Previous studies have looked at Fe(II) coordination complexes that are present in biological enzymes. These studies have explored the nature of the coordination complexes and relate the structure to spectroscopic techniques. A particular area of interest is high spin coordination complexes in which there are several unpaired electrons all going in the same direction. This study takes interest in Zn(II) coordination complexes. However, Zn(II) is diamagnetic, meaning it has no unpaired electrons. Fortunately, Co(II) has unpaired electrons and reacts the same as Zn(II). Therefore, this study aims to synthesize Co(II) analogues of the Zn(II) coordination complexes and study them via EPR and NMR spectroscopy to gain an understanding of the relationship between their structures and functions. Understanding the relationship of structure and spectroscopy can help us to learn more about the biologically relevant enzymes and potentially unveil future areas of research and ways that we can better utilize these coordination complexes. The main synthetic pathway makes tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine followed by an addition of CoX2 where X is a varying counterion. This results in a Co(II) centered five point coordination complex. Following the purification of these complexes, they are crystalized, have their crystal structures studied, and finally are evaluated via NMR and EPR spectroscopy. Throughout this study, several complexes have been successfully synthesized and crystalized. However, others have proven more difficult and remain to be successfully isolated. Future work in this area includes forming the remaining crystals, evaluating their crystal structures, and using EPR spectroscopy to evaluate the relationship between structure and spectroscopy.
Author: Samuel Long, Biochemistry
Advisor: David Tierney, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Graduate Advisor: Vipul Batra, Chemistry and Biochemistry
You must be logged in to post a comment.