Welcome to the Jones Lab!   - Our Research   - Recent Publications   - Current Group Members      - Past Group Members   - Contact Bill Jones Enjoy your visit.	We are an active research group of inorganic and organometallic chemistry in the Chemistry Department at the University of Rochester. Eight graduate students, two postdocs, and three undergrads currently work in the lab. Back row: Taro Tanabe, Bill Jones, Brett Swartz, Matt Grochowsi Second row: Irina Lerman, James Morris, Jim Kovach, Dann Cuneo Front row: Meagan Evans, Katherine Lai, Ting Li, Jennifer Miller, Tina Feng Summer 2009 Group Members Here's another recent photo of the group, plus pix from 2007, 2006, 2003, and 2001.. Brad and Carl enjoy Halloween 2000 just a little bit too much… And don’t forget to look at the Inorganic Picnic at Keuka Lake in 2001. The Boss The Jones Group thrives under the direction of our fearless leader: Bill Jones, the Charles F. Houghton Professor of Chemistry. A proud father of three, Bill is also lucky enough to be married to a wonderful writer. Heather Jones' "Confessions of an Upstate New York Mother" is a hilarious collection of her writings, and her first novel Nano Man has just been sent off to the publisher, and Heather's second novel, Taco Salad Days, is almost ready to be sent out.. Bill won the 2003 ACS Award in Organometallic Chemistry, and was just recently awarded an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award for 2009. He also received the Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2009 from the University of Rochester. He has served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society since 2003. He spent a year as "Professeur Invité" at the University of Toulouse in June 2008. PostDocs: Dr. Taro Tanabe from the Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, arrived in June as a JSPS fellow. Dr. Sabuj Kundu from Rutgers University arrived in December. Previous postdocs have moved on: Sébastien Lachaize, fromthe Laboratoire de Chemie de Coordination in Toulouse is working on C-CN cleavage of benzonitriles, is now a professor at Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse. Dr. Nicole Brunkan, from UNC Chapel Hill, now working at DuPont. Dr. Josemon Jacob is now an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; Dr. Carl Iverson is at Dow Chemical in Houston; Dr. Tetsuya Satoh has returned to Japan as Associate Professor at Osaka University; and Dr. Christian Mueller is at Eindhoven University of Technology. Michael Morton is chair of the chemistry department at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. Laurent Lefort is now working at DSM Research in Geleen, Netherlands. Also, sabbatical visitor Juventino Garcia has now returned to UNAM after spending a year looking at C-N and C-CN activation.  Watch for more on this project! Donna Brestensky (Ph.D. Indiana U.) was on sabbatical leave from St. Bonaventure and is working on C-C cleavage in allyl nitriles. Current Students (December '09): Brett Swartz (B.S. Lafayette College, 2004-2009) is working on C-C cleavage in allyl nitriles as related to the DuPont nylon process. Jim Kovach (B.S. Bucknell Univ., 2004-) is working on rhodium and iridium pincer compounds for C-H activation and functionalization as part of the NSF CENTC center. Ting Li (B.S. USTC, 2005-) is working on C-CN cleavage in polycyclic aromatic nitriles. Matt Grochowski (M.S. UNC Charlotte, 2006-) is working on HDS using di-iridium complexes. Meagan Evans (M.S. RIT, 2006-) is working on C-H activation in functionalized hydrocarbons. Jennifer Miller (B.S. Whitworth, 2006-) is working on C-H activation using anionic chelates as part of the NSF CENTC center. James Morris (B.S. Bard College, 2007-) is working on a new direct synthesis of aniline as part of the NSF CENTC center. Katherine Lai (B.S. Univ. Rochester, 2009-) is working on chelating bis-NHC complexes of nickel. Undergraduate Researchers (December '09): Dann Cuneo (B.S. '10) David Chadsey (B.S. '10) Irina Lerman (B.S. '12) Visitors: The group has had many visitors from Japan, Germany, and Mexico. Most recently, Jorge Nieto visited for 6 months from UNAM in Mexico city. He defended his thesis in Jan. 2009 Yoshi Terao visited for a few months from Osaka University. He now works for Takeda, which is the biggest pharmaceutical company in Japan. Previous Group Members Ling Li (B.S. USTC, 2004-2009) worked on the catalytic synthesis of heterocycles using metal catalysts. He is now a postdoc with Jack Norton at Columbia. Renée Becker (M.S. SUNY Albany, 2006-2008) worked on electrochemical C-H activation, and is now teaching at Valencia Community College in Florida. Ahmet Guany (B.S. Bilkent University, 2002-2007) worked on C-C bond cleavage in alkynes using platinum complexes. Now a postdoc with Klaus Theopold at Univ. of Delaware. Tulay Atesan (B.S. Bilkent University, 2002-2007) worked on thiophene C-S cleavage with rhodium and platinum. Now a postdoc in Northwestern with Tom Meade. Ryan Reith (B.S. Penn. St., 2004-2007) worked on the synthesis and reactivity of eta-2 ketone complexes of nickel(0). He is now at Pall Chemical Co. in Cortland, NY. Andy Vetter (B.S. Alfred University, 1999-2005) looked at selectivity in alkane complexes leading to C-H activation. Now working at Tennessee Eastman. Karlyn Skugrud (B.S. Hamline University, 2000-2003) Examined new aspect of C-S bond cleavage, and now is teaching in Minnesota. [e-mail: KSkugrud@SOUTHEASTMN.EDU] Steve Oster (B.S. York University, 1998-2003) is now teaching at Middlebury College. [e-mail: soster@middlebury.edu] Brad Kraft (B.S. Millersville University, 1998-2002) completed his postdoc at Stanford, got married, and is now working at Ferro Corporation. [e-mail: ?] Brian Edelbach Brian studied C-C bond activation using platinum, palladium and nickel. Brian received his B.S. from St. Cloud University in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He is now teaching at Monroe Community College. [e-mail: bedelbach@monroecc.edu] David Vicic David studyied C-S bond activation using platinum, palladium, and nickel. He received his B.A. in Chemistry from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, in May, 1994. His undergrad advisor was Prof. Alex Nickon. He is now on the faculty at University of Hawaii. [e-mail: vicic@hawaii.edu] Todd Northcutt Todd finished his third year as a graduate student studying C-H bond activation using rhodium. He received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Washington in 1996. As an undergraduate, he worked in the laboratories of Prof. Jim Mayer. He is now working for IGN Entertainment in Southern California.  [e-mail: todd@gamespy.com] John Kaeuper John was an undergraduate who stayed for our 5-year M.S. program, working on C-C bond activation.  He is now a grad student at Berkeley. For earlier group members, visit our comprehensive former members site. Research Our research group has an interest in examining the reactions of homogeneous transition metal complexes with organic substrates with an emphasis on bond activation processes that are of potential interest to the chemical industry. We also are doing theoretical DFT modeling of this chemistry on our CCLab cluster. The research support is provided by the following agencies and companies:  The U.S. Department of Energy (1982-2010)* (Grant FG02-86ER13569): "The Activation of the C-H and C-C Bonds of Hydrocarbons" for conversion to useful functionalized chemicals. Report for 2007. Report for 2006. Report for 2005. Report for 2004. Report for 2003. Report for 2002. Report for 2001. Report for 2000. Report for 1999. Report for 1998. Report for 1997. Report for 1996.  The National Science Foundation (1994-2010)* (Grants CHE-9421727, 9816365, 0414325, 0717040): "The Cleavage of C-S bonds in Thiophenes" and other organosulfur substrates as models for the hydrodesulfurization reaction. Report for 2006-7. Report for 2005-6. Report for 2004-5. Report for 2001. Report for 2000. Report for 1999. Report for 1997. Report for 1996. Report for 1995. The National Science Foundation CBC (2004-2012)*: Center Enabling New Technologies through Catalysis (CENTC) "Collaborative Research on non-Shilov Metal Complexes for C-H Bond Functionalization," Summary of Proposed Research. "Direct Formation of Aniline from Benzene via Homogeneous Catalysis" The National Science Foundation GOALI Program (Grant CHE-9616691, completed): "Collaborative Industrial/Academic Research on Alternate Phosgene Chemistry for Environmentally Benign Chemical Synthesis and Processing." Summary of Proposed Research.  *more recent reports are not yet posted as the work has not yet been published. Recent Publications Here you can find a link to the complete publications of the group. Microsoft Word and Adobe's Acrobat Reader is required to view these.  Contact Information William D. Jones University of Rochester Department of Chemistry Rochester, NY 14627 office:(585) 275-5493 FAX: 866-257-3505 e-mail: jones@chem.rochester.edu page updated 12/2/09