Professor Duncan received his B.S. from Furman University in 1976 and his Ph.D. from Rice University in 1982. He was a National Research Council/National Bureau of Standards Postdoctoral Fellow at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Colorado, until 1983, when he joined the faculty at the University of Georgia. His research interests are in physical chemistry and chemical physics.
Our research group is interested in new kinds of molecules which exhibit unusual forms of chemical bonding. We measure laser spectroscopy of unusual molecules in the gas phase at high temperatures (~10,000 K) by "laser vaporizing" solid materials, or at ultralow temperatures (~10 K) in a "supersonic" molecular beam. Using these extreme conditions, we synthesize species such as metal or semiconductor clusters and weakly bound metal complexes. Clusters are tiny particles composed of only a few atoms, e.g. Ag3, Fe5, Si10, which we study to explore chemical bonding between metals or semiconductors. This research may lead to the design of new catalysts or improved microelectronic device materials. Weakly bound systems include metal ion-molecule complexes, which are bound only by electrostatic forces, e.g. Ag+-benzene, Mg+-H2O, or neutral metal van der Waals complexes, e.g. Ag-Xe. These species provide simple models to study the interactions in which the elementary steps in metal-ligand bonding and/or solvation. Structures, vibrational frequencies, bond energies, and dissociation dynamics in these systems are measured with laser spectroscopy and time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
J.S. Pilgrim and M.A. Duncan, "Beyond Metallo-Carbohedrenes: Growth and Decomposition of Metal-Carbon Nanocrystals", J. Am. Chem. Soc, 1993, 115, 9724.
D.L. Robbins, L.R. Brock, J.S. Pilgrim and M.A. Duncan, "Electronic Spectroscopy of the Mg+-N2 Complex: Evidence for Photoinduced Activation of N2", J. Chem. Phys. 1995, 102, 1481.