"New Class of Constrained Geometry Ligands for Applications in Catalysis"
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Cooper Science Building (CP), room 253
Mark Mason
University of Toledo
This presentation will introduce a new class of constrained geometry ligands under development in the Mason laboratory at the University of Toledo. The presentation will include a brief overview of the history of olefin polymerization catalysis, the impact of single-site and constrained geometry catalysts on polyolefin properties, and the importance and role of the methylaluminoxane (MAO) co-catalysts. The synthesis and characterization of a few representative ligands and metal complexes from our new class of patented constrained geometry catalysts will be discussed, as will the results of a recent NSF I-Corps customer discovery project aimed at identifying potential commercial applications of these new ligands.
"Manganese to Methane. Recollections of Bob Morris and the Impact of his Chemistry"
Friday, April 6, 2018
Gregory S. Girolami
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This presentation will have two parts: a personal view and recollections of Bob's early research career at Illinois, and the long-term results of a project that he started in my laboratories. This project has recently resulted in a rather amazing achievement: the preparation and full spectroscopic characterization of a methane coordination complex, in which we have been able to determine exactly how the methane is bound and how much its structure is perturbed.