Title: Quantum mimicry: a new frontier for inorganic chemistry
Abstract: My group is a physical inorganic chemistry group devoted to understanding how to control spin (unpaired electrons and magnetic nuclei) with synthetic, molecular inorganic chemistry. Broadly, our efforts are largely fundamental, exploring how different functional groups, counterions, etc, all manipulate magnetic properties, much like a synthetic chemist would tune a molecule to target a desired reactivity. In this talk, I will provide a broad overview of these efforts, then focus on a larger goal of ours, which is a experimental realization of concept we call “quantum mimicry.” For this goal, we ask the fundamental question: “What are the molecular design criteria to realize an electron that will act (magnetically) like a nucleus, or a nucleus that will magnetically act like an electron?” We will present the results of our experiments to answer that question. The targets for our exploration of this new type of mimicry are transformative molecular imaging probes to convey physiological signatures that conventional (though incredibly powerful) 1H magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is blind to. The importance of our results in this context will also be described.