BME Seminar: Vanessa Huxter
Monday, November 6, 2023 - 12:00 p.m.
Vanessa Huxter
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Department of Physics
University of Arizona
"Photophysics of Photocatalytic and Radical Systems"
Keating 103 | Zoom link, Password: BearDown
Hosts: Dr. Mario Romero-Ortega and Dr. Shang Song
(Instructor permission required for enrolled students to attend via Zoom)
Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation by contacting the Disability Resource Center at 621-3268 (V/TTY).
Abstract:
The Huxter group studies photo induced single-electron transfer and electronic dynamics in photoredox catalytic and radical systems. These studies have revealed complex mechanisms of photoredox catalytic reactions, including the involvement of reduced solvent as intermediates, multiple photo products as well as many productive and unproductive pathways. The study of transition metal complexes has also opened new possibilities for versatile reactive pathways. In this talk, we will present our latest research on a novel series of tripyrrindione molecules, which possess tunable redox-active chemistry. Using ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy, we explore the dynamics of these molecules and how they are influenced by hydrogen-bonding interactions with the solvent, reversible antiferromagnetic coupling and by the oxidation states of the metal centers. The results of these studies will highlight the potential of tripyrrindione molecules for new redox-active chemistry, catalytic applications, and optical sensing.
Bio:
Vanessa Huxter is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry andBiochemistry and the Department of Physics at the University of Arizona. She received her B.Sc. from McGill University, her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and went on to hold an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship jointly at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She has authored papers on topics ranging from semiconductor spin dynamics to vibrational coherences in solid-state materials and the electronic dynamics of molecular systems. Her current research interests are focused on developing using ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopy to understandradical and photocatalytic systems.