Our research revolves primarily around organometallics, catalysis and bioinorganic chemistry, solving challenging problems related to energy, environment and human health. The first project focuses on development of earth-abundant metal catalysts for production of chemicals important for drug discovery, agricultural science and advanced materials. In the second project, we are interested in design and synthesis of metal coordinated bioactive molecules that can serve as anticancer or antibacterial agents. The third project targets on developing inorganic photocatalysts to be used for organic pollutants degradation under visible light. Through these multidisciplinary research projects, students are expected to obtain comprehensive research skills and develop innovative approaches for sustainable chemistry.

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28. "Activation of Dihydrogen and Alcohol using a Cobalt Complex Supported by a Tripodal N,P Mixed-Donor Ligand", in preparation.

27. Keying Ding, "Switching Between Borrowing Hydrogen and Acceptorless Dehydrogenative Coupling by Base Transition-metal Catalysts", Tetrahedron, 2021, 99, 132451-132458. (Invited Review)

26. Bedraj Pandey, Shi Xu, Keying Ding, "Switchable β-alkylation of Secondary Alcohols with Primary Alcohols by a Well-Defined Cobalt Catalyst", Organometallics, 2021, 40, 1207–1212.

25. Keshav Paudel, Shi Xu, Keying Ding, "Switchable Cobalt-Catalyzed α-Olefination and α-Alkylation of Nitriles with Primary Alcohols" Org. Lett. 2021, 23, 5028–5032. 

24. Keshav Paudel, Shi Xu, Oleksandr Hietsoi, Bedraj Pandey, Chuka Onuh, Keying Ding, "Switchable Imine and Amine Synthesis Catalyzed by a Well-Defined Cobalt Complex", Organometallics, 2021, 40, 418–426.

23. Keshav Paudel, Shi Xu, Keying Ding, "α-Alkylation of Nitriles with Primary Alcohols by a Well-Defined Molecular Cobalt Catalyst", J. Org. Chem., 2020, 85, 14980–14988.

22. Jeremy Winsett, Aric Moilanen, Keshav Paudel, Saeed Kamali, Keying Ding, Warner Cribb, Dereje Seifu, Suman Neupane, "Quantitative determination of magnetite and maghemite in iron oxide nanoparticles using Mössbauer spectroscopy", SN Applied Sciences, 2019, 1, 1636–1643.  

21. Bedraj Pandey, Shi Xu, Keying Ding, "Selective Ketone Formations via Cobalt-Catalyzed β-Alkylation of Secondary Alcohols with Primary Alcohols", Org. Lett., 2019, 21, 7420–7423.

20. Keshav Paudel, Bedraj Pandey, Shi Xu, Daniela K. Taylor, David L. Tyer, Claudia Lopez, Sky Gallagher, Lin Kong, Keying Ding, "Cobalt-Catalyzed Acceptorless Dehydrogenative Coupling of Primary Alcohols to Esters", Org. Lett., 2018, 20, 4478–4481.      

19. Shi Xu, Latifah M. Alhthlol, Keshav Paudel, Eric Reinheimer, David L. Tyer, Daniela K. Taylor, Amberlynn M. Smith, Jonathan Holzmann, Edgar Lozano, and Keying Ding. "Tripodal N,P Mixed-Donor Ligands and Their Cobalt Complexes: Efficient Catalysts for Acceptorless Dehydrogenation of Secondary Alcohols". Inorg. Chem., 2018, 57, 2394–2397.      

18. Feifei Li, Marat R. Talipov, Chao Dong, Sofia Bali, Keying Ding, "Acid-facilitated product release from a Mo(IV) center: relevance to oxygen atom transfer reactivity of molybdenum oxotransferases". J. Biol. Inorg. Chem., 2018, 23, 193-207.      

17. Keying Ding, Shi Xu, Rajeh Alotaibi, Keshav Paudel, Eric Reinheimer, Jessie Weatherly, "Nickel Catalyzed Decarbonylation of Aromatic Aldehydes", J. Org. Chem., 2017, 82, 4924-4929.      

16. Yunxia Yang, Lihua Li, Li Zhang, Wenjing Dong, Keying Ding, "Three polymorphs of an inclusion compound of 2,2'-(disulfanediyl)dibenzoic acid and trimethylamine", Acta Crystallogr. C, 2016, 72, 981-989.  

15. Alex John, Maria O. Miranda, Keying Ding, Busra Dereli, Manuel A. Ortuno, Anne M. LaPointe, Geoffrey W. Coates, Christopher J. Cramer, William B. Tolman, "Nickel Catalysts for the Dehydrative Decarbonylation of Carboxylic Acids to Alkenes", Organometallics, 2016, 35, 2391-2400.        

14. Meichao Gao, Dafeng Zhang, Xipeng Pu, Hong Li, Jinwei Li, Xin Shao, Keying. Ding, “BiOBr Photocatalysts with Tunable Exposing Proportion of {001} Facets: Combustion Synthesis, Characterization, and High Visible-light Photocatalytic Properties”, Mater. Lett., 2015, 140, 31-34.      

13. Meichao Gao, Dafeng Zhang, Xipeng Pu, Keying Ding, Hong Li, Tongtong Zhang, Huiyan Ma, "Combustion Synthesis of Bi/BiOCl Composites with Enhanced Electron - Hole Separation and Excellent Visible Light Photocatalytic Properties", Sep. Purif. Technol., 2015, 149, 288-294.

12. Keying Ding, Alex John, Jihoon Shin, Youngmin Lee, Tom Quinn, William B. Tolman, and Marc A. Hillmyer, “High-Performance Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives from Renewable Triblock Copolymers”, Biomacromolecules, 2015, 16, 2537-2539.      

11. Christopher M. Zall, Laura J. Clouston, Victor G. Young, Jr., Keying Ding, Hyun Jung Kim, Danylo Zherebetskyy,Yu-Sheng Chen, Eckhard Bill, Laura Gagliardi, and Connie C. Lu "Mixed-Valent Dicobalt and Iron-Cobalt Complexes with High-Spin Configurations and Short Metal-Metal Bonds", Inorg. Chem., 2013, 52(16), 9216–9228.       

10. Keying Ding†, Maria O. Miranda†, Beth Moscato-Goodpaster, Noureddine Ajellal, Laurie E. Breyfogle, Eric D. Hermes, Chris P. Schaller, Stephanie E. Roe, Christopher J. Cramer, Marc A. Hillmyer, and William B. Tolman, "The Roles of Monomer Binding and Alkoxide Nucleophilicity in Aluminum-Catalyzed Polymerization of ε-Caprolactone", Macromolecules, 2012, 45(13), 5387–5396.( †co-first authors)        

9. Karen P. Chiang, Christopher C. Scarborough, Masaki Horitani, Nicholas S. Lees, Keying Ding, Thomas R. Dugan, William W. Brennessel, Eckhard Bill, Brian M. Hoffman, Patrick L. Holland, "Characterization of the Fe-H Bond in a Crystallographically Defined, Three-Coordinate Terminal Hydride Complex of Iron(I)", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 3658-3662.        

8. Elodie E. Marlier, Stephen J. Tereniak, Keying Ding, Jenna E. Milliken, and Connie C. Lu, "First-Row Transition-Metal Chloride Complexes of the Wide Bite-Angle Diphosphine iPrDPDBFphos and Reactivity Studies of Monovalent Nickel", Inorg. Chem., 2011, 50, 9290-9299.        

7. Keying Ding, Deanna L. Miller, Victor G. Young, Jr., and Connie C. Lu, "Study of the Conformationally Flexible, Wide Bite-Angle Diphosphine 4,6-Bis(3-diisopropylphosphinophenyl)dibenzofuran in Rhodium(I) and Palladium(II) Coordination Complexes" Inorg. Chem., 2011, 50, 2545-2552.        

6. Keying Ding, Thomas R. Dugan, Patrick L. Holland, Debashis Adhikari, Daniel J. Mindiola, "Cobalt 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-bis-(2,6-diisopropylphenylimido)heptyl chloride (LtBu,iPr2CoCl)" Inorg. Synth., 2010, 35, 43-45.        

5. Keying Ding, Thomas R. Dugan, William W. Brennessel, Eckhard Bill, and Patrick L. Holland, "Synthesis, Properties, and Reactivity of Diketiminate-Supported Cobalt Fluoride Complexes," Organometallics, 2009, 28, 6650-6656.        

4. Keying Ding, William W. Brennessel, and Patrick L. Holland, "Three-Coordinate and Four-Coordinate Cobalt Hydride Complexes That React with Dinitrogen," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 10804-10805. (featured in Research Highlights, Nature Chemistry, July 31, 2009 and in JACS Select #9)         

3. Keying Ding, Aaron W. Pierpont, William W. Brennessel, Gudrun Lukat-Rodgers, Kenton R. Rodgers, Thomas R. Cundari, Eckhard Bill and Patrick L. Holland, "Cobalt-Dinitrogen Complexes with Weakened N-N Bonds," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 9471-9472.        

2. Keying Ding, Ferdous Zannat, James C. Morris, William W. Brennessel, and Patrick L. Holland, "Coordination of N-Methylpyrrolidone to Iron(II)," J. Organomet. Chem. 2009, 694, 4204-4208.        

1. Dacheng Li, Jianmin Dou, Keying Ding, Daqin Wang, Meiju Niu, Ying Liu, Synthesis and Crystal Structure of B18C6 Complexes with M2[Pt(SCN)6] (M=Na, K), Acta Chimica Sinica, 2003, 61 (1):110-116.    

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