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SUMMARY:Molecular Insights into Metal-Support Interactions for Catalyst Des
 ign
LOCATION:Chemistry A101
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20220927T160000
UID:2026-05-04-03-04-26@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260504T030426
Description:About the Seminar\n\nA central research goal in the Velian grou
 p is to create next-generation single atom catalysts poised to harness the
  cooperativity between the active site and chemically non-innocent support
 s. To emulate defect sites in inorganic heterogeneous catalysts in a contr
 olled fashion\, we embed well-defined active sites on the surface of clust
 ers and 2D nanosheets.\n\nThe first part of this seminar will introduce a 
 class of atomically precise nanoclusters distinguished by the presence of 
 discrete active sites that engage dynamically with the non-innocent metal 
 chalcogenide cluster support\, and with substrates. Together with their sc
 alable syntheses\, solution processability and their ease of characterizat
 ion using molecular methods\, this family of nanoclusters provide atom lev
 el insights into the metal/support interface\, and how the ensuing coopera
 tivity can be harnessed to dramatically alter catalytic activity.\n\nThe s
 econd part of the talk will introduce an orthogonal approach to catalyst e
 ngineering\, in which the basic principles of organometallic-phosphine che
 mistry are harnessed to anchor single atom active sites on the surface of 
 two-dimensional black phosphorus nanosheets. Molecular synthetic and chara
 cterization strategies are leveraged to probe the bonding and functionalit
 y of the modified nanosheets.\n\nAbout Alexandra Velian\, Ph.D.\n\nAlexand
 ra began her independent career at the University of Washington in 2017.
  A central goal in the group is to create next-generation catalysts geared
  to turn green-house gases like methane and carbon dioxide into value adde
 d products. Our approach is to use molecular strategies to synthesize sing
 le-site catalysts that harness metal-support interactions\, and shine ligh
 t on processes that govern the substrate/active sites/support interactions
 .\n\nAlexandra’s scientific and academic contributions have been recogni
 zed with several awards and distinctions\, including the C&amp\;EN Talente
 d 12 (2022)\, Cottrell Scholar Fellowship (2020)\, the NSF Career Award (2
 019)\, the Young Investigator Award – ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistr
 y (2016) and the Alan Davison Prize for the Best Thesis in Inorganic Chemi
 stry at MIT (2015).\n\nAlexandra completed her undergraduate studies in c
 hemistry at Caltech\, where she conducted research primarily with Professo
 r Theodor Agapie. As the first member of his group\, she developed the syn
 thesis of low-valent mono- and bimetallic complexes supported by a terphen
 yl diphosphine framework.\n\nShe received her Ph.D. under the direction o
 f Professor Christopher C. Cummins at MIT\, where she developed the synthe
 sis of anthracene and niobium-supported precursors to reactive phosphorus 
 fragments and studied their behavior using chemical\, spectroscopic\, and 
 computational methods. Notably\, this work gave rise to the synthesis of t
 he 6π all-inorganic aromatic anion heterocycle P2N3−\, produced in the 
 “click” reaction of P2 with the azide ion.\n\nFollowing her PhD\, Ale
 xandra was a Materials Research Science &amp\; Engineering Center postdoc
 toral fellow with Professor Colin Nuckolls at Columbia University\, where
  she worked on creating well-defined functional nanostructures by linking 
 atomically precise metal chalcogenide clusters. 4:00 pm
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