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School of Science & Engineering

Departments & Programs

Chemistry

Anthony L. Fernandez

   Associate Professor

   Ph.D. Chemistry, Boston UniversityFernandez_web

   B.S. Chemistry, Boston University

       

  Courses

  • CHM1110 & CHM1120 - General Chemistry I & II
  • CHM2320 - Inorganic Chemistry
  • CHM2500 - Integrated Lab I
  • CHM4310 - Theoretical Inorganic Chemistry
  • CHM4320 - Applied Inorganic Chemistry

Research Interests

My research interests are in organometallic chemistry and current projects involve: 

  • Investigating C-N oxidative addition reactions in pincer complexes of Rh which occur both in solution and in the solid state. 
  • Probing the interactions of transition metals with phosphorus(III) ligands and using correlation analysis of physiochemical data to quantify the effects that such ligands exhibit on attached transition metal centers. 
  • Studying the activation of organometallic molecules occluded in the pores of zeolites.

In this work, my students and I use many different experimental and instrumental techniques including:

  • inert atmosphere synthetic techniques
  • multinuclear NMR spectroscopy (1 H, 13 C, 19 F, and 31 P)
  • infrared spectroscopy
  • ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy
  • kinetic analysis
  • x-ray diffraction (in collaboration with B. Foxman)
  • cyclic and square-wave voltammetry

I have on-going collaborations with Professors Bruce Foxman (Brandeis University), Oleg Ozerov (Texas A&M University), and Anthony J. Poë (Emeritus, University of Toronto).

Selected Publications

  • A.L. Fernandez, J. Hao, R.L. Parkes, A.J. Poë and E.J.S. Vichi, “Zeolite Activation of Organometallics:  Revisiting Substitution Kinetics of [Mo(CO)6] with Chemisorbed PMe3 in Dehydrated Na56 Y Zeolite”, Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society 2008, 19, 862.
  • A.L. Fernandez, J. Hao, R.L. Parkes, A.J. Poë and E.J.S. Vichi, “Zeolite Activation of Organometallics:  Anchoring and Decarbonylation Kinetics of [Mo(CO)6] in Dehydrated Na56 Y Zeolite”, Organometallics 2004, 23, 2715. 
  • W.P. Giering, A. Prock, and A.L. Fernandez, “Comments on the Electrostatic Minimum Potential (Vmin) as a Measure of the Electron Donating Power of PZ3”, Inorganic Chemistry 2003, 42, 8033.
  • K.A. Bunten, L. Chen, A.L. Fernandez, and A.J. Poë, “Cone Angles: Tolman’s and Plato’s”, Coordination Chemistry Reviews 2002, 233-234, 41.
  • M.R. Wilson, A. Prock, W.P. Giering, A.L. Fernandez, C.W. Haar, S.P. Nolan, “π-Effects Involving Rh-PZ3 Compounds. The Quantitative Analysis of Ligand Effects (QALE)” Organometallics 2002, 21, 2758.
  • A.L. Fernandez, M.R. Wilson, A. Prock, and W.P. Giering, “Evaluation of the Stereoelectronic Parameters of Fluorinated Phosphorus(III) Ligands. The Quantitative Analysis of Ligand Effects (QALE)” Organometallics 2001, 20, 3429.