Mark S. Workentin, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry and Centre for Advanced Materials and Biomaterials Research (CAMBR)
Western University
London, ON N6A 5B7
519-661-2111 Ext 86319
Our
group utilizes a variety of electrochemical and photochemical
experimental techniques in our general efforts aimed at delineating the
factors that control the mechanisms and dynamics of organic reactions
occurring in homogeneous solution and in heterogeneous, ordered
environments. Our main research interest
is directed towards addressing fundamental aspects of interfacial
organic reactions and utilize the knowledge gained to design and
synthesize new materials and to demonstrate potential applications.
Reactions of molecules in solution are supported by a well developed
intuition and set of methods from physical organic chemistry, but the
reactions of molecules at the solid-liquid or solid-solid interface are
not as well understood because they often behave in ways that are very
different from those in solution. To investigate these differences, we
design and synthesize photochemically, electrochemically and thermally
responsive organic molecular systems to act as probes of the
interactions in the interfacial environment of a variety of monolayer
surfaces and to provide new platforms for selective surface
modifications to build new architectures. A cornerstone of our efforts
focuses on metal surfaces including self-assembled 2D monolayers and
monolayer protected gold nanoparticles, but we comtinue to expnad the scope to investigate reactivity on other metallic nanoparticles and
other relevant material solid surfaces. The importance and
motivation behind these studies lies in the recognition of the utility
of organic thin films on functional materials in the development of
molecular and biomolecular electronics, sensors, catalysis and other
applications. Currently, progress towards application is not always
based on clear understanding of the fundamental factors that control
surface reactivity and molecular interactions in these unique
assemblies. We are addressing these issues by examining photoinduced,
redox activated and thermal reactivity in terms of chemical properties
(structure-reactivity relationships, conformational and orientation
mobility) and physical properties (structure, order-disorder phenomena,
reaction conditions). In many cases the photoactive or electroactive
moiety also serves as an analytical sensor/reporter of the chemistry. A
complete understanding of these factors is essential for the rationale
design and control of any modified surface for a particular
application. Our current studies have revealed several mechanistic
factors that are important and unique to interfacial reactions that have
no counterpart in solution reactions and will continue to do so with
novel reactive systems and the proposal expands the scope of our studies
to other types of surfaces, including other noble metal and magnetic
nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, graphene, micro-diamond, fabrics and
glass. Our next challenges are to utilize our probes to better control
the reactivity and structure of these metal surfaces and nanoparticles,
to develop new reactive probes activate photo- or electrochemically, and
to use the reactions we developing for the controlled chemical
modification of the suite of functional materials. Personnel
working on these projects gain expertise and broad training in organic
synthetic methods and analysis, inorganic and organic materials
chemistry and the specialized techniques for their characterization, in
addition to advanced skills in electrochemistry and photochemistry.
Graduate students, undergraduate researchers and research associates
involved in HQP leaving my group have had a 100% professional placement
over the last 10 years. The Program
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