Our country continues to demand clean renewable energy to meet the growing energy needs of our time. Thus, natural gas, which is 87% by volume of methane, has become a hot topic of discussion because it is a clean burning fuel. However, the transportation of methane is not easy because it is a gas at standard temperature and pressure. The usage of transition metals for the conversion of small organic species like methane into a liquid has been a longstanding practice in stoichiometric chemistry. Nonetheless, the current two-step process takes place at a high temperature and pressure for the conversion of methane and steam to methanol via CO + H2 (syngas). The direct oxidation of methane (CH4) into methanol (CH3OH) via homogeneous catalysis is of interest if the system can operate at standard pressure and a temperature less than 250 C. Methane is an inert gas due to the high C-H bond dissociation energy (BDE) of 105 kcal/mol. This dissertation discusses a series of computational investigations of oxy-insertion pathways to understand the essential chemistry behind the functionalization of methane via the use of homogeneous transition metal catalysis. The methane to methanol (MTM) catalytic cycle is made up of two key steps: (1) C-H activation by a metal-methoxy complex, (2) the insertion of oxygen into the metal−methyl bond (oxy-insertion). While, the first step (C-H activation) has been well studied, the second step has been less studied. Thus, this dissertation focuses on oxy-insertion via a two-step mechanism, oxygen-atom transfer (OAT) and methyl migration, utilizing transition metal complexes known to activate small organic species (e.g., PtII and PdII complexes). This research seeks to guide experimental investigations, and probe the role that metal charge and coordination number play.
The multi-reference correlation consistent composite approach (MR-ccCA) was designed to reproduce the accuracy of more computationally intensive ab initio quantum mechanical methods like MR-ACPF-DK/aug-cc-pCV?Z-DK, albeit at a significantly reduced cost. In this dissertation, the development and applications of the MR-ccCA method and a variant of its single reference equivalent (the relativistic pseudopotential ccCA method) are reported. MR-ccCA is shown to predict the energetic properties of reactive intermediates, excited states species and transition states to within chemical accuracy (i.e. ±1.0 kcal mol 1) of reliable experimental values. The accuracy and versatility of MR-ccCA are also demonstrated in the prediction of the thermochemical and spectroscopic properties (such as atomization energies, enthalpies of formation and adiabatic transition energies of spin-forbidden excited states) of a series of silicon-containing compounds. The thermodynamic and kinetic feasibilities of the oxidative addition of an archetypal arylglycerol ?-aryl ether (?-O-4 linkage) substructure of lignin to Ni, Cu, Pd and Pt transition metal atoms using the efficient relativistic pseudopotential correlation consistent composite approach within an ONIOM framework (rp-ccCA-ONIOM), a multi-level multi-layer QM/QM method formulated to enhance the quantitative predictions of the chemical properties of heavy element-containing systems larger than hitherto attainable, are also reported.
This dissertation is a study of two major topics that involve synthetic strategies for new classes of phosphorescent gold(I)-based metallodendrimers. The phosphorescence of organic and inorganic luminophores originates from spin-orbit coupling owing to internal or external heavy atom effects as well as metal-centered emissions. Previous work in the Omary group entailed systematically designed small molecules, metallopolymers, and unconjugated metallodendrimers that contain d10 and d8 metals, whereas this dissertation aims in part to expand such strategies to the conjugated metallodendrimer regime. In one approach novel synthetic strategies were used to make first-generation phenyl acetylene dendrimers and phosphine derivatives thereof. The phosphine dendrimers are made by tethering one of the phosphines to an unsaturated dendrimer, as such phosphine dendrimers are better chromophores and luminophores due to their structural rigidity and extended conjugation. In another approach, 2- and 3-coordinate Au(I) dendritic complexes are synthesized from these phosphine dendrimers. This study is further extended to study metallodendritic complexes with different cores, for example triphenylene-based metallodendritic complexes with six acetylene branches. The physical properties of the metallodendrimers can be modulated upon proceeding to further dendrimer generations or by using solubilizing groups on the peripheral phosphines, thus allowing better processability for thin-film fabrication as required for molecular electronic devices and higher chance for crystal growth toward accurate structural characterization. Other data produced in this project suggested that some structural alterations led to porous solids that render them suitable for realized and potential applications in energy storage and carbon capture. The interesting luminescence properties of the metallodendrimers and porous extended solids produced in this dissertation are significant toward utilizing such materials for optoelectronic applications such as energy-saving organic light-emitting diodes and optical sensors for environmental pollutants.
Polymeric nanoparticles were designed, synthesized, and loaded with metal ions to explore the therapeutic potential for transition metals other than platinum found in cisplatin. Nanoparticles were synthesized to show the potential for polymer based vectors. Metal loading and release were characterized via Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Elemental Analysis. Targeting was attempted with the expectation of observed increased particle uptake by cancer cells with flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. Results demonstrated that a variety of metals could be loaded to the nano-sized carriers in an aqueous environment, and that the release was pH-dependent. Expected increased targeting was inconsistent. The toxicity of these particles was measured in cancer cells where significant toxicity was observed in vitro via dosing of high copper-loaded nanoparticles and slight toxicity was observed in ruthenium-loaded nanoparticles. No significant toxicity was observed in cells dosed with metal-free nanoparticles. Future research will focus on ruthenium loaded polymeric nanoparticles with different targeting ligands dosed to different cell lines for the aim of increased uptake and decreased cancer cell viability.
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