Chemical Society Seminar: Ali Nazemi - A Bottom-Up Polymer Approach to Highly Stable and Catalytically Active Metal Nanoparticles
Zoom link: https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/87097509279?pwd=dHpaNk0xOXpEbXZzUEpCdTBZaUdNQT09
Abstract:
Incorporating metal centers into carbon-based polymers has shown to be an effective strategies to access new functional materials with applications in various areas of science and technology.1 To date, metallopolymers incorporating about 30 different metals in combination with a wide range of ligands have been reported. Among the ligand component, multi-dentate N-donors and cyclopentadiene moieties have been widely used.1 However, those based on N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been significantly underdeveloped. This is surprising because NHCs are known to form exceptionally strong bonds to a variety of transition metals. In the realm of polymer chemistry, only handful examples of NHC-metal polymers exist.2,3 Our group has recently started working in this area to develop novel approaches to synthesize polymerized NHC-metal complexes and to utilize them as substrates to fabricate highly stable metal nanoparticles. In this presentation, I will discuss some of the advances we have made in accessing such polymers and their corresponding nanomaterials. In addition, the application of these metal nanoparticles as well as their stabilities will be presented.
[1] Yan, Y.; Zhang, J.; Ren, L.; Tang, C., Chem. Soc. Rev. 2016, 45, 5232-5263.
[2] Powell, A. B.; Bielawski, C. W.; Cowley, A. H., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 10184-10194.
[3] Wang, W.; Zhao, L.; Lv, H.; Zhang, G.; Xia, C.; Hahn, F. E.; Li, F. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2016,
55, 7665-7670.
Bio:
Ali completed his B.Sc. in Chemistry from K. N. Toosi University of Technology (Iran) in 2005. He then moved to Canada and completed his M.Sc. in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Toronto with Prof. Datong Song (2009) and his Ph.D. at The University of Western Ontario with Prof. Elizabeth R. Gillies (2013). After his graduate studies, Ali first spent two years (2014−2016) in England as a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Prof. Ian Manners at the University of Bristol and then came back to Canada at Queen’s University (2016−2017) to work with Prof. Cathleen M. Crudden as a postdoctoral fellow. In January 2018, Ali started his independent career as an assistant professor at Université du Queb́ec à Montreál. His group focuses on design, synthesis, and self-assembly of novel polymeric and dendritic
systems to fabricate nanomaterials for applications in nanomedicine.