Chemistry Seminar: Nathaniel Rosi - Leveraging lability in MOFs: explorations in ligand exchange, interligand chemistry, and controlling compositional complexity

Nathaniel Rosi is coming over from Pitt to give a chemistry seminar at Mellon Institute Conference Room 348 on Wednesday, October 21. He's a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and the talk is titled Leveraging lability in MOFs: explorations in ligand exchange, interligand chemistry, and controlling compositional complexity. If you're not familiar with the acronym, MOFs are metal-organic frameworks—porous materials made of metal ions connected by organic molecules. The seminar focuses on ligand exchange, the process of swapping one of those organic molecules for another, and how that can be used to tune the material's properties.

Rosi's lab works on discovering new classes of chiral nanomaterials, and this talk fits right into that line of research. He's been at Pitt since 2006, after a B.A. from Grinnell College, a PhD from the University of Michigan, and postdoctoral work at Northwestern. These days he's the Covestro Chair of Chemistry and Department Chair, a Kavli Fellow, and a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award.

The venue has its own history. The Mellon Institute building is a National Historic Chemical Landmark, and it's home to applied research that helped shape global industry—everything from early materials companies like Visking, Plaskon, and Dow-Corning to the development of the first World War I gas mask. The department itself traces back to the Carnegie Institute of Technology, founded in 1900, and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, founded in 1913, which merged in 1967.

It's a free seminar, so you don't need a ticket. It starts at 4 PM on Wednesday, October 21, in Conference Room 348 of the Mellon Institute.