Gregory S. Girolami
Professor of Chemistry
Professor Girolami received his B.S. degrees in chemistry and physics from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Thereafter, he was a NATO postdoctoral fellow with Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson at Imperial College of Science and Technology, and joined the Illinois faculty in 1983.
Research
We are primarily interested in the synthesis, properties, and reactivity of new inorganic, organometallic, and solid state species. Much of our research relates to one of four areas: mechanistic studies of organometallic reactions such as the activation of alkanes, the synthesis of new "molecule-based" magnetic materials, the chemical vapor deposition of thin films from "designed" molecular precursors, and the design of an artificial photosynthetic center.
Publications
Gross, C. L.; Brumaghim, J. L.; Jefferis, J. M.; Dickinson, P. W. "Mono(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) Complexes of Osmium," Inorg. Synth., accepted.
Morse, P. M.; Shelby, Q. D.; Kim, D. Y.; Girolami. G. S. "Ethylene Complexes of the Early Transition Metals. Crystal Structures of [HfEt4(C2H4)2-] and the Negative Oxidation State Species [TaHEt(C2H4)33-] and [WH(C2H4)43-]," J. Am. Chem. Soc. submitted.
Jeffries, P. M.; Ellenwood, R. E.; Girolami, G. S. "Anionic Ruthenium(II) Alkyls with Ancillary Diene and Dienyl Ligands: Synthesis and Structures of [(η2,η2-C7H8)RuMe4]2- and [(η3,η2-C8H11)RuMe3]2-,"Inorg, Chim. Acta, submitted.
Noh, W.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and Characterization of the Cycloheptatrienyl Tantalum Mixed Sandwich Compounds (C5R5)Ta(C7H7)," Inorg. Chem. in press.
Kim, D. Y.; Yang, Y.; Abelson, J. R.; Girolami, G. S. "Volatile Magnesium Octahydrotriborate Complexes as Potential CVD Precursors to MgB2. Synthesis and Characterization of Mg(B3H8)2 and its Etherates," Inorg. Chem.2007, 46, 9060.
Kumar, N.; Yang, Y.; Noh, W. T.; Girolami, G. S.; Abelson, J. R. "Titanium Diboride Thin Films By Low Temperature Chemical Vapor Deposition from the Single Source Precursor Ti(BH4)3(1,2 Dimethoxyethane)," Chem. Mater. 2007, 19, 3802.
Menard, L. D.; Kang, J. H.; Sealey, A. J.; Girolami, G. S.; Nuzzo, R. G. "Supported Core-Shell Ir-Pt Nanoparticles on Al2O3 Prepared from a Molecular Cluster Precursor: Structure and Dynamics Determined Using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy," J. Am. Chem. Soc. submitted.
Noh, W. T.; Girolami, G. S. "X-ray Crystal Structure of the Tetra(tert-butyl)erbate Anion and Attempts to Prepare Tetravalent Organolanthanide Complexes," Polyhedron 2007, 26, 3865.
Goedde, D. M.; Windler, G. K.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and Characterization of the Homoleptic Octahydrotriborate Complex Cr(B3H8)2 and its Lewis Base Adducts," Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 2814.
Harada, Y.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and Crystal Structures of the Chromium(II) and Chromium(III) Hexafluoroacetylacetonate Complexes trans-Cr(hfac)2(thf)2 and Cr(hfac)3," Polyhedron 2007, 26, 1758.
Gross, C. L.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and NMR Studies of [(C5Me5)Os(L)H2(H2)+] Complexes. Evidence of the Adoption of Different Structures by a Dihydrogen Complex in Solution and the Solid State," Organometallics 2007, 26, 1658.
Gross, C. L.; Brumaghim, J. L.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and Reactivity of the Osmium(III) Pentamethylcyclopentadienyl Complex (C5Me5)2Os2Br4. X-ray Crystal Structures of (C5Me5)2Os2Br4, (C5Me5)2Os2(μ-O)Br4, and (C5Me5)2Os2(μ-NPh)2Br2," Organometallics 2007, 26, 2258.
Spencer, M. D.; Shelby, Q. D.; Girolami, G. S. "Titanium-Catalyzed Dehydrocoupling of Silanes: Conversion of Primary Monosilanes to Titanium(0) Oligosilane Complexes with Agostic α-Si-H•••Ti Interactions," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 1860.
Gross, C. L.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and Characterization of Osmium Polyhydrides. X-ray Crystal Structures of (C5Me5)OsH5 and (C5Me5)2Os2H4," Organometallics 2007, 26, 160.
Holmes, S. M.; Whelpley, A. S.; Girolami, G. S. "Nanocomposite of a Chromium Prussian Blue with TiO2. Redox Reactions and the Synthesis of Prussian Blue Molecule-Based Magnets," Polyhedron 2007, 26, 2291.
Yang, Y.; Jayaraman, S.; Sperling, B.; Kim, D. Y.; Girolami, G. S.; Abelson, J. R. "In-Situ Spectroscopic Ellipsometry Analyses of Hafnium Diboride Thin Films Deposited by Single-Source Chemical Vapor Deposition," J. Vac. Sci. Tech. A 2007, 25, 200.
Noh, W. T.; Girolami, G. S. "Rhenium Oxohalides. Synthesis and Crystal Structures of ReO3Cl(THF)2, ReOCl4(THF), Re2O3Cl6(THF)2, and Re2O3Cl6(H2O)2," Dalton Trans. 2007, 674.
Gross, C. L.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and Characterization of Osmium(IV) Polyhydride Complexes of Stoichiometry (C5Me5)OsH3(L). Crystal Structures of (C5Me5)OsH3(AsPh3) and (C5Me5)OsH3(PPh3)," Organometallics 2006, 25, 4792.
Kim, D. Y.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and Characterization of the Octahydrotriborate Complexes Cp*V(B3H8)2 and Cp*Cr(B3H8)2, and the Unusual Cobaltaborane Cluster Cp*2Co2(B6H14)," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 10969.
Brumaghim, J. L.; Gross, C. L.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis, Characterization, and Crystal Structures of the Osmium Triflate Complexes Cp*Os(P‑P)(OTf) and [Cp*Os(P-P)(OH2)][OTf]," J. Organomet. Chem. 2006, 691, 3874.
Yang, Y.; Jayaraman, S.; Kim, D. Y.; Girolami, G. S.; Abelson, J. R. "CVD Growth Kinetics of HfB2 Thin Films from the Single Source Precursor Hf(BH4)4," Chem. Mater. 2006, 18, 5088.
Dickinson, P. W.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis and Characterization of Osmium(II) Trispyrazolylborate Complexes," Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 5215.
Dickinson, P. W.; Girolami, G. S. "Synthesis, Characterization, and X-ray Crystal Structure of the Octabromodiosmate(III) Salt [(C5Me4H)2OsBr]2[Os2Br8] and its Conversion to [(C5Me4H)2OsBr]ÂÂÂ[Os2HBr4(cod)2]," J. Organomet. Chem. 2006, 691, 2883.
Yang, Y.; Jayaraman, S.; Kim, D. Y.; Girolami, G. S.; Abelson, J. R. "Crystalline Texture in Hafnium Diboride Thin Films Grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition," J. Cryst. Growth 2006, 294, 389.
Goedde, D. M.; Girolami, G. S. "Titanium(II) and Titanium(III) Tetrahydroborates. Crystal Structures of [Li(Et2O)2][Ti2(BH4)5(PMe2Ph)4], Ti(BH4)3(PMe2Ph)2, and Ti(BH4)3(PEt3)2," Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 1380.
Jayaraman, S.; Gerbi, J. E.; Yang, Y.; Kim, D. Y.; Chatterjee, A.; Bellon, P.; Girolami, G. S.; Chevalier, J.-P.; Abelson, J. R. "HfB2 and Hf-B-N Hard Coatings by Chemical Vapor Deposition," Surf. Coatings Technol. 2006, 200, 6629.
Patents and Patent Applications
Kim, D. Y.; Girolami, G. S. "Metal Complexes for Growing Metal-Containing Thin Films" US provisional patent application 60/911,619 (filed 13 April 2007).
Abelson, J. R.; Jararaman, S.; Girolami, G. S.; Yang, Y.; Kim, D. Y. "Methods for Improved Coverage or Fill of High Aspect Ratio Features by CVD" US patent application 11/554,748 (filed 31 October 2006).
Other Publications
Girolami, G. S. "Paul Lauterbur (1929-2007)," Chemistry World 2007, 4 (5), 14.
Mainz, V. V.; Girolami, G. S. "Chemical Genealogy Database," http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/Web_Genealogy/
