Structural Research Laboratory

Research issues

Our main research studies are focused on three elements – silicon, phosphorous and sulfur and the attention is directed towards preparation of new advanced materials and efficient catalysts. This covers e.g., coordination chemistry of metals with S- and P-donor ligands, crystal engineering leading to metal-organic coordination networks or assemblies formed due to the presence of H-bond interactions, project related to bioinorganic chemistry and computational approaches towards nanotechnological concepts.

Our research is carried out in three groups:

• Si-ORIENTED SCIENTIFIC GROUP - Functionalized organoxysilanes, organoxysilanethiols and organoxysilanols and their transition metal complexes
  Functionalized siloxanes oligomers and polymers are of great interest as a potential source of new materials. Molecular species possessing Si-O bonds such as silanols, other related species and their metal salts serve as structural models for silica-supported metal/metal oxide catalysts.
• P-ORIENTED SCIENTIFIC GROUP - Investigation of the reactivity of compounds and complexes of low valent phosphorous
  Scientific activity leads to isolation of complexes of transition metals with phosphanylphosphinidene (R₂P-P) and phosphanylphosphido ligands (R₂P-P-SiMe₃). The properties of received compounds as transfer reagents of R₂P-P and R₂P-P(SiMe₃) groups into organic skeletons are investigated. The second goal of the activity is to synthesize and to investigate new classes of metal-free catalysts based on compounds with P-P bonds.
• S-ORIENTED SCIENTIFIC GROUP – Synthesis of selected homo- and heteroleptic metal complexes with a sulfur-rich coordination kernels
  The research is targeted e.g., towards preparation of a new convenient molecular precursors already possessing metal-sulfur bond which may be decomposed leading to the formation of technically important sulfide materials.

Our department is equipped with a Stoe IPDS-2T diffractometer with graphite-monochromated MoKα radiation, a Bruker Avance III HD 400 MHz NMR spectrometer (external standard TMS for ¹H, ¹³C; 85% H₃PO₄ for ³¹P), a Nicolet iS50 FTIR spectrometer equipped with the Specac Quest single-reflection diamond attenuated total reflectance (ATR) accessory and glove box of MBraun Company (model LabmasterPro) for chemical storage and preparation of samples which are not stable in air or humidity. We collaborate with several research groups from Poland as well as from Germany, Italy, USA and Brazil.

Realised grants

• 2014-2017 OPUS grant: Functionalized organoxysilanes, organoxysilanethiols and organoxysilanols and their transition metal complexes. 189 000 EUR financed by Polish National Science Centre
• 2013-2016 HARMONIA grant: New Ligands with P–P bonds. Synthesis and structural investigations. 60 000 EUR financed by Polish National Science Centre
• 2013-2015 IUVENTUS PLUS grant: Investigations of chemical properties of phosphanylphosphinidene complexes – new pathways for synthesis of organophosphorus compounds. 78 000 EUR financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education
• 2011-2013 grant: Search of new precursors for production of functional materials based on inorganic-organic skeleton. Heteroleptic silanethiolates of transition metals as coordination polymers. 21 000 EUR financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education
• 2011-2013 grant: Metal complexes with sulfur-rich centers – synthesis and properties of selected dithiocarbamates, their structures and modifications. 30 000 EUR financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education
• 2008-2010 grant: Functional models of alcohol dehydrogenase – zinc and cadmium tri-tert-butoxysilanethiolates. 12 000 EUR financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education

Recent most important publications

• Ł. Ponikiewski, A. Ziółkowska, J. Pikies: Reactions of Lithiated Diphosphanes R₂P–P(SiMe₃)Li (R = tBu and iPr) with [^MeNacnacTiCl₂·THF] and [^MeNacnacTiCl₃]. Formation and Structure of Titanium^III and Titanium^IV β-Diketiminato Complexes Bearing the Side-on Phosphanylphosphido and Phosphanylphosphinidene Functionalities. Inorg. Chem. (2017) 1094–1103.
• A. Mielcarek, M. Daszkiewicz, K. Kazimierczuk, A. Ciborska, A. Dołęga: Variable-temperature X-ray diffraction study of structural parameters of NH---S hydrogen bonds in triethylammonium and pyridinium silanethiolates. Acta Cryst. B 72 (2016) 763-770.
• A. Ciborska, E. Conterosito, M. Milanesio, K. Kazimierczuk, K. Rzymowska, K. Brzozowski and A. Dołęga: The Syntheses and Crystal Structures of the First Disiloxane-1,3-dithiol and Its Cadmium Complex. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 19 (2015) 3059-3065.
• R. Grubba, A. Ordyszewska, K. Kaniewska, Ł. Ponikiewski, J. Chojnacki, D. Gudat, J. Pikies: Reactivity of Phosphanylphosphinidene Complex of Tungsten(VI) toward Phosphines: A New Method of Synthesis of catena-Polyphosphorus Ligands. Inorg. Chem. 54(17) (2015) 8380-8387.
• A. Pladzyk, Ł. Ponikiewski, A. Dołęga, K. Słowy, A. Sokołowska, K. Dziubińska, Z. Hnatejko: Structural variety of Co(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes with 4,4'-azopyridine. Synthesis, structure and luminescence properties.. Chemistry - An Asian Journal 10 (2015) 2388-2396.
• A. Okuniewski, D. Rosiak, J. Chojnacki, B. Becker: Coordination polymers and molecular structures among complexes of mercury(II) halides with selected 1-benzoylthioureas. Polyhedron 90 (2015) 47-57.
• A. Mietlarek-Kropidłowska, J. Chojnacki, M. Strankowski, A. Fahmi, M. Gazda, B. Becker: Cadmium complex possessing simultaneously silanethiolato- and dithiocarbamato- ligands. A novel single-source precursor of cadmium sulfide. J. Therm. Anal. Calor. 118 (2014) 993-1001.

Full list available at kchn.pg.gda.pl/?p=papers&year=2017&lng=en.