Mukunda Mandal

• Doctor of Philosophy
• PostDoc Position at University of Chicago

Metal sulfide binary compounds, renowned for their exceptional electronic properties, are advantageous in applications such as hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, and photocatalysis. Typically, the majority of active sites in these compounds reside on the surfaces and edges of catalyst particles, leaving the bulk catalyst underutilized. This study intr...

Oscillations in the chemical or physical properties of materials, composed of an odd or even number of connected repeating methylene units, are a well-known phenomenon in organic chemistry and materials science. So far, such behavior has not been reported for the important class of materials, perovskite semiconductors. This work reports a distinct...

Copper-catalysed radical-relay reactions that employ N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide (NFSI) as the oxidant have emerged as highly effective methods for C(sp³)–H functionalization. Herein, computational studies are paired with experimental data to investigate a series of key mechanistic features of these reactions, with a focus on issues related to site-...

Controlling crystal growth and reducing the number of grain boundaries are crucial to maximize the charge carrier transport in organic-inorganic perovskite field-effect transistors (FETs). Herein, the crystallization and growth kinetics of a Sn(II)-based 2D perovskite, using 2-thiopheneethylammonium (TEA) as the organic cation spacer, were effectiv...

The performance of perovskite solar cells with inverted polarity ( p-i-n ) is still limited by recombination at their electron extraction interface, which also lowers the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of p-i-n perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. A ~1 nm thick MgF x interlayer at the perovskite/C 60 interface through thermal evaporation favor...

Surface-defect passivation is key to achieving a high photoluminescence quantum yield in lead halide perovskite nanocrystals. However, in perovskite light-emitting diodes, these surface ligands also have to enable balanced charge injection into the nanocrystals to yield high efficiency and operational lifetime. In this respect, alkaline halides hav...

We correlate spatially resolved fluorescence (-lifetime) measurements with X-ray nanodiffraction to reveal surface defects in supercrystals of self-assembled cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals and study their effect on the fluorescence properties. Upon comparison with density functional modeling, we show that a loss in structural coherence,...

Surface-defect passivation is key to achieving high photoluminescence quantum yield in lead halide perovskite nanocrystals. However, in perovskite light-emitting diodes these surface ligands also have to enable balanced charge injection into the nanocrystals to yield high efficiency and operational lifetime. In this respect, alkaline halides have b...

Combining strong light absorption and outstanding electrical conductivity, hybrid nanographene-graphene (NG-Gr) van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) represent an emerging material platform for versatile optoelectronic devices. Interfacial charge transfer (CT), a fundamental process whose full control remains limited, plays a paramount role in det...

All-inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) show potential in optoelectronic devices, though their stability and efficiency have yet to improve. In this work, we explore the effect of bivalent metal site doping on the optoelectronic properties of CsPbX3 (X = Br, Cl) perovskite NCs. First, the Pb2+ ions in pristine CsPbBr3 NC are partial...

Surface ligand exchange on all‐inorganic perovskite nanocrystals of composition CsPbBrI2 reveals improved optoelectronic properties due to strong interactions of the nanocrystal with mono‐functionalized porphyrin derivatives. The interaction is verified experimentally with an array of spectroscopic measurements as well as computationally by exploit...

We correlate spatially resolved fluorescence (-lifetime) measurements with X-ray nanodiffraction to reveal surface defects in supercrystals of self-assembled caesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals and study their effect on the fluorescence properties. Upon comparison with density functional modelling, we show that a loss in structural coherenc...

Surface ligand exchange on all-inorganic perovskite nanocrystals of composition CsPbBrI$_{2}$ reveals improved optoelectronic properties due to strong interactions of the nanocrystal with mono-functionalized porphyrin derivatives. The interaction is verified experimentally with an array of spectroscopic measurements as well as computationally by ex...

Single-site catalysts with active species anchored over metal–organic framework (MOF) supports have garnered significant interest in recent years. Catalysts with vanadium oxide (VOx) species immobilized over Zr-NU-1000 and Hf-MOF-808 (which have nodes containing six Zr(IV) or Hf(IV) ions, respectively) were recently characterized experimentally (Ot...

Site selectivity represents a key challenge for non-directed C–H functionalization, even when the C–H bond is intrinsically reactive. Here, we report a copper-catalyzed method for benzylic C–H azidation of diverse molecules. Experimental and density functional theory studies suggest the benzyl radical reacts with a CuII-azide species via a radical-...

Cross-coupling reactions enable rapid, convergent synthesis of diverse molecules and provide the foundation for modern chemical synthesis. The most widely used methods employ sp2-hybridized coupling partners, such as aryl halides or related pre-functionalized substrates. Here, we demonstrate copper-catalysed oxidative cross-coupling of benzylic C–H...

A series of complexes {[NBu4][LCuII(O2CR)] (R = -C6F5, -C6H4(NO2), -C6H5, -C6H4(OMe), -CH3, and -C6H2( i Pr)3)} were characterized (with the complex R = -C6H4(m-Cl) having been published elsewhere ( Mandal et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019 , 141 , 17236 )). All feature N,N',N″-coordination of the supporting L2- ligand, except for the complex with R = -...

In a possibly biomimetic fashion, formally copper(III)-oxygen complexes LCu(III)-OH (1) and LCu(III)-OOCm (2) (L2- = N,N'-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,6-pyridinedicarboxamide, Cm = α,α-dimethylbenzyl) have been shown to activate X-H bonds (X = C, O). Herein, we demonstrate similar X-H bond activation by a formally Cu(III) complex supported by the s...

Single-site heterogeneous catalysts (SSHCs) play important roles in fundamental science and technology, owing to the molec-ular level control of structure–support interactions that is possible in these systems. Recently, SSHCs supported by acidic oxides have attracted particular interest because catalytically active metal centers can be formed at t...

Isosorbide is a rigid, sugar-derived building block that has shown promise in high-performance materials, albeit with a lack of available controlled polymerization methods. To this end, we provide mechanistic insights into the cationic and quasi-zwitterionic ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of an annulated isosorbide derivative (1,4:2,5:3,6-trianh...

Computational screening of a series of aluminum complexes for their activity in the ring-opening transesterification polymerization (ROTEP) of ϵ-caprolactone (CL) was performed using a "framework distortion energy" (FDE) hypothesis. An {N,N,N,N}-aluminum complex with a bis-indolide Schiff-base ligand was predicted on the basis of that screening to...

Aluminum alkoxide complexes supported by salen ligands [salen = N,N'-bis(salicylaldimine)-2-methylpropane-1,2-diamine or N,N'-bis(salicylaldimine)-2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine] with o-adamantyl substituents have been synthesized and investigated for the polymerization of ε-caprolactone. Geometric analysis of the catalysts used for the reaction r...

The ring-opening transesterification polymerization (ROTEP) of rac-lactide (rac-LA) using L(X)Zn catalysts (L(X) = ligand having phenolate, amine, and pyridine donors with variable para substituents X on the bound phenolate donor; X = NO2, Br, t-Bu, OMe) was evaluated through kinetics experiments and density functional theory, with the aim of deter...

Mechanistic studies involving synergistic experiment and theory were performed on the perfectly alternating copolymerization of 1-butene oxide and carbic anhydride using a (salph)AlCl/[PPN]Cl catalytic pair. These studies showed a first-order dependence of the polymerization rate on the epoxide, a zero-order dependence on the cyclic anhydride, and...

Polymerization of ε-caprolactone (CL) using an aluminum alkoxide catalyst (1) designed to prevent unproductive trans binding was monitored at 110 °C in toluene-d8 by (1)H NMR and the concentration versus time data fit to a first-order rate expression. A comparison of t1/2 for 1 to values for many other aluminum alkyl and alkoxide complexes shows mu...

Melanin is the pigment found in human skin that is responsible for both photo-protection and photo-damage. Recently there have been reports that greater photo-damage of DNA occurs when cells containing melanin are irradiated with UV radiation, thus suggesting that the photo-products of melanin causes DNA damage. Photo-ionization processes have also...