The Department of Chemistry

I am specialized in the field of Inorganic materials chemistry. My primary research involves synthesis, structural elucidation, investigation of thermotropic and photophysical properties of novel Schiff base metal complexes. These novel complexes are particularly attractive because of the variability of structures formed on changing molecular features and metal ions. The compounds are designed with a (mono or bi-nuclear) metal ion core coordinated to a π-conjugated ligand with peripheral/lateral hydrocarbon chains to influence structural anisotropy, thermotropic and photophysical properties. These Schiff base metal complexes may result in multifunctional liquid crystal materials with luminescent, magnetic, electronic and conductive properties for applications including modern displays incorporating organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), data storage and thermo/chemosensors.

My research skills and techniques include organometallic synthesis, standard schlenk techniques, powder X-ray diffraction, structural refinement, crystal growth and mounting, single crystal structure analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, polarized light microscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, NMR analysis, uv-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy.

Currently, I am interested in designing and synthesizing functional Porphyrin molecules with varying cavity sizes for the incorporation of different metal ions for gas and electron transport and for enhanced light absorbing properties for solar cell devices.