Wednesday April 23, 2008

At our April general meeting we will have our annual Crano Memorial Lecture, recognize our 50 (and 60!) year members. and give awards to outstanding juniors at the local universities. A special recognition of Dr. James D'Ianni, who passed away recently, will also occur. Prof. Tobin Marks is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Catalyic Chemistry at Northwestern University. More information on Prof. Marks and his research group can be found at http://chemgroups.northwestern.edu/marks/marks.html. Abstracts of his talks can be found by clicking on "read more" below.

The University of Akron - Mary Gladwin Hall, Room 111
2:30 pm  Seminar by Prof. Tobin Marks

"Invention of Highly Selective Organo-f-element Centered Catalytic Transformations. Mechanisms and Selectivity."

Kent State University - Student Center, Room 306
5:15 pm  Networking/Social time
6:15 pm  Dinner - $15 for Members & Guests; $5 for Students
7:15 pm  Crano Memorial Lecture - Prof. Tobin Marks

"Constructing Unconventional Organic, Organometallic, and Inorganic Electronic Circuitry by Self-assembly Processes."

The programs are free and open to the public. Reservations are required for dinner. Please contact Ann Bolek at 330-972-6264 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by noon on Friday, April 18 for dinner reservations. A map and directions to the KSU campus can be found on the web at http://kentstate.kent.edu/directions/kent/map.asp . The Student Center is located near the corner of Campus Center Drive West and Summit St. and visitor parking is available directly in front of the building.

EVENING TALK:
CONSTRUCTING UNCONVENTIONAL ORGANIC, ORGANOMETALLIC, AND INORGANIC ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY BY SELF-ASSEMBLY PROCESSES

Chemists are exceptionally skilled at designing and constructing individual molecules with the goal of imbuing them with defined chemical and physical properties. However, the task of rationally assembling them into organized, functional supramolecular structures with precise, nanometer-level control is a daunting challenge. In this lecture, approaches to addressing this problem are described in which the ultimate goal is the fabrication of organic and other unconventional electronic circuitry by high throughput, large area printing techniques. Issues here concern not only the rational design of high-mobility p- and n-type organic and non-organic semiconductors for CMOS electronics, but also modular high-k dielectrics with ultra-high capacitance, low leakage, high breakdown fields, and radiation hardness. It is seen that these approaches are applicable to organic, organometallic, and inorganic semiconducting materials.

THE AFTERNOON TALK
INVENTION OF HIGHLY SELECTIVE ORGANO-f-ELEMENT CENTERED CATALYTIC TRANSFORMATIONS. MECHANISM AND SELECTIVITY

The lanthanides and actinides offer many intriguing and instructive characteristics for stoichiometric and catalytic transformations, including large and incrementally tunable ionic radii, high electrophilicity, high kinetic lability, predictable and constrained formal oxidation states, polar metal-ligand bonding, built-in paramagnetic probes, relatively high abundance, and relatively low toxicity. This lecture describes recent exploratory synthetic, mechanistic, and thermochemical research aimed at inventing new, unusual, and useful transformations mediated by complexes of these elements, and comparing 4f vs. 5f pathways. This includes the addition of element-hydrogen bonds to unsaturated hydrocarbons (“hydrofunctionalization”) to effect C-N, C-O, C-P, C-Si, and C-B bond forming processes. The goals are to catalyze and understand highly selective processes involving single additions, cascades of multiple bond fusions, and bond fusions coupled to polymerization processes.