Soper Lab

The Soper Lab is seeking a postdoc. Interested graduate students should apply by email to Prof. Jake Soper. Please include, in a single PDF file, a curriculum vitae, a summary of research experiences, and contact information for three recommenders. Experience in the synthesis and characterization of air-sensitive organometallic and inorganic coordination complexes is preferred, but applications from all areas of inorganic chemistry are welcome.

If you are in the San Diego Convention Center tonight, stop by poster 811 in Hall D to talk with Michael Bayless about our newest research results. Mike’s poster describes his recent efforts to develop redox-active pincer-type NHC ligands for iron and cobalt-catalyzed cross coupling.

The 241st Commencement of the Georgia Institute of Technology was held on December 17, 2011. Clarence Rolle returned to receive his doctoral degree and hood.  Photos with the Ramblin’ Wreck ensued.

Our latest research on rhenium-catalyzed aerobic alcohol oxidations is published on European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry Early View. It builds on our previous studies of dioxygen homolysis by five-coordinate oxorhenium(V) complexes with redox-active ligands by using the resulting dioxorhenim(VII) products for oxidations of benzylic alcohols. Cameron Lippert and Korbinian Riener collaborated on a study of the rhenium(VII) alcohol oxidation mechanism, which revealed the net PCET process has a surprising catalytic dependence on rhenium(V). Check it out.

The Inorganic Chemistry Forum on Redox-Active Ligands is now available. This special compilation of papers presents a fantastic summary of the field, ranging from historical perspectives on the discovery of redox-active ligand complexes to recently developed methods for stoichiometric and catalytic transformations of small molecules. The Preface by guest editor Professor Paul Chirik is definitely worth checking out. We are proud to have a paper included in this issue.