This award is supported by the Major Research Instrumentation and the Chemistry Research Instrumentation programs. Rutgers University Newark is acquiring a single crystal X-ray diffractometer to support Professor Frieder Jaekle and colleagues: Roger Lalancette, Michal Szostak, Demyan Prokopchuk and Trevor Tyson from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. In general, an X-ray diffractometer allows accurate and precise measurements of the full three-dimensional structure of a molecule, including bond distances and angles. The instrument acquisition provides accurate information about the spatial arrangement of a molecule relative to neighboring molecules. In addition, the diffractometer has broad impact on teaching and training, outreach activities, and graduate and undergraduate research at Rutgers University Newark and regional partners such as the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
The award of the X-ray diffractometer is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels. The instrument acquisition impacts the characterization of synthetic inorganic and organic materials to develop new catalysts to advance manufacturing for optoelectronic applications. The instrumentation is also used for studying catalysts made from main group Lewis pairs and amide cross-coupling by nitrogen-carbon bond activation. In addition, the research team benefits from the instrument by being able to explore transition-metal catalyzed reactions of carboxylic acids and multiferroic complex oxides. The diffractometer is also used to characterize products relevant to molecular catalysis for sustainable energy conversion and compounds for chromophore-semiconductor interfaces.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
