Tasiopoulos J. Anastasios

Biography

B.Sc. (Diploma) in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, Greece, 1995. Ph.D. in Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, Greece, 1999. Post-doctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611 Florida, USA, 2001-2003. Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, 2004-2008. Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, 2008-2013. Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, 2013- today.

Research Interest

  1. New Polynuclear Metal Clusters and Single Molecule Magnets Polynuclear clusters of paramagnetic metal ions continue to attract significant attention mainly due to their aesthetically pleasing structures and also their relevance to many areas including bioinorganic chemistry and materials science. The interest from the materials science point of view has been stimulated by the discovery that such molecules can function as single domain magnetic particles at low temperatures, displaying magnetization hysteresis and quantum tunneling of the magnetization. These molecules which have been termed Single Molecule Magnets (SMMs) have several potential applications including high density information storage in which each bit of information is stored as the magnetization orientation of an individual molecule, and as qubits for quantum computation. Dr. Tasiopoulosgroup, has been exploring various synthetic strategies for the isolation of new high nuclearity clusters with interesting magnetic properties. One of these strategies involves the use of 1,3-propanediol (H2pd) and its derivatives in Mn carboxylate chemistry. A large number of polynuclearMn clusters have been prepared with those ligands, both homometallic and heterometallicMn/M (M = a 3d metal ion) some of which also display very large nuclearity and size.In addition, the combination ofdiols with various oximes (a project that takes place in collaboration with the group of Professor Euan K. Brechin), resulted in the isolation of various interesting clusters with aesthetically pleasing structures and interesting magnetic properties. Other types of alcohol – containing ligands have also been used for the synthesis of 3d metal clusters, including various aromatic and aliphatic polyols and alsoaminoalcoholsresulting several polynuclear complexes possessing novel structural cores and magnetic properties.   2. New Multidimensional Coordination Polymers with interesting MagneticProperties Coordination polymers, which are one-, two- and three-dimensional structures made up of metal(s) – ligand(s), linked via covalent bonds or supramolecular connections (such as hydrogen bonds), continue to attract substantial interest. Their interesting structural, magnetic, optical, etc properties make them very promising candidates for technological applications in areas like catalysis, gas storage, magnetism, etc. In this research program we aim to prepare new multidimensional coordination polymers composed of either paramagnetic metal clusters linked with various bridging ligands, or 3d paramagnetic metal ions and one or more polytopic bridging ligands. Such compounds may display interesting magnetic properties [e.g. ferromagnetic exchange interactions, single – chain magnetism (SCM) behavior, etc] and structural characteristics (existence of large accessible internal surface area) that could make them promising candidates for technological/environmental applications (e.g. hydrogen storage, selective separation of greenhouse gases, etc). Our group has prepared and characterized several multidimensional coordination polymers based on metal clusters some of which also combine interesting magnetic properties.   3 .MOFs with gas sorption or/and SCSC solvent exchange properties Highly porous MOFs  One of the reasearch projects in Dr Tasiopoulos group involves the synthesis and study of the gas sorption properties of highly porous MOFs. For this purpose, we have designed and synthesized novel nanosized ligands, such as some tricarboxylic acids. We demonstrated the capability of these ligands to stabilize highly porous MOFs through the isolation of new nanoporous metal organic framework materials. MOFs that were prepared by employing a combination of polytopic ligands and chelating amino-alcohols Recently, we have initiated a research program that involves the synthesis of new MOFs using a combination of polytopic organic ligands typically leading to polymeric structures and various amino-alcohols that can act either as structure-directing agents or ligands. These investigations resulted in several new MOFs from reactions involving use of trimesic acid (H3btc) and various amino-alcohol ligands (Metal – Organic Aminoalcohol Frameworks (MOAAF), such as  triethanolamine 2-hydroxy-methyl-piperidine N-tert-butyl-diethanolamine, N-methyl-diethanolamine, hydroxyl-ethyl-morpholine or 1,4-bis-hydroxyethyl-piperazine. Although the structures of these new MOFs are based on the same polytopic ligand, they exhibit a remarkable diversity and unique structural-topological features that are clearly induced by the amino - alcohols. A new synthetic strategy towards novel MOFs is thus demonstrated. MOFs that are susceptible to Single-Crystal-to-Single-Crystal (SCSC) Transformations Another research project that was developed recently in our group involves the synthesis of new MOFs with Single-Crystal-to-Single-Crystal (SCSC) transformation properties.  Such post-synthetic modifications are particularly important, since they can afford MOFs with guest-induced properties and multiple functions or MOFs with fine-tuned properties.