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The Emslie Group Inorganic Synthesis - Organometallic and Coordination Chemistry - Metal ALD Precursors, Actinide and Transition Metal Complexes, and Borane-Functionalized Complexes New Ligand Design and Synthesis - Ultra-Rigid Ligands and Ambiphilic Ligands Reactivity - Stoichiometric and Catalytic Organometallic Reactivity, Cooperative Substrate Activation, Metal Film Deposition, and Redox Reactions Applications - ALD, Catalysis, and Small Molecule Activation Characterization - X-Ray Crystallography, Multinuclear and Variable Temperature NMR, Cyclic Voltammetry, IR, UV-Vis and NIR Spectroscopy, PXRD, XPS, SEM, and DFT Calculations.

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GRAD STUDENTS FOR 2012 - Now only accepting students with high scholarship potential

PDF APPLICATIONS WELCOME! Currently, only accepting PDFs with funding

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May 2012 - New graduate student Aathith Vasanthakumar joins the group. May 2012 - NSERC USRA students Judy Tsao and Adam Pantaleo join the group. March 2012 - Kelly is awared a Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology. Nice work KM! March 2012 - Brad and Kris complete their Comprehensive Exams. Now back to the lab! March 2012 - Meera wins runner-up for the best CHEM 4G09 thesis presentation. March 2012 - Nick, Kris, Bala, Sougandi, Terry and Matt's Uranium paper accepted to Dalton Trans. for a special issue entitled "New Talent in the Americas". Feb. 2012 - Brad, Simon and Natalie's platinum TXPB paper is now on Dalton Trans. asap. Jan. 2012 - Kelly and Nick are awarded Russell Bell Travel Awards to attend both the ICFE and ICOMC conferences in Italy and Portugal this summer. Dec. 2011 - Carlos back to visit the lab before Christmas - thanks for the pizza! Dec. 2011- "12 Pubs" pub crawl possibly completed by a significant portion of the lab? Oct. 2011 - Nick wins "best McMaster chemistry graduate research colloquium" for 2010/2011. Oct. 2011 - Brad and Kris' Dalton Perspective published on ASAP (also awarded the front cover of the issue that the perspective will be published in). Sept. 2011 - Kelly and Nick complete their transfer exams to enter the PhD program. Congratulations! Sept. 2011 - Dr. Preeti Chadha joins the group from UWO (PhD with Paul Ragogna). Click here for previous group news...	----
	Welcome to the Emslie Group Webpage
	Research in the Emslie group is focused on: (1) The development of new organometallic reactivity for metal Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD): new volatile precursor synthesis, solution deposition reactions, mechanistic studies, and ALD. (2) Ultra-rigid ligand actinide complexes: organometallic reactivity and catalysis, small molecule activation, redox chemistry, structural and bonding studies. Future work may also include applications in lanthanide/actinide separation. (3) Late transition metal ambiphilic ligand complexes; synthesis, structures, stoichiometric reactivity, and catalysis. As a consequence, the Emslie research program (as a whole) involves early and late transition metal, actinide and main group chemistry, coordination, organometallic and materials chemistry, organic ligand synthesis, catalysis, small molecule activation and ALD. The breadth of research carried out in the group provides students/PDFs with a uniquely broad background and skillset. Students interested in joining the group typically have a choice between several different research areas, which can differ significantly (e.g. more exploratory vs more applied research, substantial vs minimal new ligand synthesis, mainly organometallic vs coordination chemistry, transition metal vs f-element chemistry etc.). However, the Emslie group is a synthetic inorganic chemistry group, so the major focus (typically >80%) of all projects is molecular synthesis (mostly air-sensitive; in some cases extremely air-sensitive). All aspects of the Emslie research program involve extremely air sensitive materials, and students/PDFs gain extensive expertise in the vacuum line and glove box techniques. These skills have wide academic and industrial application, for example in laboratories involved in homogeneous catalysis (e.g. olefin polymerisation or pharmaceutical synthesis), in semiconductor and microelectronics research, and in the nuclear industry. For more information on specialized glove box applications, see: http://www.mbraunusa.com/mbraun-glovebox-applications.htm. Chemistry in the Emslie lab also relies heavily on the synthesis of new ligands (often containing B, P, S, Se etc.) which requires a significant level of skill in organic synthesis and provides students with experience in techniques of importance in most chemistry laboratories. Members of the Emslie group run and interpret data from a wide variety of techniques including: 1D, 2D, multinuclear and VT NMR spectroscopy, IR, NIR and UV-Vis spectroscopy, GC-MS, HRMS, TGA, electrochemistry, and combustion elemental analysis. Students in the group also have the option to solve their own X­ray crystal structures and perform DFT calculations. Overall, this experience provides students/PDFs with the skills required to identify and study almost any molecular compound. Our research in the area of metal ALD provides students and PDFs working in this area with valuable and unique experience in multidisciplinary research; from precursor design/synthesis, reactivity studies and solution mechanistic studies, to ALD and thin film characterization (e.g. 4-point probe measurements, SEM, XPS and PXRD). These skills have broad academic and industrial application, and even members of the Emslie group who are not directly involved in the project gain exposure to the field through research presentations at weekly group meetings.

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