radicals in these systems.