Dr. Charles Young's Group

The Young Ones

The Young Ones are a group of chemists from all over the world exploring the vitally important chemistry of the early transition metal elements. Their interests revolve around the coordination, organometallic, and bioinorganic chemistry of these fascinating elements. The Young Ones get their biggest kicks from the synthesis and characterisation of new and unusual chemical compounds of relevance to the areas of artificial and biological catalysis, in particular that of Mo and W.

Molybdenum and tungsten enzymes are essential for all forms of life. The Young Ones aim to produce synthetic models of these enzymes, small molecules that share structural and functional attributes with the crucially important molybdopterin–Mo enzymes and their tungsten analogues. These ubiquitous enzymes are essential for plant and animal health, catalysing fundamentally important biological reactions in the metabolism of nitrogen, carbon and sulfur natural cycles, they are also important in global climate control and atmospheric albedo (reflectance); consequently, they impact heavily on commerce, the environment and society.

The Young Group's research has two broad, sometimes interrelated aims:

To contribute to chemical knowledge through the synthesis and structural and spectroscopic interrogation of novel coordination and organometallic compounds.
To contribute to the understanding of the structure and function of the metal-containing active sites of biological (enzymatic) and artificial (industrial) catalysts.

The work of the Young Ones is supported by strong local and international (UK, USA, Canada) collaborations and national and international funding agencies.

Enquiries about Ph.D. or postdoctoral positions are welcome at any time.

Most Recent Publications:

Malarek, M. S.; Evans, D. J.; Smith, P. D.; Bleeker, A. R.; White, J. M.; Young, C. G., "pi-Acid/pi-Base Carbonyloxomolybdenum(IV) Complexes and Their Oxomolybdenum(VI/IV) Precursors" Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 2209-2216.

C. Gourlay, D. J. Nielsen, J. M. White, S. Z. Knottenbelt, M. L. Kirk and C. G. Young, "Paramagnetic Active Site Models for the Molybdenum-Copper Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenase," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 2164-2165.

C. J. Doonan, D. J. Nielsen, P. D. Smith, J. M. White, Graham N. George and C. G. Young, ”Models for the Molybdenum Hydroxylases: Synthesis, Characterisation and Reactivity of cis-Oxosulfido-Mo(VI) Complexes," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 305-316.

S. Thomas, E. R. T. Tiekink and C. G. Young, "pi-Acid/pi-Base Carbonyloxo, Carbonylsulfido, and Mixed-Valence Complexes of Tungsten" Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 352-361.

P. J. Lim, D. A. Slizys, E.R.T. Tiekink and C. G. Young, "Formation of Mono(dithiolene)-Thiocarboxamido Complexes in Reactions of Thio(dithiocarbamato)-Mo/W Complexes and Dimethyl Acetylenedicarboxylate," Inorg. Chem 2005, 44, 114-121.

C. J. Doonan, L. M. Zhang, C. G. Young, S. J. George, A. Deb, U. Bergmann and S. P. Cramer, "High-resolution X-ray emission spectroscopy of molybdenum compounds," Inorg. Chem 2005, 44, 2579-2581.

A. J. Miller, C. J. Doonan, P. D. Smith, V. N. Nemykin, P. Basu and C. G. Young, "Oxygen atom transfer in models for molybdenum enzymes: Isolation and structural, spectroscopic, and computational studies of intermediates in oxygen atom transfer from molybdenum(VI) to phosphorus(III)," Chem. Eur. J. 2005, 11, 3255-3267.

C. J. Doonan, A. J. Miller, D. J. Nielsen and C. G. Young, "cis-dioxomolybdenum(VI) and oxo(phosphine oxide)molybdenum(IV) complexes: Steric and electronic fine-tuning of cis-[MoOS](2+) precursors," Inorg. Chem 2005, 44, 4506-4514.

S. A. Sproules, H. T. Morgan, C. J. Doonan, J. M. White and C. G. Young, "Synthesis and characterisation of second-generation metallodithiolene complexes of the type [Tp*ME(dithiolene)] (M = Mo, W; E = O, S) and a novel 'organoscorpionate' complex of tungsten," J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. 2005, 3552-3557.

See more . . .

Last revised 15/3/2006.

Maintained by: Craig Gourlay