Christopher L. Cahill

Areas of Expertise

Hybrid materials, f-element chemistry, Nuclear fuel cycle, X-ray crystallography, and Luminescent materials

Virtual Office Hours

Students and other community members are invited to drop in for a virtual meeting over Webex.

Visit Professor Cahill's Webex Room

Office Hours Fall 2021

• Wednesdays, 12-1 p.m.

Current Research

Hybrid materials such as coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks find application in areas as diverse as gas storage, rad-waste immobilization, micro-electronics and catalysis. Those containing lanthanide (Ln) or actinide (An) compositions (aka the ‘f-elements’) are of particular importance to the nuclear fuel cycle and related environmental issues. Further, Ln elements see application in areas from medical imaging to magnetic materials and sensing devices.  Synthetic routes for producing these materials often include soft-chemical or molecular design approaches. Soluble molecular precursors or even dense phase minerals provide the structural building units that are induced to assemble via covalent and non-covalent (e.g. hydrogen- and/or halogen- bonding) interactions. Investigation of the properties of these (and other) types of materials is closely related to an understanding of their crystal structures. As such, a major focus of our group is the X-ray structural characterization of large families of both novel and naturally occurring solid-state compounds to establish assembly criteria and structure-property relationships, with a particular emphasis on luminescence behavior.

Education

Ph.D., SUNY-Stony Brook, 1999

Publications

• R. G. Surbella III; L. C. Ducati; K. L. Pellegrini; B. K. McNamara; J. Autschbach; J. M. Schwantes; C. L. Cahill (2017) "Transuranic Hybrid Materials: Crystallographic and Computational Metrics of Supramolecular Assembly." J. Am. Chem. Soc.  139, 10843. 
   
• K. P. Carter; M. Kalaj; R. G. Surbella III; L. C. Ducati; J. Autschbach; C. L. Cahill (2017) "Engaging the Terminal: Promoting Halogen Bonding Interactions with Uranyl Oxo Atoms." Chem. Eur. J., In press. 

• M. B. Andrews; C. L. Cahill (2013) "Uranyl bearing hybrid materials: synthesis, speciation and solid state structures." Chem. Rev.  113, 1121. 

• C. L. Cahill; D. T. de Lill; M. Frisch (2007) "Homo- and heterometallic coordination polymers from the f elements." CrystEngComm  9, 15. 

Classes Taught

Chem 1111: General Chemistry I

Chem 1112: General Chemistry II

Chem 4134: Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry

Chem 6235: Advanced Inorganic Chemistry

IAFF 6118: The Science of Nuclear Materials