A long time ago in a laboratory far, far away...<br/>If you were to review my research description when I applied for this position, you would see small glimpses of the work we have actually been able to accomplish. There would be phosphines, electrochemistry, synthesis and structures. But beyond those threads, the work in my lab has very little in common with those initial ideas. Thanks to the seventy-six undergraduates, five high school students, thirty collaborators, countless members of the community and a pit of snake-people, work in my laboratory has focused on the synthesis, electrochemistry and catalytic activity of compounds containing bis(phosphino)metallocene ligands. From the very first X-ray quality crystals grown on the tip of a column to the structure collecting as this abstract is being written, these ligands continue to give interesting and surprising results that lead us in new and unexpected directions. The ability to tune the steric and electronic properties of these ligands as well as the variety of coordination modes they can adopt continue to provide fruitful areas of exploration. This retrospective will highlight some of the transition metal and chalcogenide complexes of these ligands that have been contributed from my lab including some of our latest results in gold catalysis and reactions of palladium complexes. Along the way, we will discuss how these results have led to additional opportunities to be an amateur ferrocene historian and leader in inorganic chemistry pedagogy. But foremost it will be a tribute to the tremendous students that exemplify do, or do not, there is no try.

What if...dppf was not the iron horse of an undergraduate research program? In my experience there is no such thing as luck

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.