Events

Past Event

Chemistry Colloquium, Presented by Prof. Jim McCusker, Michigan State University

October 10, 2024
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
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Havemeyer 209
Fig 1
The Photophysics and Photochemistry of First-row Transition Metal Complexes: Quantum Coherence, the Marcus Inverted Region, and Applications in Excited-state Chemistry

Presented by Prof. Jim McCusker
Hosted by Prof. Jon Owen

 

Abstract:
There has been considerable renewed interest in the photophysical properties of first-row transition metal complexes, driven in part by a long-standing desire to shift to earth-abundant materials for a variety of photolytic applications. A significant challenge to achieving this goal is the fundamental difference in the excited-state properties of first-row metal complexes as compared to their second- and third-row congeners subsequent to light absorption.1 Our group has been working on understanding the origins of this difference in an effort to develop design principles that will assist in overcoming these intrinsic challenges and develop new paradigms for the creation of photo-active first- row chromophores for applications in solar energy conversion strategies as well as photoredox catalysis.

This presentation will provide a brief survey of the work we have been engaged in over the past several years employing a combination of synthetic chemistry and ultrafast spectroscopy. Our primary focus has been on compounds involving metals with a d6 valence electronic configuration.2 InthecaseofFe(II),leveraginginformationfromvibroniccoherencewasfound to provide what amounts to a roadmap for effective synthetic design to lengthen the lifetime of MLCT excited states,3 whereas the excited-state redox activity of Co(III)-based ligand-field excited states4 coupled with dynamics occurring in the Marcus inverted region (Figure 1) enabled previously unforeseen applications in photoredox catalysis.5 Future directions of our research efforts in each of these areas will also be discussed.
 

References:
1.    McCusker, J.K. Science 2019, 363, 484-488.
2.    For a recent review focused on d6 metals in particular, see: Sinha, N.; Wenger, O. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023,145, 4503-4520.
3.    Paulus, B.C.; Adelman, S.L.; Jamula, L.L.; McCusker, J.K. Nature 2020, 582, 214-218.
4.    Alowakennu, M.M.; Ghosh, A.; McCusker, J.K. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 20786-20791.
5.    Chan, A.Y.; Ghosh, A.; Yarranton, J.T.; Twilton, J.; Jin, J.; Arias-Rotondo, D.M.; Sakai, H.A.; McCusker, J.K.; MacMillan, D.W.C. Science 2023, 382, 191-197.

 



Bio:
   
     Jim McCusker was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1965. A graduate of Bucknell University (where he majored in Chemistry with minors in Physics and Music), Jim enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987 and carried out research in physical-inorganic chemistry under the guidance of the late Professor David N. Hendrickson. Jim was awarded a two-year post-doctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health in 1992 to work with Professor Thomas J. Meyer at the University of North Carolina, then began his independent academic career at the University of California at Berkeley as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the fall of 1994. The initial paper out of his group was the first application of femtosecond spectroscopy to understand the photophysics of an inorganic charge-transfer complex, specifically, a delineation of the ultrafast nature of excited-state evolution in [Ru(bpy)3] 2+. While at UC-Berkeley, Jim was awarded the Department of Chemistry Teaching Award in 1999 in addition to being named an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1998 – 2000) and a Hellman Faculty Fellow of the University of California (1997 – 1998). Jim moved his research group to Michigan State University in 2001 where he is currently an MSU Research Foundation Professor of Chemistry. The central themes of his research group continue to focus on the synergy between synthesis and ultrafast spectroscopy to probe the light-induced properties of transition metal-containing molecules – in particular as they impact the development of solar energy conversion strategies and photoredox catalysis – as well as the interplay of spin, magnetism, and the excited-state dynamics of molecular systems.
   
     An Associate Editor for Physical-Inorganic Chemistry at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship journal Chemical Science since 2015, Jim has been recognized at Michigan State University with the 2014 Junior Faculty Mentoring Award, the 2016 College of Natural Science Outstanding Faculty Award, and the 2018 William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award by the President of Michigan State. He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2016, was the recipient of the RSC Chemical Dynamics Award in 2020, the 2023 Inter-American Photochemical Society Award in Photochemistry, and most recently the 2024 Josef Michl ACS Award in Photochemistry. Jim has published over 100 articles in journals including Science, Nature, Chemical Science, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society, served as Chair of the 2012 Electron Donor-Acceptor Interactions and the 2023 Photochemistry Gordon Research Conferences, and has given in excess of 300 invited seminars at universities and conferences in more than 20 countries around the world.

Read more about the McCusker Group here
 

Contact Information

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