Department of Chemistry - American University of Beirut

B.Sc., AUB (1983), M.Sc., AUB (1986); Ph.D., Rutgers University (1994); Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley (1994-97); Research Chemist, Kodak Company (1997-00).

Study of the geometry, electronic structure and elementary reactions of unsaturated transition metal complexes.

Unsaturated transition metal fragments play a central role in transition metal Chemistry. The fragments of interest are often produced photolytically from saturated precursors or they are formed as reactive intermediates in the course of stoichiometric or catalytic reactions under conditions that preclude their unambiguous characterization by experimental means. Unlike the complexes that satisfy the 18-electron rule, unsaturated fragments can have several low lying electronic states. Knowledge of the geometry, relative energy and reactivity of these states is of fundamental nature in chemistry, and can also have immediate practical implications to homogenous catalysis. My research plans at present are to study unsaturated fragments using electronic structure methods. The research is done using computer programs such as Gaussian and MolPro. Two projects are currently under consideration: 1- Geometry and Reactions of Unsaturated 16-electron CpMLn Complexes, and, 2- Mechanism of alkyl radical carbonylation by [Ir(PMe3)2(CO)2Cl].

Identification of Jahn-Teller Effects in Both Singlet and Triplet Low Energy States of [(Benzene)Nb(CO)3]+, Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. 2002, 41, 2120. (with Ha-Yeon Cheong and Mathew Oliff )
Energy Transfer to the Low-Energy Triplet States of 1,3-Dicarbonylazomethine Dyes: The Role of Unique Geometries and Nonadiabatic Behavior, Journal of Physical Chemistry A 2001, 105, 1214 (with William Herkstroeter )
Aggregation and Alkylation Kinetics of a Lithium Enolate - Lithium Bromide Mixed Aggregate in Tetrahydrofuran, Journal of the American Chemical Society 1996, 118, 8136. (with Andrew Streitwieser).
Carbon Monoxide Addition to Transition Metal Complexes: Bent Metal Carbonyl Transition States, Journal of the American Chemical Society 1994, 116, 5979 (with Karsten Krogh-Jespersen and Alan S. Goldman).