Francis “TJ” Delano

B.S. Chemistry, Emmanuel College, 2018.
Francis “TJ” Delano IV 

studied chemistry at Emmanuel College in Boston, MA, where he received his B.S. in Chemistry in 2018. At Emmanuel College, TJ worked with Dr. R. Bryan Sears doing research primarily focused on photodynamic therapies and ruthenium-based organometallics. In December of 2018, TJ began working at Michigan State University under the direction of Prof. Selvan Demir.

TJ’s research focus is primarily the development of novel ligand scaffolds in rare earth chemistry. He is particularly interested in synthesis and isolation of mono and multimetallic rare earth metal complexes bearing substituted pyrrole, guanidinate and open–shell ligands. In addition to research, TJ established the Chemistry Research Safety Team at MSU. Feel free to contact TJ through email: delanofr@msu.edu.

Outside of lab, TJ looks forward to sampling craft beers and watching sports! He also loves smoking meats, especially during the sunny mid-Michigan summertime!

 The cover art illustrates the identification of the seminal example of a rare-earth metallocene with a 2,2’-azobispyridyl radical anion. The title yttrium-radical complex was characterized through cw- and HYSCORE EPR spectroscopy, and electrochemistry. The radical nature was supported by elaborate DFT studies .

The cover art illustrates furry beings constructing a mononuclear rare earth complex featuring a crowded coordination sphere around the metal ion, which is ligated by two guanidinate moieties and one tetraphenylborate anion. The Dy congener is a rare single-molecule magnet containing guanidinate ligands.

TJ’s Publication List

  1. Introducing the Bis(mesitoyl)phosphide Ligand into Dinuclear Trivalent Rare Earth Metal Chemistry Deshapriya, S.; Delano IV, F.; Demir, S.* ChemPlusChem 2024. Accepted Article. e202400311. DOI: 10.1002/cplu.202400311.
  2. Guanidinate Yttrium Complexes Containing Bipyridyl and Bis(benzimidazolyl) Radicals Delano IV, F.†; Deshapriya, S.†; Demir, S.* Inorg. Chem. 2024, 63, 9659–9669. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c00006.
    †Authors contributed equally.
  3. Unprecedented Pyrazine-Bridged Guanidinate Rare Earth Complexes through a Bridge Splitting Reaction Path Delano IV, F.; Demir, S.* Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2024. Accepted Article. DOI: 10.1002/ejic.202300797.
  4. Magnetic and Spectroscopic Properties of Chloride-Bridged Guanidinate Dilanthanide Complexes Delano, F., Deshapriya, S., Demir, S.* Polyhedron 2024, 249, 116785. DOI: 10.1016/j.poly.2023.116785.
  5. Pyrrolyl-Bridged Metallocene Complexes: From Synthesis, Electronic Structure, to Single-Molecule Magnetism Delano IV, F.; Benner, F.; Jang, S.; Demir, S.* Inorg. Chem. 2023, 62, 14604–14614. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c01724.
  6. A rare isocyanide derived from an unprecedented neutral yttrium(II) bis(amide) complex Jena, R.; Benner, F.; Delano IV, F., Holmes, D.; McCracken, J.*; Demir, S.*; Odom, A. L.* Chem. Sci. 2023, 14, 4257–4264. DOI: 10.1039/D3SC00171G.
  7. Guanidinate Rare-Earth Tetraphenylborate Complexes and Their Prospects in Single-Molecule Magnetism Delano IV, F., Demir, S.* Cryst. Growth Des. 2023, 23, 3134–3143. DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.2c01258.
  8. Heteroleptic Rare-Earth Tris(metallocenes) Containing a Dibenzocyclooctatetraene Dianion Pugliese, E. R; Benner, F.; Castellanos, E.; Delano IV, F.; Demir, S.* Inorg. Chem. 2022, 61, 2444–2454. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c03230.
  9. Cyclopentadienyls and Phospholyls of the Group 3 Metals and Lanthanides Benner, F.; Delano IV, F.; Pugliese, E. R.; Demir, S.* Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry IV 2022, 4, 98-184. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-820206-7.00064-0.
  10. A Rare Earth Metallocene Containing a 2,2’-Azopyridyl Radical Anion Delano IV, F.; Castellanos, E.; McCracken, J.; Demir, S.* Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 15219–15228. DOI: 10.1039/D1SC04285H.
  11. Uncovering pseudo-doublet ground states innate to U(IV) complexes through magnetism Delano IV, F.; Demir, S.* Chem 2021, 7, 1686–1688. DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2021.06.015.