Throughout his career he was engaged in collaborative research directed toward a fundamental understanding of the reactivity of organo-alanes, gallanes, and indanes with organo-phosphines and arsines to develop synthetic strategies to the heavier Group 13/15 bonded compounds. This research has been approached through a combination of our expertise in NMR spectroscopy and main group synthesis. This has led to the (a) successful application of variable temparature multinuclear NMR to elucidate reaction pathways in borane(or trialkylaluminum or trialkylgallium)/aminoarsine (or aminophosphine or aminostibine) reaction systems; (b) NMR spectral characterization of 13/15 compounds; and (c ) use of the solution NMR studies to fashion novel synthetic pathways to arsines and As-B, As- Al, As-Ga, Al-N, and Ga-N species. We have applied this approach to deduce the reaction pathways that occur in the reactions of Me2AlH with aminoarsines and aminophosphines. The results have led to new synthetic routes to As-H, P- H, As-As, P-P, Al-As, Al-P, and Al-N bond containing species. Of particular interest is the development of a novel methodology for the synthesis of phosphino- and arsinoalane ring compounds and the possible extension of this to the unknown stibino- and bismuthinoalanes. We have shown that Me2AlH readily attacks the [Me2AlNMe2]2 to form species such as Me2AlNMe2 HAlMe2 and [Me2AlNMe2-HAlMe2]2. We also elucidated the pathway to the formation of orthometallated Al-N and Ga-N dimers in the thermolysis of secondary amine adducts of Me3Al, Me3Ga, and Me3In.
Simultaneously, there has been a continued dedication to enhance the quality of science education in Alabama through outreach and in-service programs for Alabama science teachers. The focus has always been on novel laboratory-based activities for direct implementation into the school classroom or laboratory with funding from the NSF and ACHE.
Through the NSF GK-12 program (PI with 6 years of NSF funding) and collaborations involving the Schools of Education, Medicine, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the McWane Science Center, we developed a model outreach program that provided fellowships and training to enable graduate and advanced undergraduate science students to serve as resources in K-12 science education in the Birmingham metropolitan area. This was built on the existing science outreach infrastructure involving UAB and the local school systems. Fellows received an overview of learning theory and pedagogy, as advocated by the National Science Education Standards, and were then trained in the specific outreach program to which they are assigned. Science equipment, materials, and curricula were delivered to K-12 students and teachers received professional development. NSF fellows provided expertise in science content while being incorporated into the teaching, curriculum development, hands-on science instruction, and mentoring activities with K-12 teachers and students in the local school systems. In a synergistic way while mentoring Fellows in K-12 classrooms and labs, K-12 teachers transferred to the Fellows experiential knowledge of how people learn and the application of appropriate pedagogical techniques to facilitate learning.
Keywords - General chemistry, advanced inorganic chemistry, chemical problem solving, inorganic chemistry, chemical applications of group theory, in-service teacher courses at the graduate level
