Alicia M. Beatty

Alicia M. Beatty Professor Beatty received her B.S. degree from UM-St. Louis in 1989 and a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, in 1994. She held positions as a director of X-ray diffraction facility at Washington University, Research Associate and Senior Research Scientist at Kansas State University, and Research Associate Professor at University of Notre Dame. She joined the faculty at Mississippi State University in 2003 and will be joining the faculty at UM-St. Louis in 2008. Among other awards and grants she is currently an NSF CAREER Awardee (2007-2012).

beattya@umsl.edu
Phone: (314) 516-4383

Postdoctoral Research Positions in Supramolecular Chemistry
http://beattylab.msstate.edu/index.html

Research Interests

The goal of our research is to create new, useful solid or polymeric materials through use of organic, inorganic and supramolecular synthesis especially using techniques developed through crystal engineering. These new materials will provide a foundation for systematic structure-property studies, initially focusing on: electroactive polymers, catalysis, chiral separations, magnetic solids. Projects will utilize common synthetic routes and methods of characterization in solution and the solid state.

We have demonstrated that, despite the competing intermolecular forces that exist in solutions of coordination complexes, hydrogen-bonding substituents on ligands may be used to predictably assemble coordination complexes. We can control the solid-state assembly of inorganic/organic hybrid materials either by changing the metal ion (thus the preferred coordination geometry) or by synthesizing ligands with hydrogen bonding substituents. For example, the figure above shows that square planar Pt(II)(isonicotinic acid)2(isonicotinate)2 complexes are linked through carboxylic acid-carboxylate OH---O hydrogen bonds to form a square grid in the solid state.

Why crystalline solids? It is important to note that crystalline solids can, in some cases, be uniquely useful materials. By definition, single crystals are ordered, which means that structure-function (e.g. electronic or magnetic behavior) relationships can be determined by measuring the effect of systematic changes in the components of the crystal. In addition, channels or cavities organized in crystalline solids have equivalent environments, therefore the relative orientations of guest ions, molecules, or reactants are also constant, which is essential for: 1) uniform signaling in chemical sensors, 2) asymmetric catalysis, 3) stereochemically controlled solid state reactivity.

Selected Publications

"From Crystal Engineering to Cluster Engineering: How to Transform Cadmium Chloride from 2-D to 0-D," C-L. Chen and A. M. Beatty, Chem. Commun., 2007, 76..

"Metal-Containing Dicarboxylic Acids as Building Blocks for Lamellar Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Networks" A. M. Beatty, B. A. Helfrich, G. A. Hogan and B. A. Reed, Crys. Growth Des. 2006, 6, 122.

"Open-framework coordination complexes from hydrogen-bonded networks: toward host/guest complexes," A. M. Beatty, Coord. Chem. Rev. 2003 246 (1-2): 131.

"Crystal engineering of organic clay mimics from 3,5-pyrazoledicarboxylic acid and amines," A. M. Beatty, K. E. Grange and A. E. Simpson, Chem. Eur. J. 2002, 8, 3254.

"Pillared clay mimics from dicarboxylic acids and flexible diamines," A. M. Beatty, C. L. Schneider, A. E. Simpson and J. L. Zaher, Cryst. Eng. Comm. 2002, 4(51), 282.

"Hydrogen-bonded networks of coordination complexes," A. M. Beatty, Cryst. Eng. Comm. 2001, 51, 1.

"Do polymorphic compounds make good cocrystallizing agents? A structural case study that demonstrates the importance of synthon flexibility," C. B. Aakeröy, A. M. Beatty, B. H. Helfrich and M. Nieuwenhuyzen ;Cryst. Growth. Des. 2003, 3, 159.

"A high-yielding supramolecular reaction," C. B. Aakeröy, A. M. Beatty and B. H. Helfrich, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 14425.

"Hydrogen bond directed crystal engineering with coordination complexes," C. B. Aakeröy and A. M. Beatty, "Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry II," 1, A.B.P. Lever, Ed., Elsevier, 2003.

"Crystal engineering of hydrogen-bonded assemblies - A progress report," C. B. Aakeröy and A. M. Beatty, Aust. J. Chem. 2001, 54, 409.

'Total synthesis' supramolecular style: Design and hydrogen-bond-directed assembly of ternary supermolecules," C. B. Aakeröy, A. M. Beatty and B. H. Helfrich, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001, 40, 3240.

"A combination of X-ray single-crystal diffraction and monte carlo structure solution from X-ray powder diffraction data in a structural investigation of 5-bromonicotinic acid and solvates thereof," C. B. Aakeröy, A. M. Beatty, M. Tremayne, D. M.; Rowe, and C. C. Seaton, Cryst. Growth Des. 2001, 1, 377.

"Organic assemblies of 2-pyridones with dicarboxylic acids," C. B. Aakeröy, A. M. Beatty, M. Nieuwenhuyzen and M. Zou, Tetrahedron, 2000, 56, 6693.

"A versatile route to porous solids: Organic/inorganic hybrid materials assembled via hydrogen bonds," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 1815.

"The oxime functionality: A new versatile synthon for supramolecular assembly of metal-containing hydrogen-bonded architectures," C. B. Aakeröy, A. M. Beatty and D. S. Leinen, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 7383.