Research topics being pursued by the Omary group:

The Omary group is pursuing research into optoelectronic applications of luminescent materials. State-of-the-art spectroscopic instruments are being used for these studies such as: modern luminescence systems for steady-state and time-resolved measurements, tunable laser sources, molecular UV-VIS-NIR absorption and diffuse reflectance spectrophotometers, resonance Raman systems, and optical cryostats for temperature-dependent measurements down to liquid helium temperature (4.2 K) for solids and solutions. Modern DFT and ab initio computations are also being used to further characterize the electronic structure of the materials studied. Several classes of compounds are being synthesized and studied, including:

• Phosphorescent materials for light-emitting display devices (LEDs):
We are designing synthetic strategies to enhance the phosphorescence of organic and inorganic luminophores.  In one approach, conventional organic fluorophores are made to exhibit room-temperature phosphorescence in the solid state owing to either an external or internal heavy atom effect in systematically designed systems that contain d10 metals.  In another approach, metal-based emissions in monomeric, oligomeric, and polymeric coordination compounds of monovalent coinage metals.  The enhancement of phosphorescence should lead to LEDs with stronger electroluminescence quantum efficiency (QE), as the maximum theoretical internal QE is usually 25% for fluorescent LEDs while it can be up to 100% for phosphorescent LEDs.

• Charge-Transfer Complexes as Solar Cell Dyes:
We have been synthesizing "black absorbers" that are capable of absorbing strongly across the visible region and into the near infrared (NIR) region.  One useful class consists of (diimine)(dithiolate) compounds of d8 transition metals (PtII,  PdII, and NiII) with anchoring groups (e.g., carboxylate or phosphonate) attached to the diimine in order to allow their adsorption on the surface of a wide band gap semiconductors such as TiO2 or SnO2. The band gap of such semiconductors is in the UV region, too high to overlap with the desired solar spectral range, but attaching dyes of charge transfer complexes to the surface of the semiconductor results in efficient absorption of the solar radiation.  A second class involves donor-acceptor neutral and ionic compounds in which the donor is a d8 complex and the acceptor is an organic compound such as various TCNX nitriles and poly(nitro)-9-fluorenones.  These binary materials absorb strongly across the visible and into a significant portion of the NIR region and we have discovered that there is no need to have conventional anchoring groups in such complexes.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS-since 2003

42. Sinha, P.; Wilson, A. K.; Omary, M. A. “Beyond a T-Shape”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 12488-12489. PDF

41. Omary, M. A.; Rawashdeh-Omary, M. A.; Gonser, M. W. A.; Elbjeirami, O.; Grimes, T.; Cundari, T. R.; Diyabalanage, H, V. K.; Palehepitiya Gamage, C. S.; Dias, H. V. R. “Metal Effect on the Supramolecular Structure, Photophysics, and Acid/Base Character of Trinuclear Pyrazolato Coinage Metal Complexes”, Inorg. Chem. 2005, in press (Published on the Web September 10, 2005). PDF

40. Burress, C.; Elbjeirami, O.; Omary, M. A.; Gabba”, F. P. “Five-Order-of-Magnitude Reduction of the Triplet Lifetimes of N-Heterocycles by Complexation to a Trinuclear Mercury Complex”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 12166-12167.PDF

39. Mohamed, A. A.; Rawashdeh-Omary, M. A.; Omary, M. A.; Fackler, J. P., Jr. “External heavy-atom effect of gold in a supramolecular acid-base p stackDalton Trans. 2005, 2597”2602.
 

38. Vorontsov, I. I.; Kovalevsky, A. Yu.; Chen, Y-S.; Graber, T.; Novozhilova, I. V.; Omary, M. A.; Coppens, P. “Shedding Light on the Structure of a Photo-induced Transient Excimer by Time-resolved Diffraction” Phys. Rev. Lett. 2005, 94, 193003/1-193003/4.



37. Dias, H. V. R.; Diyabalanage, H. V. K.; Eldabaja, M. G.; Elbjeirami, O.; Rawashdeh-Omary, M. A.; Omary, M. A. “Brightly Phosphorescent Trinuclear Copper(I) Complexes of Pyrazolates: Substituent Effects on the Supramolecular Structure and Photophysics”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 7489-7501.PDF

36. Omary, M. A.; Sinha, P.; Bagus, P.S.; Wilson, A.K. “Electronic Structure of Mercury Oligomers and Exciplexes: Models for Long-range/Multi-center Bonding in Phosphorescent Transition Metal Compounds”, J. Phys. Chem. A 2005, 109, 690-702.PDF

35. Omary, M. A.; Mohamed, A. A.; Rawashdeh-Omary, M. A.; Fackler, J. P., Jr. “Photophysics of Supramolecular Binary Stacks Consisting of Electron-rich Trinuclear Au(I) Complexes and Organic Electrophiles” Coord. Chem. Rev. 2005, 249, 1372-1381.



34. Elbjeirami, O.; Omary, M. A.; Stender, M.; Balch, A. L. “Anomalous structure-luminescence relationship in phosphorescent gold(I) isonitrile neutral complexes” Dalton Trans. 2004, 3173 - 3175.



33. Omary, M. A.; Rawashdeh-Omary, M. A.; Diyabalanage, H. V. K.; Dias, H. V. R. “Blue Phosphors of Dinuclear and Mononuclear Copper (I) and Silver(I) Complexes of 3,5-Bis(trifluoromethyl)pyrazolate and the Related Bis(pyrazolyl)borate” Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 8612-8614.PDF

32. Hettiarachchi, S. R.; Patterson, H. H.; Omary, M. A. “"Write/Read/Erase" with Laser Irradiation of Dicyanoargentate(I) Doped and Pure Crystals” J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 14249-14254.PDF

31. Dunbar, K. R.; Schelter, E. J.; Palii, A. V.; Ostrovsky, S. M.; Mirovitskii, V. Y.; Hudson, J. M.; Omary, M. A.; Klokishner, S. I.; Tsukerblat, B. S. “Unusual Magnetic Behavior of Six-Coordinate, Mixed-Ligand Re(II) Complexes: Origin of a Strong Temperature Independent Paramagnetism” J. Phys. Chem. A 2003, 107, 11102-11111. PDF

30. Barakat, K. A.; Cundari, T. R.; Omary, M. A. “Jahn-Teller Distortion in the Phosphorescent Excited State of Three-coordinate Au(I) Phosphine Complexes” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 14228-14229.PDF

 

29. White-Morris, R. L.; Olmstead, M. M.; Balch, A. L.; Elbjeirami, O.; Omary, M. A. “Orange Luminescence and Structural Properties of Three Isostructural Halocyclohexylisonitrilegold(I) Complexes”, Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 6741-6748. PDF

28. Dias, H. V. R.; Diyabalanage, H. V. K.; Rawashdeh-Omary, M. A.; Franzman, M. A.; Omary, M. A. “Bright Phosphorescence of a Trinuclear Copper (I) Complex: Luminescence Thermochromism, Solvatochromism, and “Concentration Luminochromism”“ J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 12072-12073. Recognized as a “Heart-Cut” item in the November 17, 2003 issue. “Heart Cut” is an electronic feature journal by the American Chemical Society that highlights the most interesting new publications. PDF


27. Maspero, A.; Kani, I.; Mohamed, A. A.; Omary, M. A.; Staples, R. J.; Fackler, J. P., Jr. "Syntheses and Structures of Dinuclear Gold(I) Dithiophosphonate Complexes and the Reaction of the Dithiophosphonate Complexes with Phosphines: Diverse Coordination Types", Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 5311-5319.PDF


26. Smucker, B. W.; Hudson, J. M.; Omary, M. A.; Dunbar, K. R. “Structural, Magnetic, and Optoelectronic Properties of Diimine-dithiolato Pt(II) and Pd(II) Complexes and their Charge-Transfer Adducts with Nitrile Acceptors”, Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 4714-4723.PDF



25. Omary, M. A.; Kassab, R. M.; Haneline, M. R.; Elbjeirami, O.; Gabba”, F. P.; “Enhancement of the Phosphorescence of Organic Luminophores Upon Interaction with a Mercury Trifunctional Lewis Acid”, Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 2176-2178. PDF