Chemistry Faculty: Michael A. Duncan, Ph.D. Distinguished Research Professor Phone: 706-542-1998 E-mail: maduncan@uga.edu Biographical Information Ph.D., Rice University, 1982 Research Interests Research in our group focuses on the novel and varied forms of chemical bonding exemplified by gas phase metal-containing clusters. Species of interest include pure metal clusters (e.g., Ag4, Fe13), metal alloy clusters (e.g., LiAg, NaAu6), metal compound clusters (e.g., Ti8C12), metal atom van der Waals complexes (e.g., Au-Ar, Cu-Kr, Al-N2), solvated metal cations (e.g., Ca^+-H2O), metal pi complexes (e.g., Ag^+-benzene) and fullerenes with surface metal adlayers. Systems such as these are synthesized in a molecular beam environment with pulsed laser vaporization techniques. Tunable infrared, visible and ultraviolet lasers and mass spectroscopy are used to study the photochemistry and electronic spectroscopy of these cluster species. Techniques such as resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI), mass-selected photodissociation spectroscopy and zero-kinetic energy photoelectron spectroscopy (ZEKE) are used to probe the vibrational and rotational quantum states, making it possible to determine vibrational frequencies, bond energies and structures (bond distances and angles). These studies provide fundamental insight into adsorption and catalysis on bulk metal surfaces, metal ion solvation, metal-ligand bonding and the atmospheric chemistry of metals (meteor ablation). Additional efforts focus on the synthesis and isolation of new cluster-based electronic materials. - See Also: - - Link to research group website - Publications R.S. Walters, P.v.R. Schleyer, C. Corminboeuf and M.A. Duncan, “Structural Trends in Transition Metal Cation-Acetylene Complexes Revealed Through the C-H Stretch Fundamentals,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127, 1100 (2005). T.D. Jaeger and M.A. Duncan, "Infrared Photodissociation Spectroscopy of Ni^+(benzene)x Complexes," J. Phys. Chem. A 109, 3311 (2005). E.D. Pillai, T.D. Jaeger and M.A. Duncan, "Infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory of small V^+(N2)n clusters," J. Phys. Chem. A 109, 3521 (2005). J. Headrick, E.G. Diken, R.S. Walters, N.I. Hammer, R.A. Christie, J. Cui, E.M. Myshakin, M.A. Duncan, M.A. Johnson and K.D. Jordan, "Spectral signatures of hydrated proton vibrations in water clusters," Science 308, 1765 (2005). J.-W. Shin, N.I. Hammer, E.G. Diken, M.A. Johnson, R.S. Walters, T.D. Jaeger, M.A. Duncan, R.A. Christie and K.D. Jordan, “Infrared signature of structural motifs associated with the H^+(H2O)n, n=6-27, clusters,” Science 304, 1137 (2004). M.A. Duncan, "Infrared Spectroscopy to Probe Structure and Dynamics in Metal Ion-Molecule Complexes," Intl. Rev. Phys. Chem. 22, 407 (2003). Back to Faculty Research Interests