Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The aim of this research program is to develop the chemistry of heavy metals, such as thallium, lead and bismuth.  This is being achieved through the preparation and study of novel compounds that highlight the diverse molecular structures exhibited by materials containing these metals.  This work is significant to several areas of fundamental and applied chemistry, namely: 1) synthetic chemistry, in the development of facile routes to novel heavy metal compounds; 2) materials chemistry, through identification of precursors required for thin film production of semiconductor materials, i.e. indium phosphide and thallium oxide; 3) supramolecular chemistry, through incorporation of heavy metals into interesting molecular frameworks; and 4) catalysis, through the preparation of heavy metal compounds which are potentially reactive toward organic species.  The long-term goals of this research program involve investigating the application of target compounds to these areas.