Ryan G. Hadt

Assistant: Elisha Jung Okawa

Research in the Hadt laboratory is broadly based in the area of physical inorganic chemistry. The group employs a range of steady state and time-resolved spectroscopies to understand the roles of transition metal electronic structure across interdisciplinary areas of chemistry, biology, and physics.

Some of our research is currently focused on 1) understanding geometric and electronic structure contributions to ground- and excited-state first-row transition metal catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, and 2) connecting molecular electronic structure and electron spin decoherence mechanisms for quantum information science (QIS).

Related to 1), cross-coupling reactions enable the construction of new C–X bonds (X = C, N, O, F, etc.) necessary for the synthesis of existing pharmaceuticals and new drug candidates. While precious metal Pd-based catalysts are largely used on an industrial scale, the combination of the disparate electron transfer properties of earth-abundant first-row transition metal catalysts and the possibility of harnessing light energy to generate uniquely reactive electronic states represents an attractive, sustainable approach to accessing new mechanistic possibilities for drug synthesis and discovery. We use a combination of spectroscopic and computational approaches to define the critical electronic structure contributions to ground-state Cu- and Ni-catalyzed cross-couplings and further use and develop time-resolved spectroscopies to elucidate key excited-state factors that allow for sustainable light-driven syntheses.

Related to 2), the next generation of information processing devices will rely upon detailed understanding of quantum phenomena at the single atom and molecule level. We are developing new approaches rooted in molecular structure to understand electron spin relaxation mechanisms that lead to the destruction of quantum information, particularly at higher temperatures. To do this, we employ and develop new lines of spectroscopic inquiry to evaluate critical spin-phonon coupling processes that control high temperature quantum coherence/decoherence. More generally, we seek to tie together new experimental and theoretical approaches to study the structural and dynamic electronic properties of molecular systems. Building on this, we also seek to develop and apply concepts of molecular QIS to the domain of biophysics by incorporating molecular qubits into biological macromolecules to enable controllable, fundamental studies of molecular coherence properties across a range of biochemical microenvironments and interfaces.