Professor, Department of Chemistry
Program Focus
The study of organometallic chemistry, an area that bridges inorganic and organic disciplines, has found remarkable utility in many diverse applications. Organometallic compounds themselves, which consist of metals bonded to organic groups, can teach us a great deal about fundamental bonding properties. The effect that binding an organic group to a metal has on that organic fragment's reactivity can be exploited in developing new catalysts for organic reactions. When it is difficult to study the reaction of a molecule on a metal surface in a heterogeneous catalyst system, it may be possible to infer how the reaction is taking place by studying suitably designed organometallic compounds as models. In our group, we try to take advantage of many of these properties of organometallic systems to study fundamental reaction chemistry, to design novel catalyst systems, and to use organometallic compounds as precursors to more complex materials.
Selected Publications
- Morris, D.M.; McGeagh, M.; De Pena, D.; Merola, J.S. Extending the range of pentasubstituted cyclopentadienyl compounds: The synthesis of a series of tetramethyl(alkyl or aryl)cyclopentadienes (Cp*(R)), their iridium complexes and their catalytic activity for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation. Polyhedron 2014, 84, 120-135. (Invited paper for special edition in honor of John Bercaw.)
- Hobart, D. B., Jr.; Berg, M. A. G.; Merola, J. S. Bis-glycinato complexes of palladium(II): Synthesis, structural determination, and hydrogen bonding interactions. Inorg. Chim. Acta 2014, 423, 21-30.
- Merola, J. S.; Knorr, J. R., Synthesis and reaction chemistry of boryliridium hydride complexes formed by oxidative addition of catecholborane to iridium(I): Lessons for metal-catalyzed hydroboration. J. Organomet. Chem. 2014, 750, 86-97.
- Merola, J. S.; Ladipo, F. T., Alkyne reactions with trimethylphosphine complexes of iridium: Lessons for the catalysis of vinyl ester formation and alkyne dimerization. Polyhedron 2014, 70, 125-132.
- Karpin, G. W.; Merola, J. S.; Falkinham, J. O., Transition metal-α-amino acid complexes with antibiotic activity against Mycobacterium spp. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2013, 57 (7), 3434-3436.