Julia Brown

Julia Brown’s presentation, titled “Synthesis of the Biologically Inspired First Row Transition Metal Complexes Relevant to Small Molecule Activation”, described the research that she started over the summer. In her research, she attempted to synthetically mimic enzymes found inside of the body. She looked at the reversible oxidation equation H2⇌ 2H++2e-, which is reacted through the hydrogenase enzyme. In the hydrogenase enzyme, there is an iron metal center surrounded by the various ligands of the enzyme. Julia tried to create ligands in the lab that can do the same thing as the ligands found in one’s cells. She looked at different diamine ligands and trying to make them with butane diones and different anilines. She reacted her ligands with iron (II) chloride and found that her ligands immediately turned brown when exposed to the air because they were air sensitive.

Brown found that dichloride and trimethyl ligands worked the best for carrying out the reaction that hydrogenase performs. She analyzed the reactions to see if reduction was indeed occurring using a technique known as cyclic voltammetry, and through the results of these tests, she could see where and when a reduction was occurring. By using liquid-liquid diffusion, Brown was able to make crystals from her ligands, and she used X-ray crystallography to determine their structures. In the future, she plans to do more experiments through Providence College including removing the chloride and THF groups from her ligands as well as reducing the iron center to an oxidation state of