Click and drag on image to navigate. / Start at center point for best results.
Use the Shift key to zoom in / Control key to zoom out.

Biography of Mary Ellison, University of Notre Dame..

About me and the molecule:

I received a masters in inorganic chemistry in 1995 from ND (Dr. Scheidt was my advisor). I currently am working as a research associate in Dr. Scheidt's lab. I try to synthesize new metalloporphyrin complexes (most recently iron(III) nitrosyl species) and characterize them by X-ray structure analysis and other pertinent physical methods.

The pictures taken were of a closely interacting pair of molecules of an iron(III) nitrosyl porphyrin which has a neutral nitrogen donating axial ligand. The formula for the molecule as pictured is [Fe(OEP)(Pz)(NO)]+ The NO ligand (blue and red atoms near the center) of each molecule are quite close and we think this has a specific effect on its properties.

A molecule of this type has not been previously characterized by crystallography, likely due to the difficulties associated with its synthesis. These molecules are interesting in their own right but they are also closely related to biologically important heme proteins (just recently discovered) in bloodsucking insects and in denitrifying bacteria and fungi.

By studying our "model" complexes it is hoped a better understanding of the more complicated and harder to study biological systems can be gained.