The Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program supports the work of Professor Louis Messerle from the University of Iowa on studies of the solution structure, mechanisms of formation, syntheses, and lanthanide (Ln)-analog chemistry of unprecedentedly large, amino-acid coordinated, sixty-yttrium nanosupramolecular clusters ("Y60"(OH)32). Alternative synthetic routes, intermediates and the synthetic role of small polyyttrium clusters will be examined by 89Y NMR spectroscopy. New, technologically-relevant, large hexacontalanthanide clusters of Eu, Gd and Tb will also be prepared and their photophysical properties (emission and luminescence lifetimes) will be measured by spectrofluorimetry and spectroscopy in order to develop cluster-chemistry platforms for high-sensitivity, biomedical imaging probes and contrast agents. Gd60's magnetic susceptibility and in vitro MR relaxivity will be used to assess its cooperative magnetic behavior and MRI potential. Undergraduates at nearby Coe College will participate in time-resolved spectroscopy studies and the project will provide opportunities for minority graduate students through the University of Iowa's Department of Education GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) program. Cluster chemistry will be introduced to junior undergraduates in an inorganic chemistry synthesis laboratory and, at relevant points, to the large-enrollment general chemistry lectures.
