Research topics being pursued by the Omary group:

The Omary group is pursuing research into optoelectronic applications of luminescent materials. State-of-the-art spectroscopic instruments are being used for these studies such as: modern luminescence systems for steady-state and time-resolved measurements, tunable laser sources, molecular UV-VIS-NIR absorption and diffuse reflectance spectrophotometers, resonance Raman systems, and optical cryostats for temperature-dependent measurements down to liquid helium temperature (4.2 K) for solids and solutions. Modern DFT and ab initio computations are also being used to further characterize the electronic structure of the materials studied. Several classes of compounds are being synthesized and studied, including:

• Phosphorescent materials for light-emitting display devices (LEDs):
We are designing synthetic strategies to enhance the phosphorescence of organic and inorganic luminophores.  In one approach, conventional organic fluorophores are made to exhibit room-temperature phosphorescence in the solid state owing to either an external or internal heavy atom effect in systematically designed systems that contain d10 metals (e.g., see papers 25 and 33 below).  In another approach, metal-based emissions in monomeric, oligomeric, and polymeric coordination compounds of monovalent coinage metals (e.g., see papers 28-30, and 32 below).  The enhancement of phosphorescence should lead to LEDs with stronger electroluminescence quantum efficiency (QE), as the maximum theoretical internal QE is usually 25% for fluorescent LEDs while it can be up to 100% for phosphorescent LEDs.

• Charge-Transfer Complexes as Solar Cell Dyes:
We have been synthesizing "black absorbers" that are capable of absorbing strongly across the visible region and into the near infrared (NIR) region.  One useful class consists of (diimine)(dithiolate) compounds of d8 transition metals (PtII,  PdII, and NiII) with anchoring groups (e.g., carboxylate or phosphonate) attached to the diimine in order to allow their adsorption on the surface of a wide band gap semiconductors such as TiO2 or SnO2. The band gap of such semiconductors is in the UV region, too high to overlap with the desired solar spectral range, but attaching dyes of charge transfer complexes to the surface of the semiconductor results in efficient absorption of the solar radiation.  A second class involves donor-acceptor neutral and ionic compounds in which the donor is a d8 complex and the acceptor is an organic compound such as various TCNX nitriles and poly(nitro)-9-fluorenones.  These binary materials absorb strongly across the visible and into a significant portion of the NIR region and we have discovered that there is no need to have conventional anchoring groups in such complexes (e.g., see paper 26 below).
 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS-since 2002

33. Omary, M. A.; Rawashdeh-Omary, M. A.; Diyabalanage, H. V. K.; Dias, H. V. R. “Blue Phosphors of Dinculear and Mononuclear Copper (I) and Silver(I) Complexes with Fluorinated Pyrazolate Ligands” Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 8612-8614.

32. Hettiarachchi, S. R.; Patterson, H. H.; Omary, M. A. “"Write/Read/Erase" with Laser Irradiation of Dicyanoargentate(I) Doped and Pure Crystals” J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 14249-14254.

31. Dunbar, K. R.; Schelter, E. J.;  Palii, A. V.; Ostrovsky, S. M.; Mirovitskii, V. Y.; Hudson, J. M.; Omary, M. A.; Klokishner, S. I.; Tsukerblat, B. S. “Unusual Magnetic Behavior of Six-Coordinate, Mixed-Ligand Re(II) Complexes: Origin of a Strong Temperature Independent Paramagnetism” J. Phys. Chem. A 2003, 107, 11102-11111.

30. Barakat, K. A.; Cundari, T. R.; Omary, M. A. “Jahn-Teller Distortion in the Phosphorescent Excited State of Three-coordinate Au(I) Phosphine Complexes” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 14228-14229.

29. White-Morris, R. L.; Olmstead, M. M.; Balch, A. L.; Elbjeirami, O.; Omary, M. A. “Orange Luminescence and Structural Properties of Three Isostructural Halocyclohexylisonitrilegold(I) Complexes”, Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 6741-6748.

 

28. Dias, H. V. R.; Diyabalanage, H. V. K.; Rawashdeh-Omary, M. A.; Franzman, M. A.; Omary, M. A. “Bright, Tunable Phosphorescence of a Trinuclear Copper (I) Complex: Luminescence Thermochromism, Solvatochromism, and Self-Tuning” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 12072-12073.

27. Maspero, A.; Kani, I.; Mohamed, A. A.; Omary, M. A.; Staples, R. J.; Fackler, J. P., Jr. "Syntheses and Structures of Dinuclear Gold(I) Dithiophosphonate Complexes and the Reaction of the Dithiophosphonate Complexes with Phosphines: Diverse Coordination Types", Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 5311-5319.

26. Smucker, B. W.; Hudson, J. M.; Omary, M. A.; Dunbar, K. R. “Structural, Magnetic, and Optoelectronic Properties of Diimine-dithiolato Pt(II) and Pd(II) Complexes and their Charge-Transfer Adducts with Nitrile Acceptors”, Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 4714-4723.

25. Omary, M. A.; Kassab, R. M.; Haneline, M. R.; Elbjeirami, O.; Gabbaï, F. P.; “Enhancement of the Phosphorescence of Organic Luminophores Upon Interaction with a Mercury Trifunctional Lewis Acid”, Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 2176-2178.

26. Smucker, B. W.; Hudson, J. M.; Omary, M. A.; Dunbar, K. R. “Structural, Magnetic, and Optoelectronic Properties of Diimine-dithiolato Pt(II) and Pd(II) Complexes and their Charge-Transfer Adducts with Nitrile Acceptors”, Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 4714-4723.

25. Omary, M. A.; Kassab, R. M.; Haneline, M. R.; Elbjeirami, O.; Gabbaï, F. P.; “Enhancement of the Phosphorescence of Organic Luminophores Upon Interaction with a Mercury Trifunctional Lewis Acid”, Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 2176-2178.

24. Assefa, Z.; Omary, M. A.; McBurnett, B. G.;  Mohamed, A. A.; Patterson, H. H.; Staples, R. J.; Fackler, J. P., Jr. "Syntheses, Structure and Photoluminescence Properties of the 1-Dimensional Chain Compounds [(TPA)2Au][Au(CN)2] and (TPA)AuCl (TPA = 1,3,5-Triaza-7-phosphaadamantane)" Inorg. Chem.2002, 41, 6274-6280.

23. Hettiarachchi, S. R.; Rawashdeh, M. A. -O.; Kanan, S. M.; Omary, M. A.; Patterson, H. H.; Tripp, C. P. “Spectroscopic Studies on “Exciplex Tuning” for Dicyanoaurate(I) Ions Doped in Potassium Chloride Crystals” J. Phys. Chem. B. 2002, 106, 10058-10064.

22. Fischer, P.; Lucas, B.; Omary, M. A.; Larochelle, C. L.; Patterson, H. H. “Reversible Luminescence Thermochromism in Dipotassiumsodium Tris[dicyanoargentate(I)] and the Role of Structural Phase Transitions” J. Solid State Chem.2002, 168, 267–274.

21. Kani, I.; Omary, M. A.; Rawashdeh, M. A. -O.; Lopez-Castillo, Z.; Flores, R.; Akgerman, A.; Fackler, J. P., Jr. “Homogeneous catalysis in supercritical carbon dioxide with rhodium catalysts tethering fluoroacrylate polymer ligands”, Tetrahedron 2002, 58, 3923-3928

20. Rawashdeh, M. A. -O.; Omary, M. A.; Fackler, J. P., Jr. "Argento-aurophilic Bonding in Organosulfur Complexes.  The Molecular and Electronic Structures of the Heterobimetallic Complex AgAu(MTP)2" Inorg. Chim. Acta (special issue) 2002, 334, 376-384

19. Burini, A.; Fackler, J. P., Jr.; Galassi, R.; Macchioni, A.; Omary, M. A.; Rawashdeh, M. A. -O.; Pietroni, B. R.; Sabatini, S.; Zuccaccia, C.  “19F, 1H-HOESY and PGSE NMR Studies of Neutral Trinuclear Complexes of AuI and HgII: Evidence for Acid-Base Stacking in Solution”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 4570-4571.

 

This page is maintained by Mohammad Omary
Last updated April 8, 2004