Weird Chemistry: Stable radicals and electronically labile molecules

While most free radicals are transient species with short lifetimes, certain families of organic radicals are stable, in some cases for years, under ambient conditions. Aside from the inherent interest in such unusual species, the presence of unpaired electrons, and often associated redox activity results in a variety of potential applications for such molecules, varying from biochemical and biological probes, to novel materials and quantum computing. We are synthesizing stable heterocyclic free radicals based on a tetrazine core (known as verdazyls) and combining them with other redox active organic and inorganic groups to generate electronically labile systems. The latter are molecules that can undergo dramatic changes in electronic distribution and/or spin state based on the chemical or physical environment; in particular, the ability to switch individual molecules between electronic states has the potential to provide a way to store information at the molecular level. The presentation will discuss a variety of systems we have studied over the past twenty years which include examples where electronic structure and magnetic properties are influenced by proton transfer and electron transfer, as well as crystal packing and temperature.

About the Speaker:

Dr David Brook received a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Lancaster, UK in 1989. He then went on to get a PhD in physical organic chemistry at the University of Colorado in 1993. After two postdoctoral positions he joined the faculty of The University of Detroit Mercy in 1997. He moved to California and joined the faculty of San Jose State University in 2006 where he was recently promoted to chair of the department.