Inorganic | Department of Chemistry

Inorganic

Our Inorganic chemistry faculty members carry out experimental and computational research in a variety of topics that include photoinduced Jahn-Teller effects, electron transfer, metal-metal bonding, and homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. The department possesses state-of-the-art facilities for structural determination including a new dual source Mo/Cu single crystal X-ray diffractometer, multinuclear NMR spectrometers, and mass spectrometric facilities.

In addition, inorganic faculty members are active participants in Materials Chemistry research.

Professor Research Description

Dr. Hao Yan

Dr. Yan's group seeks novel physical approaches to address fundamental questions in chemistry and materials science. We are particularly interested in elucidating structure-property relationships under extreme mechanical environments such as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), and applying such knowledge to the design of functional systems with broad-range impacts in catalysis, energy conversion and quantum information science.

Dr. LeGrande Slaughter

Inorganic and organometallic synthesis applied to the design of catalysts and novel materials. Homogeneous catalysis of organic reactions of medicinal or industrial importance. Nanostructured organometallic catalysts.

Dr. Mohammad Omary

Fundamental spectroscopic and structural studies of luminescent transition metal and lanthanide complexes. Molecular electronic devices. Metal-organic framework for adsorption of hydrogen and other gases.

Dr. Shengqian Ma

Employing coordination-driven assembly to construct metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with tailored functionalities and developing new methodologies to encapsulate functionalized species into the nanospace of MOFs for applications in small molecule activation, CO2 chemical transformation, and solid acid catalysts for heterogeneous catalysis as well as controlled drug delivery, bio-sensing, and therapeutics.

Dr. Thomas Cundari

Development and application of high-accuracy methods for modeling of transition metals. Application of theory to the rational design of metal-based catalysts, sensors, optics and materials. Chemistry of the copper- and zinc-triads. Multiple bonding involving the transition metals and heavier main group elements.

An example of the integrative computational/synthetic/materials research aspects carried out by the UNT inorganic groups is shown here.