Melvyn R. Churchill

PhD

Melvyn Churchill.

Melvyn R. Churchill

PhD

Melvyn R. Churchill

PhD

Research Interests

Structural inorganic and organometallic chemistry; Crystallography; Bilingual chemical education

Education

  • PhD, Imperial College of Science & Technology, University of London, U.K., 1964
  • BS, Imperial College of Science & Technology, 1961

Awards and Honors

  • Jacob F. Schoellkopf Award, WNY-ACS, 2000
  • Professeur associé, Université de Strasbourg, France, 1981-1982
  • Corday-Morgan Medal, Chemical Society, London, 1976
  • Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, Harvard University, 1966-1968

Specializations

X-ray diffraction studies on organometallic and inorganic complexes, with emphasis on derivatives of metal carbonyl clusters and the binding of unusual organic fragments to transition metal centers; crystallographic disorder; hydrogen bonding; absolute configuration.

Research Summary

My research group was interested primarily in the determination of the molecular geometry of unusual organometallic molecules. Structural trends and variations in molecular systems are studied and related, where possible, to the formation and reactivity of the individual molecules. For complicated molecules (e.g., substitution products of small metal clusters and high-nuclearity metal clusters), an X-ray diffraction study is often the sole means of determining the stoichiometry and connectivity of the species. Areas of interest included:

  • Mononuclear and polynuclear complexes containing unusual organic or nitrogenous ligands – particularly species formed by the scission of multiple bonds and those formed by the fusion of small organic substrates.
  • The geometry of substitution products of metal clusters.
  • Bonding electron density in carboranes and boranes.
  • Methods of solving disordered structures–particularly pseudo-symmetrical metal cluster derivatives.
  • Hydrogen bonding, particularly in solvated crystals.
  • Determination of absolute configuration of chiral molecules.