The Blakemore Laboratory
Inspired by the pursuit of sustainability, our group studies mechanisms of redox-induced chemical reactions, particularly those involving actinides, lanthanides, and carbon dioxide. We draw on perspectives from inorganic/organometallic chemistry, molecular electrochemistry, and surface science.
RECENT BLAKEMORE GROUP NEWS
14 October 2024 – Grant Arehart presented our group's research on the solution chemistry of new monometallic uranyl crown-ether complexes in the Lanthanide and Actinide Chemistry Symposium at the Midwest Regional ACS Meeting being held in Omaha, Nebraska. Thanks to Prof. Eric Villa of Creighton University for the invitation to present our work, and to the Chemistry Department at KU for supporting Grant's travel costs with funding from the Dains Endowment.
7-11 October 2024 – James and Alex presented our group's research this week at the Advanced Techniques in Actinide Spectroscopy - Actinide X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (ATAS-AnXAS) Joint Workshop in Karlsruhe, Germany. James presented an invited keynote talk on electroanalytical study of chemical reactivity in U, Np, and Pu complexes, and Alex presented our group's work on the solution redox chemistry of uranyl crown-ether complexes. Thanks to Tonya and the whole organizing team for the opportunity to present our work, and for organizing a very successful meeting!
7 October 2024 - Jared Schaeffer delivered an invited student talk at the CEBC Advisory Board Meeting on our group's collaborative work to quantify and understand the conductivity of organic electrolyte solutions, including systems containing high concentrations of carbon dioxide.
15 September 2024 – Alex Ervin is spending the next month in Karlsruhe, Germany to work on our new collaborative research in X-ray spectroscopy of uranium complexes with Dr. Tonya Vitova and her research group at the Institute for Nuclear Waste Management (Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, INE) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Alex's stay in Germany is being supported in part by the Craig Lunte International Travel Award from the KU Department of Chemistry.
8-12 September 2024 – James attended the Plutonium Futures meeting this week in Charleston, South Carolina and presented our group's collaborative work on proton coupled electron transfer chemistry of high-valent neptunium and plutonium complexes. Thanks to the organizers selecting our work to be presented in an oral presentation! "Plutonium Futures - The Science," as this meeting is formally known, is an international conference focused on the physical and chemical properties of plutonium and relevant actinide elements.
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You cannot step into the same river twice, for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you. – Heraclitus
The best of all pleasures [is] collaborating on scientific work with friends. – E. Teller