Recent Advances in the Main Group Chemistry of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes

Friday March 4th, 2022 in Hand 1144

Abstract: Our research concerns the synthesis, structure, and reactivity of unusual molecules that prominently feature the main group elements. These efforts afforded the experimental realization of “metalloaromaticity" (the concept that metallic rings may also display traditional aromatic behavior as exhibited by benzene) and novel molecules containing multiple bonds between heavier main group elements. Our research efforts also concerned N-heterocyclic carbene stabilization of highly reactive main group molecules such as diborene (H-B=B-H), diphosphorus (P2), disilicon (Si2), and various elusive main group oxides (such as Si2O4 and P2O4). This presentation will highlight our recent efforts to augment the molecular framework of N-heterocyclic carbenes and their unexpected conversion to stable dithiolene-based radicals

Bio: Professor Robinson received his B.S. from Jacksonville State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. He began his academic career at Clemson University (1985) and joined the faculty of the University of Georgia a decade later. Professor Robison has made several seminal discoveries in synthetic inorganic chemistry, prominently focusing on the main group elements. His laboratory discovered metalloaromaticity (the proposition that a properly constrained metallic ring system can display traditional aromatic behavior historically restricted to carbon ring systems) and was the first to synthesize a compound containing a gallium-gallium triple bond (the gallium analog of acetylene). Professor Robinson is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Please join us for a reception with Dr. Robinson at 3:00 PM in Hand 1134.
Hosted by:  Dr. Miguel A. Munoz