• Postdoctoral Research Scientist, University at Buffalo, 2008-2011
• PhD, University of Washington, 2007
• BS, Arizona State University, 2001

• Chemical crystallography
• Steady-state and time-resolved X-ray diffraction (TR-XRD)
• Time-resolved microscopy / spectroscopic imaging
• Nano-scale materials chemistry
• Light-induced structural changes and chemical reactions

From light-based computing and communication to the environmentally-friendly and cost-effective conversion of light from the sun into fuels and/or electrical energy, understanding and controlling the interaction of light and matter remains one of the great scientific challenges of the 21st century. With an emphasis on the study of light-matter interactions in crystalline materials, research in the Benedict lab involves the synthesis of novel materials and the development of new characterization techniques important to many areas of chemistry and physics:

• Developing novel stimuli-responsive crystalline nanoporous materials.
• Fabricating new devices for in situ X-ray diffraction experiments including guest exchange and photocrystallography.
• Designing and constructing versatile microscopes for time-resolved spectroscopy and imaging and improved pumping in TR-XRD experiments.
• Exploring the effect of the local chemical environment on the nucleation and growth of photoproducts in solid-state chemical reactions and phase transitions.

Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KTVXGT4AAAAJ&hl=en

• Sylvester, E; Benedict, J. B. Synthesis and Characterization of Photoactive Methyl 4-Bromo-3-((2,6-Difluorophenyl)diazenyl) Benzoate, Journal of Chemical Crystallography, 2021, XX, accepted.
• Walton, I. M.; Cox, J. M.; Myers, S. D.; Benson, C. A.; Mitchell, T. A.; Bateman, G. A.; Sylvester, E. D.; Chen, Y.-S.; Benedict, J. B. Determination of the Guest-Exchange Pathway in a Flexible Metal-Organic Framework by Dynamic in situ X-ray Diffraction, Structural Dynamics, 2020, 7, 034305.
• Mcgovern, M.^#; Lee, A. Y.^#; Nguyen, P.^#; Park, J.^#; Sylvester, E.; Benedict, J. B. Partial charge transfer in the salt co-crystal of L-ascorbic acid and 4,4’-bipyridine, Acta Crystallographica Section E-Crystallographic Communications 2019, 75, 728-731.
• Patel, D. P.; Sylvester, E. D.; LeValley, N. R.^#; Mitchell, T. B.; Benedict, J. B. The structure and characterization of 3,4,5-triiodo-2-methylthiophene: An unexpected iodination product of 2-methylthiophene, Journal of Chemical Crystallography, 2019, 49, 206-212.
• Y. Hu, H. Zhong, Y.-S. Guan, N. Lee, T. Mitchell, J. Armstrong, J. Benedict, S. W. Hla, S. Ren. Alkali‐Metal‐Intercalated Percolation Network Regulates Self‐Assembled Electronic Aromatic Molecules. Advanced Materials, 2019, 31, 1807178.
• Tsitovich, P. B.; Tittiris, T. Y.; Cox, J. M.; Benedict, J. B.; Morrow, J. R., Fe(II) and Co(II) N-methylated CYCLEN complexes as paraSHIFT agents with large temperature dependent shifts. Dalton Trans. 2018, 47, 916-924.
• Cox, J. M.; Walton, I. M.; Bateman, G.; Benson, C. A.; Mitchell, T.; Sylvester, E.; Chen, Y.-S.; Benedict, J. B., Solvent exchange in a metal-organic framework single crystal monitored by dynamic in situ X-ray diffraction. Acta Crystallographica Section B-Structural Science Crystal Engineering and Materials 2017, 73, 669-674.
• Chesna, A. M.^#; Cox, J. M.; Basso, S.^#; Benedict, J. B., Hydrogen-bonded co-crystal structure of benzoic acid and zwitterionic L-proline. Acta Crystallographica Section E-Crystallographic Communications 2017, 73, 369-371.
• Caddy, J. S.; Faust, T. B.; Walton, I. M.; Cox, J. M.; Benedict, J. B.; Solomon, M. B.; Southon, P. D.; Kepert, C. J.; D'Alessandro, D. M., Photoactive and Physical Properties of an Azobenzene-Containing Coordination Framework. Aust. J. Chem. 2017, 70, 1171-1179.
• Benson, C. A.; Bateman, G.; Cox, J. M.; Benedict, J. B., Hybrid organic-inorganic crystal structure of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridinium dimethylammonium tetrachloridolead(II). Acta Crystallogr E Crystallogr Commun 2017, 73, 1670-1673.
• Basuroy, K.; Chen, Y.; Sarkar, S.; Benedict, J.; Coppens, P., Exploring the structural changes on excitation of a luminescent organic bromine-substituted complex by in-house time-resolved pump-probe diffraction. Structural Dynamics 2017, 4.
• Zhang, Y. Z.; Cox, J. M.; Friedman, A. E.; Benedict, J. B.; Cook, T. R., Phosphorescent organoplatinum(II) D(2)A(2) metallacycles: synthesis, self-assembly, and photophysical properties. J. Coord. Chem. 2016, 69, 1914-1923.
• Walton, I. M.; Cox, J. M.; Mitchell, T. B.; Bizier, N. P.; Benedict, J. B., Structural response to desolvation in a pyridyl-phenanthrene diarylethene-based metal-organic framework. CrystEngComm 2016, 18, 7972-7977.

Invited manuscript; Solid-State Photochemistry Special Issue

• Walton, I. M.; Cox, J. M.; Benson, C. A.; Patel, D. G.; Chen, Y. S.; Benedict, J. B., The role of atropisomers on the photo-reactivity and fatigue of diarylethene-based metal-organic frameworks. New J. Chem. 2016, 40, 101-106.

Highlight/Cover article January 2016 issue.

• Tsitovich, P. B.; Cox, J. M.; Benedict, J. B.; Morrow, J. R., Six-coordinate Iron(II) and Cobalt(II) paraSHIFT Agents for Measuring Temperature by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Inorg. Chem. 2016, 55, 700-716.
• McGuire, S. C.^#; Travis, S. C.^#; Tuohey, D. W.^#; Deering, T. J.^#; Martin, B.; Cox, J. M.; Benedict, J. B., Crystal structure of the co-crystal of 5-aminoisophthalic acid and 1,2-bis(pyridin-4-yl)ethene. Acta Crystallogr E Crystallogr Commun 2016, 72, 639-42.
• Linderman, C. M.; Coppin, J. A.; O'Brien, C.; Cox, J. M.; Patel, D. G.; Benedict, J. B., The temperature dependent luminescent decay kinetics of an emissive copper complex in the single crystalline phase using time-gated luminescence microscopy. J. Lumin. 2016, 173, 30-33.
• Cox, J. M.; Walton, I. M.; Benedict, J. B., On the design of atropisomer-separable photochromic diarylethene-based metal-organic framework linkers. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 2016, 4, 4028-4033.

Invited manuscript; Emerging Investigators Special Issue

• Bao, J.; Gundlach, L.; Yu, Z.; Benedict, J. B.; Snoeberger, R. C., III; Batista, V. S.; Coppens, P.; Piotrowiak, P., Hot Hole Hopping in a Polyoxotitanate Cluster Terminated with Catechol Electron Donors. J. Phys. Chem. C 2016, 120, 20006-20015.
• Olatunde, A. O.; Bond, C. J.; Dorazio, S. J.; Cox, J. M.; Benedict, J. B.; Daddario, M. D.; Spernyak, J. A.; Morrow, J. R., Six, Seven or Eight Coordinate Fe-II, Co-II or Ni-II Complexes of Amide-Appended Tetraazamacrocycles for ParaCEST Thermometry. Chemistry-a European Journal 2015, 21, 18290-18300.
• Kaminski, R.; Benedict, J. B.; Nottingham, G.; Coppens, P., An optical chopper for generation of short X-ray pulses to allow in-house time-resolved photocrystallography (vol 47, pg 1765, 2014). J. Appl. Crystallogr. 2015, 48, 310.
• Cox, J. M.; Walton, I. M.; Patel, D. G. D.; Xu, M.; Chen, Y.-S.; Benedict, J. B., The Temperature Dependent Photoswitching of a Classic Diarylethene Monitored by in Situ X-ray Diffraction. J. Phys. Chem. A 2015, 119, 884-888.
• Cox, J. M.; Walton, I. M.; Benson, C. A.; Chen, Y. S.; Benedict, J. B., A versatile environmental control cell for in situ guest exchange single-crystal diffraction. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 2015, 48, 578-581.
• Bedics, M. A.; Kearns, H.; Cox, J. M.; Mabbott, S.; Ali, F.; Shand, N. C.; Faulds, K.; Benedict, J. B.; Graham, D.; Detty, M. R., Extreme red shifted SERS nanotags. Chemical Science 2015, 6, 2302-2306.