Mark S. Workentin
Professor
Ph.D., McMaster University, 1992
B.Sc., Western Ontario, 1988
Office: Chemistry Building 223
Lab: Chemistry Building 203, 225
Phone: (519) 661-2111 Ext 86319
Materials Chemistry, Organic Electrochemistry, Organic Photochemistry, Physical Organic Chemistry
Awards:
Current Research Programs: Physical Organic Chemistry of Materials: From Probing Structure-Reactivity to Demonstrating Application The aim of this program is to address fundamental aspects of interfacial organic reactions and utilize the knowledge gained to design and synthesize new materials and to demonstrate potential applications. Reactions of molecules in solution are supported by a well developed intuition and set of methods from physical organic chemistry, but the reactions of molecules at the solid-liquid or solid-solid interface are not as well understood because they often behave in ways that are very different from those in solution. To investigate these differences, we design and synthesize photochemically, electrochemically and thermally responsive organic molecular systems to act as probes of the interactions in the interfacial environment of a variety of monolayer surfaces and to provide new platforms for selective surface modifications to build new architectures. A cornerstone of our efforts focuses on metal surfaces including self-assembled 2D monolayers and monolayer protected gold nanoparticles, and we are extending these reactions to investigate reactivity on other metallic nanoparticles and other relevant material solid surfaces. Selected Publications:
P. Gobbo, S. Ghiassian, M. Hesari, K. G. Stamplecoskie, N.
Kazemi-Zanjani, F. Lagugne-Labarthet, M.S. Workentin,* J. Mater. Chem. 2012, DOI:10.1039/C2JM34984A, “Electrochemistry of Robust Gold
Nanoparticle-Glassy Carbon Hybrids Generated Using a Patternable Photochemical
Approach” J. Mater. Chem. 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2JM34984A. P. Gobbo, M.S. Workentin Improved Methodology for the
Preparation of Water-Soluble Maleimide-Functionalized Small Gold Nanoparticles,
Langmuir 2012, 28 (33), 12357–12363. S. Ghiassian, H. Ismaili, B. D. W. Lubbock, J. W. Dube, P.
J. Ragogna*, M. S. Workentin* “Photoinduced Carbene Generation from Diazirine
Modified Task Specific Phosphonium Ionic Liquids to Prepare Robust Hydrophobic
Coatings” Langmuir 2012, 28 (33), 12326–12333.
K. E. Snell, H. Ismaili, and M. S. Workentin* “Preparation
of Gold Nanoparticle (AuNP) Hybrids with Carbonaceous Materials via
Photoactivated Nitrene Chemistry”, Chem. Phys. Chem. 2012, 13, 3179-3184. K. Hartlen, H. Ismaili, J. Zhu and Mark S. Workentin*
“Michael Addition Reactions for the Modification of Gold Nanoparticles
Facilitated by Hyperbaric Conditions” Langmuir, 2012, 28(1):864-71.
The research in the group is inherently multidisciplinary and students gain experience with the principles and techniques used in the areas of physical-organic chemistry, organic electrochemistry, organic photochemistry and photophysics and aspects of materials chemistry. During the course of any project a student will also gain some experience in synthetic chemistry and become experts in more traditional analytical and spectroscopic techniques, such as NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Uv-vis absorption spectroscopy, Mass spectroscopy, gas chromatography, HPLC, etc. Additionally, experience will be gained in materials characterization methods including TEM, TGA, DSC, surface IR etc.
