Dr. Ralph Zehnder

• Postdoctoral: Los Alamos National Laboratory (2003-2005)
• Ph.D., (2003) University of Siegen, Siegen Germany
• M.S., (1999) University of Siegen, Siegen German

General Chemistry I&II - CHEM 1311/1111 & 1312/1112

Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry - CHEM 3301

1. My research interests target the field of f-element chemistry with a focus on the lanthanide elements. This research area is expected to provide more insight into the complex nature of the f-elements in general, which commonly allows conclusions to be drawn for the actinide elements in particular. Actinide chemistry is a relatively young but very important field in the natural sciences, and a great deal of research in this area remains to be done. Some of the trans-plutonium actinides and the lanthanides exhibit great similarities in their chemistry due to their preferred occurrence in the trivalent oxidation state and their closely related ionic radii. Therefore, it has been common practice to utilize the lanthanide elements as surrogates for the radioactive actinide elements in basic research. This approach bears the great advantage that this type of work can be done without the strict safety requirements for work with radioactive material that are met only at a limited number of institutions. New insight gained in the lanthanide and actinide science arena may have implications for the advancement of nuclear fuel reprocessing, the long term sequestration and storage of spent nuclear fuel, and solving technical challenges in nuclear chemistry.

1. Conversion of Lanthanide Glutarate Chlorides with Interstitial THF into Lanthanide Glutarates with unprecedented Topologies, Zehnder, R.A.; Jenkins, J.; Zeller, M.; Dempsey, C.; Kozimor, S.A.; Jackson, G.; Gilbert, K.; Smith, M.; Inorg. Chim. Acta 2018, 471, 502−512
2. Stress Compensation in an extended Series of Lanthanide Sulfonatoterephthalates [Ln(TPSO3)(H2O)2]n (Ln = Ce – Lu, except Pm), Hernandez, A.; Jenkins, J.; Maslen, H.; Horner, G.; Zeller, M.; Dempsey, C.; Urteaga, J.; Zehnder, R.A.; Inorg. Chim. Acta 2018, 471, 104−112
3. Network Dimensionality of Selected Uranyl(VI) Coordination Polymers and Octopus like Uranium(IV) Clusters, Zehnder, R.A.; Boncella, J.M.; Cross, J.N.; Kozimor, S.A.; Monreal, M.J.; La Pierre, H.S.; Scott, B.L.; Tondreau, A.M.; Zeller, M; Cryst. Growth Des. 2017, 17, 5568−5582
4. Strain Alleviation in an Isomorphous Series of Lanthanide 2-nitroterephthalates [Ln2(TPNO2)3(H2O)2]•2H2O (Ln = Pr – Lu, except Pm), Zehnder, R.A.; Fontaine, N.; Mouawad, B.A.; Leonard, J.K.; Zeller, M.; Fronczek, F.R.; de Lill, D.T.; Ballard, A.; Bonnette, D.;* Head, A.; Ghimire, K.; Welch, J.N.; Barber, E.R.; Murray, J.M.; Dempsey, C.; Jenkins, J.; Jackson, G.; Tokunboh, M.; Bach, S.R.; Treadway Harris, J.R.; Inorg. Chim. Acta 2017, 467, 276–286
5. Covalency in Lanthanides. An X‑ray Absorption Spectroscopy and Density Functional Study of LnCl6bx− (x = 3, 2), Löble, M.W.; Keith, J.M.; Altman, A.B.;bStieber, S.C.E.; Batista, E.R.; Boland, K.S.; Conradson, S.D.; Clark, D.L.;bPacheco, J.L.; Kozimor, S.A.; Martin, R.L.; Minasian, S.G.; Olson, A.C.; Scott B.L.; Shuh, D.K.; Tyliszczak, T.; Wilkerson, M.P.; Zehnder, R.A.; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, (7), 2506–2523