Dr. Andrew Hughes

Department of Chemistry

University of Durham

Dr. Andrew K. Hughes

Telephone: 0191 3342011 (direct)

My research interests involve studies of the synthesis and reactivity of early transition metal coordination and organometallic complexes using a variety of ligands, such as amides (deprotonated amines, R₂N^-), dicarbollide (C₂B₉H₁₁^2-), monocarbollide and substituted cyclopentadienyl. The overall aim is to explore the chemistry of high oxidation state early transition metal complexes with a variety of different ligands, in some cases exploring similarities between different ligands, and sometimes emphasising the differences between them.

The following areas of research are currently being pursued in my group:

synthesis of bulky Cp ligands and their metal complexes;
high oxidation state, group 5 and 6 coordination chemistry of carborane anions;
early transition metal coordination chemistry of novel -N, -O and -S donor ligands;
amine functionalised cyclopentadiene ligands;
bond length/Bond Enthalpy relationships in metal clusters (theoretical study);
metal hydrides as ligands;
agostic alkyl and h²-benzyl complexes.

All these projects involve the synthesis of air-sensitive materials using well-established techniques for manipulation and characterisation under anaerobic conditions. Our main characterisation techniques involve multinuclear solution and solid-sate NMR, X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry and allied techniques, in collaboration with other research groups where appropriate.

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This page last modified 12th March 2003 by Andrew Hughes