Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8
Omar M. Yaghi received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University. He is the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley. He is the Founding Director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute whose mission is to build centers of research in developing countries and provide opportunities for young scholars to discover and learn, and the Co-Director of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute focusing on the basic science of energy transformation on the molecular level, as well as the California Research Alliance by BASF supporting joint academia-industry innovations.
His work encompasses the synthesis, structure and properties of inorganic and organic compounds and the design and construction of new crystalline materials. He is widely known for pioneering several extensive classes of new materials: MetalOrganic Frameworks (MOFs), Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs), and Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs). These materials have the highest surface areas known to date, making them useful for hydrogen and methane storage, carbon capture and conversion, water harvesting from desert air, and catalysis, to mention a few. The building block approach he developed has led to an exponential growth in the creation of new materials having a diversity and multiplicity previously unknown in chemistry.
He termed this field 'Reticular Chemistry' and defines it as 'stitching molecular building blocks into extended structures by strong bonds'. Yaghi is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, and has been honored with many awards for his scientific accomplishments, including the Materials Research Society Medal and the American Chemical Society Award in the Chemistry of Materials. He recently became the the inaugural recipient of the VinFuture Special Prize which is dedicated to “Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields.”
Professor Sir Richard Friend, VinFuture Prize Council Chair, said this about the award, "The VinFuture Prize 2021 recognizes truly outstanding scientific work that has made, and will make, a positive impact on the lives of millions, or even billions, of people around the world. The winners have brought new solutions for some of the most significant challenges that humanity is facing, such as infectious diseases and meeting the urgent need for zero-carbon energy."
Dr. Yaghi will present two virtual lectures:
Thursday, April 7, 2022
Harvesting Water from Desert Air
4:30 PM ET
Join this virtual presentation.
Abstract: There is nearly as much water in the atmosphere, at any one time, as in lakes and rivers on our planet. Almost one-third of the world population lives in water stressed regions and/or suffer from lack of clean water. We advance a solution based on MOF crystals capturing water from the atmosphere especially in arid regions at low humidity (down to 10% R.H.) and providing ultra-pure water using ambient sunlight. Laboratory and desert prototype experiments reveal that practical and energy efficient water production is possible, and that the vision of distributed, personalized, off-grid, and mobile water systems is within our reach.
Friday, April 8, 2022
RETICULAR CHEMISTRY: The atom, the molecule, and the framework
3:30 PM ET
If you would like to attend this lecture, please contact Ms. Elizabeth McCarran, emccarra@clarkson.edu.
Abstract: The covalent bond occupies a central role in building up organic molecules leading to polymers and pharmaceuticals. With the advent of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), the chemistry of the covalent bond has been extended to crystalline two- and three-dimensional frameworks. Here, organic and inorganic, as well as just organic molecules are stitched together with covalent bonds to make crystalline, porous frameworks of high architectural and chemical robustness. This opened the way to carrying out chemistry on frameworks (i.e. the development of precision chemistry beyond the molecule). The union of the covalent and the mechanical bond gives way to incorporating flexibility and dynamics into frameworks, and this provides a whole new way of thinking about materials beyond molecules. The Applications of MOFs and COFs to carbon capture and sustainability.