School of Chemistry
 

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Deborah Kays

Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Science

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Biography

Dr Deborah Kays received her MChem (Hons) and PhD degrees from Cardiff University. For her PhD she undertook investigations into the synthesis and reactivity of transition metal complexes of boron, under the supervision of Prof. Simon Aldridge. A postdoctoral position, also with Simon Aldridge, followed this. Deborah took up a Junior Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford (2005-2007), which allowed her to initiate an independent research programme investigating the stabilisation of low-coordinate main group and transition metal centres. She was appointed Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Nottingham in 2007, promoted to Associate Professor in 2014 and to Professor in 2019. In recognition of her research achievements she received the Chemistry of Transition Metals Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry (2018).

Research Summary

My research interests lie with organometallic and coordination chemistry, in particular the stabilisation of main group and transition metal complexes with unusual oxidation states and bonding modes.… read more

Selected Publications

Current Research

My research interests lie with organometallic and coordination chemistry, in particular the stabilisation of main group and transition metal complexes with unusual oxidation states and bonding modes. This work is focused on the development of new synthetic methodologies and the use of sterically demanding ligand systems to support novel unsaturated and highly reactive compounds. We are also interested in the examination of the structure/activity relationships of low-coordinate and highly reactive centres with a view to their exploitation in small molecule activation and catalysis. The Kays group uses anaerobic techniques (Schlenk line, glove box) in the manipulation of these highly sensitive compounds, and the characterisation of new complexes includes single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements, mass spectrometry, magnetometry, NMR and EPR spectroscopy; the synthetic and structural studies being complemented by computational calculations.

School of Chemistry

University Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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