Chemistry Faculty:
Charles Kutal, Ph.D.
Professor and Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences
Phone: 706-542-2035
E-mail: ckutal@chem.uga.edu
Biographical Information
Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1970
Research Interests
A primary objective in our research is the characterization of photochemical and photophysical processes available to transition metal complexes following excitation to an electronic excited state. In a very real sense, this excited state is a distinct chemical species whose energy, structure, and reactivity can differ appreciably from the corresponding properties of the ground state. These differences, in turn, can result in novel behavior that can be exploited in areas such as synthesis, catalysis, medicine and biology, optical imaging, pollution remediation, and the conversion and storage of photon energy.
Current projects focus upon the physical and chemical events resulting from the electronic excitation of a transition metal compound in the presence of an organic substrate. Objectives of the research include:
- delineation of the primary excited-state processes of the metal compound;
- identification of the dominant interactions between the metal and the organic substrate;
- characterization of the important photochemically generated intermediates;
- exploration of novel photoinitiated and photocatalyzed systems.
Publications
W. Ding, K. A. Johnson, C. Kutal, I. J. Amster. "Mechanistic Studies of Photochemical Reactions with Millisecond Time Resolution by Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry" Anal. Chem. 2003, 75, 4624-4630.
C. T. Sanderson, J. A. Quinlan, R. C. Conover, M. K. Johnson, M. Murphy, R. A. Dluhy, C. Kutal. "Characterization of the Low-Energy Electronic Excited States of Benzoyl-Substituted Ruthenocenes" Inorg. Chem. 2005, 44, 3283-3289.
Y. Yamaguchi, W. Ding, C. T. Sanderson, M. L. Borden, M. J. Morgan, C. Kutal. "Electronic Structure, Spectroscopy and Photochemistry of Group 8 Metallocenes" Coord. Chem. Rev. 2006, in press.