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The University of Texas at El Paso
Chemistry Department
Presents
“A Journey Across the Periodic Table from Be to Yb”
Kevin D. John, Ph.D.
Chemistry Division
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Abstract
Be: With the incorporation of beryllium into mainstream consumer products, there is a
concern with the environmental and health implications of wide spread beryllium use.
With little experimental research undertaken to address the toxic nature of beryllium (the
worst case leading to chronic beryllium disease), there is a need for a fundamental
understanding of the way the metal interacts with the environment and it’s interaction
within the human body. In addition, a better insight into beryllium interactions can lead to
improvements in detection methods, which are vital with respect to preventing exposure
and for the rapid clean up of beryllium in the environment.
Yb: The study of mixed valency is a topic central to the search for highly conducting
materials, both as a bulk property and in discrete supramolecular systems. Of particular
interest and relevance to this presentation are discrete assemblies where two metal
centres, connected by a bridging ligand, show a pronounced electronic communication.
Such interactions allow the possibility of delocalisation of electron density over fairly
long distances, and in the emerging field of molecular electronics this represents one of
the simplest electronic building blocks: a molecular wire. Moreover, the establishment of
a controlling mechanism for this communication could potentially lead to switching
states, which is essential for the development of the basic elements of molecular
electronic and quantum computing devices.
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Friday, April 1, 2005
4:00 p.m.
PSCI Room 208
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)