Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of matter whose reactions and interactions sum to make the world around us. Often, the bond breaking and forming reactions that underpin the study of chemistry are considered solely from the perspective of electrons: where are they, where are they going, and how many are around? By contrast, the nucleus, whose mass comprises >99.9% of the atom, is typically disregarded except to inform more about the electrons that surround it. This one-particle paradigm constitutes an opportunity to reclaim the entire atom in leading edge chemistry research.
Our group seeks to use the whole atom—that is, both the electrons and the nuclei they orbit—as a means to solve outstanding challenges in chemistry facing society and the nation. We are synthetic, molecular chemists who leverage unique electronic and nuclear properties of the elements as a function of their location on the periodic table to make exciting and transformative discoveries in nuclear medicine, catalysis, and small molecule (greenhouse gas) functionalization.
Students on our team are well-positioned to join the growing chemical and nuclear workforces in local Virginia communities, national laboratory settings, academia, and beyond.
Please see the sections below to learn more about general research themes that our group is currently pursuing.
Targeted alpha therapy is a promising strategy for the treatment of some types of cancers by selective delivery of α-emitters to cancerous cells. A key challenge to developments in this area is radiolytic degradation of the chelating ligand, resulting in uncontrolled release of the medical isotope. We seek to overcome this issue by designing "self-healing" chelators that are resistant to degradation by water radiolysis products. The fate of these protected radiometal chelates will be evaluated as a function of radiological dose by spectroscopic and radioanalytical methods. We envision that this new self-healing approach will constitute a significant advance in the field of nuclear medicine.
The U.S. DOE has identified platinum group metals as critical materials due to their energy relevance and global scarcity. It is crucial to develop catalyst systems based on non-precious metals to overcome these sustainability challenges. Lead (Pb) is an attractive alternative because of its abundance and low cost. Although chemical analogies between Pb and Pd have been noted before, lead’s resistance to redox cycling has prevented its use in catalytic bond constructions. Through rational ligand design, we aim to control frontier electronic structure at a molecular Pb center to induce catalytic reactivity that has so far been reserved for precious metals.
Carbon dioxide and methane are potent greenhouse gases that are currently dismissed as detrimental waste rather than potentially valuable C1 building blocks. We propose that radiation chemistry—that is, chemistry induced by γ-rays—could provide a creative approach to achieve otherwise untapped value. Building on known gaseous radiation chemistry, this work aims to convert mixtures of CO2 and CH4 into value-added products via γ-ray photoredox mediators. This approach is effectively a high-energy form of photochemistry. We are hopeful that developing the fundamental science of γ radiation chemistry may have an equally large influence on small molecule activation methods.