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Richard E. Sykora
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
(251)460-7422
rsykora@jaguar1.usouthal.edu

Research Interests:

My main area of research is in synthetic inorganic chemistry.  My particular interests in this field are in the areas of structural chemistry of f-element compounds.  There are two main groups of f-elements, the lanthanides and the actinides.  All of the actinides are radioactive and many of them are quite rare, therefore it is quite challenging to conduct research using these elements.  On the contrary, all of the lanthanide elements (except Pm) have stable isotopes and are relatively plentiful in nature.  For these reasons we work primarily on studies involving the lanthanide elements, although we presently also have the licensing and capabilities to work with one actinide, Uranium.

One active area of research in my lab is the construction of functional f-element coordination polymers.    A common impediment in lanthanide ion systems is that direct absorption of the f−f excited states is very inefficient.  However, light harvesting ligands can be used to enhance the emission from the metal cation site. Ligands used for such applications usually have strong absorbance in the UV or visible regions and transfer their excited energy to the acceptor species (Ln cation).  Chromophoric ligands that photosensitize lanthanide ion luminescence are of intense current interest. Such complexes are used in technological applications such as fluoroimmunoassays, cellular imaging, chemosensors, optical communications, and optoelectronic devices.  A number of compounds have been studied that illustrate photosensitization of various f-elements.  One of our main research aims is to prepare compounds that contain multiple donor groups for lanthanide sensitization.

Success in this area was recently reported by us in a communication in Inorganic Chemistry (Inorg. Chem. 2008, 47, 1895-1897).  The one-dimensional, polymeric compound (C₁₅H₁₁N₃)Eu(H₂O)₂(NO₃)(Pt(CN)₄)·CH₃CN (shown below)  has been shown to display an efficient donor-acceptor intramolecular energy transfer (IET) process where multiple ligand donors, terpyridine (C₁₅H₁₁N₃) and tetracyanoplatinate (Pt(CN)₄)²⁻), transfer energy to the Eu(III) acceptor.  Single-crystal X-ray diffraction was used to investigate the structural features of this compound in order to help understand the observed IET process.  The excitation spectrum collected using one of the Eu(III) emission lines provides evidence for the energy transfer processes.
Research Funding:
My research programs are currently supported by two funding agencies. A broader project that includes the area described above is funded by a National Science Foundation − Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. This award in the amount of $625,000.00 was received in 2009. My research is also supported by a Cottrell College Science Award from Research Corporation in the amount of $41,148.00. This active award which was received in 2007 funds another research program in my lab dealing with the synthesis and characterization of lanthanide gallium chalcogenide materials.

University of South Alabama  

- Mobile, AL, 36688-0002, (251) 460-6181
Date Last Changed: February 12, 2009
rsykora@jaguar1.usouthal.edu
http://www.southalabama.edu/chemistry/sykora/research.html

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