Research and Professional Activity

Research Interests

General Interests: Inorganic Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry

Current Research: Synthetic routes to porous manganese oxide using hydrothermal, sol-gel, and colloid-forming reactions under mild conditions; applications in heterogeneous catalysis and battery technology.

Publications

Connecticut College students are underlined

• "[Bis(triphenylphosphine) Nitrogen (1+)] [Triiron Undecacarbonyl (2-)], [PPN]₂[Fe₃CO₁₁] Ching, S. Inorganic Syntheses In press.

• "Self-Assembly of Manganese Oxide Nanoparticles and Hollow Spheres. Catalytic Activity in Carbon Monoxide Oxidation." Ching, S.;* Kriz, D. A,; Luthy, K. M.; Njagi, E. C.; Suib, S. L. Chem.Commun. 2011, 47, 8286-8288.

• "Synthesis and Characterization of a Layered Manganese Oxide: Materials Chemistry for the Inorganic or Instrumental Methods Lab" Ching, S.;* Neupane, R. P.; Gray, T. P. J. Chem. Ed. 2006, 83, 1674-1676.

• "Manganese Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Nonaqueous Sol-Gel Processing: Preferential Formation of Birnessite" Ching, S.;* Gray, T. P.; Hughes, S. M.; Welch, E. J. Microporous Mesoporous Mater. 2004, 76, 41-49.

• "Syntheses of Microporous Manganese Oxides Using Nonaqueous Sol-Gel Chemistry" Ching, S.;* Welch, E. J.; Hughes, S. M.; Bahadoor, A. B. F.; Suib, S. L. Chem. Mater. 2002, 14, 1292-129.

• "A New Hydrothermal Synthesis of Manganese Oxides with the Hollandite Structure" Ching, S.;* Driscoll, P. F.; Krukowska, K. S.; Marvel, M. R.; Suib, S. L. Chem. Commun. 2001, 2486-2487.

• "Manganese Oxide Thin Films with Fast Ion-Exchange Properties" Giraldo, O.; Brock, S. L.; Willis, W. S.; Marquez, M.; Suib, S. L.,* Ching, S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 9330-9331.

• "A New Synthetic Route to Todorokite-Type Manganese Oxides" Ching, S.;* Krukowska, K. S.; Suib, S. L. Inorg. Chim. Acta 1999, 294, 123-132.

• "Coordination Polymers Based on Bis(bipyridyl)alkane Ligands: Film Preparation and Charge Transport Characteristics" Ching, S.;* Elliott, C. M.* Langmuir 1999, 15, 1491-1497.

• "Synthetic Routes to Microporous Manganese Oxides" Ching, S.;* Suib, S. L.* Comments on Inorg. Chem. 1997, 19, 263-282.

• "A Sol-Gel Route to the Tunneled Manganese Oxide, Cryptomelane" Ching, S.;* Roark, J. L.; Duan, N.; Suib, S. L.* Chem. Mater. 1997, 9, 750-754.

• "Sol-Gel Synthesis of Layered Birnessite-Type Manganese Oxides" Ching, S.;* Petrovay, D. J.; Jorgensen, M. L. Suib, S. L.* Inorg. Chem. 1997, 36, 883-890.

• "Sol-Gel Synthesis of Birnessite from KMnO₄ and Simple Sugars" Ching, S.;* Landrigan, J. A.; Jorgensen, M. L., Duan, N.; Suib, S. L.;* O'Young, C. L. Chem. Mater. 1995, 7, 1604-1606.

• "Electrical Resistivity Measurements on Manganese Oxides with Layer and Tunnel Structures: Birnessites, Todorokites, and Cryptomelanes" De Guzman, R. N.; Awaluddin, A.; Shen, Y. F.; Tian, Z. R.; Suib, S. L.;* Ching, S.; O'Young, C. L. Chem. Mater. 1995, 7, 1286-1292.

• "Synthesis and Reactivity of Modified Electrodes Derived from TiCl₄ and Other Early- Transition-Metal Complexes" Ching, S.;* Tabet, E. A.; Dudek, R. C.; Magiera, J. P. Chem. Mater. 1995, 7, 405-411.

• "Cyclic Voltammetry with Ultramicroelectrodes" Ching, S.;* Dudek, R. C.; Tabet, E. A. J. Chem. Ed. 1994, 71, 602-605.

• "Surface Modification of Carbon and Platinum Electrodes Using TiCl₄" Ching, S.;* Dudek, R. C.; Tabet, E. A.; Willis, W. S.; Suib, S. L. Langmuir 1994, 10, 1657-1659.

• "Cryoelectrochemical Study of the Cleavage of Radical Anions of Diiron and Diruthenium Carbonyl Dimers" Dalton, E. F.; Ching, S.; Murray, R. W.* Inorg. Chem. 1991, 30, 2642-2648.
• "Liquid Phase Electrochemistry at Ultralow Temperatures" Ching, S.; McDevitt, J. T.; Peck, S. R.; Murray, R. W.* J. Electrochem. Soc. 1991, 138, 2308-2315.
• "Lithographic and Related Microelectrode Fabrication Techniques" McCarley, R. L.; Sullivan, M. G.; Ching, S.; Zhang, Y.; Murray, R. W.* in Microelectrodes: Theory and Applications Montenegro, M. I.; Queiros, M.; Daschbach, J. Eds.; Kluwer: Netherlands; 1991; 205-226.
• "Fluid Electrolyte Solutions for Electrochemistry at Near Liquid Nitrogen Temperatures" McDevitt, J. T.; Ching, S.; Sullivan, M.; Murray, R. W.* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1989, 111, 4528-4529.
• "A Mechanistic Investigation of Phosphine Migration and Substitution in [Fe₂Co(CO)₈(PR₃)(CCO)]^-" Ching, S.; Shriver, D. F.* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1989, 111, 3243-3250.
• "Kinetics and Mechanism of Phosphine Substitution for CO in [Fe₂Co(CO)₉(CCO)]^-" Ching, S.; Shriver, D. F.* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1989, 111, 3238-3243.
• "A Diphosphine Ligand as a Bridge Between Carbide and Metal Centers in Clusters" Ching, S.; Jensen, M. P.; Sabat, M.; Shriver, D. F.* Organometallics 1989, 8, 1058-1063.
• "Cluster-Bound Ylides Derived from CCO. Conversion of [Fe₂Co(CO)₉(CCO)]^- to [Fe₂Co(CO)₉(CPMe₃)]^-" Ching, S.; Sabat, M.; Shriver, D. F.* Organometallics 1989, 8, 1047-1058.
• "Synthesis, Reactivity, and X-ray Crystal Structure of an Anionic, Mixed-Metal Ketenylidene Cluster: [PPN][Fe₂Co(CO)₉(CCO)]" Ching, S; Holt, E. M.; Kolis, J. W.; Shriver, D. F.* Organometallics 1988, 7, 892-898.
• "Coordination Chemistry at the Carbide Heteroatom in a Metal Cluster. Synthesis, Structure, and Bonding for [PPN][Fe₂Co(CO)₉(CPMe₃)]" Ching, S; Sabat, M.; Shriver D. F.* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1987, 109, 4722-4723.

Extramural Support

• National Science Foundation – Major Research Instrumentation 2010 MRI-R2: Acquisition of Atomic Absorption Instrumentation for Multi-Disciplinary Undergraduate Research and Research Training (lead PI on interdisciplinary proposal with the Life Sciences)

• National Science Foundation – Major Research Instrumentation 2003 Acquisition of a Transmission Electron Microscope for Multidisciplinary Research and Education (co-PI on interdisciplinary proposal with the Life Sciences)

• Research Corporation – Cottrell Science Grant 2002 Nonaqueous Manganese Oxide Colloids as Precursors to Layered and Tunneled Materials

• National Science Foundation – Research in Undergraduate Institutions 2002 Nonaqueous Sol-Gel and Colloid Chemistry of Microporous Manganese Oxides

• National Science Foundation – Major Research Instrumentation 2002 Powder X-ray Diffraction Instrumentation for Undergraduate Research and Research Training

• Petroleum Research Fund - Type B 2000 Nonaqueous Sol-Gel Routes to Microporous Manganese Oxides

• Research Corporation - Cottrell Science Grant 1999 Nonaqueous Sol-Gel Routes to Microporous Manganese Oxides

• National Science Foundation - Improvement of Laboratory Instrumentation 1995 Scanning Electron Microscopy for Course Improvement in the Biological and Chemical Sciences (co-PI on interdisciplinary proposal with the Life Sciences)

• Pfizer Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship 1994 Early Transition Metal Complexes on Noble Metal Electrodes

• Connecticut Innovations, Inc. - Yankee Ingenuity Initiative 1993 (collaboration with Steve Suib of the University of Connecticut) Studies of Supported Lewis Acids on Electrodes

• Pfizer Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship 1993 Early Transition Metal Complexes on Graphite Electrodes

• National Science Foundation - Improvement of Laboratory Instrumentation 1992 Curriculum Development in Chemistry Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

• Petroleum Research Fund - Type G 1991 Hard-Soft Heterobimetallic Interactions at Chemically Modified Electrodes

• Research Corporation - Cottrell Science Grant 1991 Hard-Soft Heterobimetallic Interactions at Chemically Modified Electrodes

Professional Affiliations and Related Activity

• American Chemical Society, 1985-present.

• Materials Research Society, 1998-present.

• Secretary to the Editorial Board, Inorganic Syntheses, 1999-present.

• Consultant, Sherman Fairchild Foundation – Scientific Equipment Program, 2000-present.

• Local Site Coordinator for the 2002 Council on Undergraduate Research National Meeting held at Connecticut College (June 17-22, 2002).

• Symposium Organizer for the 2009 American Chemical Society - Connecticut Valley Section Undergraduate Research Symposium and Awards Luncheon held at Connecticut College (April 25, 2009).