Biography
Professor Sevov received his B.S. and M.S. in chemistry in 1983 and 1985, respectively, from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria. In 1993, he obtained his Ph.D. from Iowa State University for research on synthesis and characterization of indium clusters in the solid state. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago, he joined the faculty at Notre Dame in 1995. Professor Sevov is a recipient of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award for 1995, and the Exxon Faculty Award in Solid State Chemistry for 1999.
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Research Interests
Chemistry of Main-Group Metals and Semimetals in Negative Oxidation States
The heavier members of Groups 14 and 15, both metals and semimetals, are known for their chemistry in various positive oxidation states. What we are interested in is how they behave when forced to accept electrons and become negatively charged, i.e. when in negative oxidation states. It turns out that such atoms tend to cluster together and form: nine-atom deltahedral clusters E94- for Si, Ge, Sn, and Pb; seven-atom species E73- for P, As, and Sb; etc. We have studied extensively the reactivity of Ge94- towards various reagents and have found, to our and many other people’s surprise, that they can be readily functionalized with various groups and form [R-Ge9-R]2- and [Ge9-R]3- for R = alkyl, alkenyl, main-group and transition-metal organometallic fragments, etc. Furthermore, they can oligo- and poly-merize to form dimers trimers, tetramers, and infinite chains, for example [Ge9-Ge9]6-, [Ge9=Ge9=Ge9]6-, and [-(Ge92-)-], and they can be centered by transition-metal atoms. The bismuth fragments, on the other hand, can react with various organometallic compounds and form mixed main-group/transition-metal clusters such as [Bi3Mo2(CO)6]3-, [Bi3Ni4(CO)6]3-, [Bi4Ni4(CO)6]2-, [Bi3Ni6(CO)9]3-, and the Ni-centered [Ni@{Bi6Ni6(CO)8}]4-.
Hydrothermal Exploratory Synthesis of Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials with Framework Structures
We are interested in compounds with open-framework structures as well as compounds that contain large multiatomic molecular anions built of transition-metal, borate, and phosphate or phosphonate groups. We have synthesized the first such open-framework borophosphate, CoB2P3O12(OH)•en where ethylenediamine (en) is the organic template, and the first borophosphate templated by a transition-metal complex, [Co(en)3][B2P3O11(OH)2]. Also, we have synthesized the first large borophosphate polyoxometalate, [MoV5MoVI7O30(BPO4)2(PO4)3(HPO4)3]8- and its phenyl-functionalized version [MoV5MoVI7O30(BPO4)2(Ph-PO4)6]5-. Other systems of interest include extended frameworks made of transition-metal centers connected by organic linkers with two or more functional groups such as di-phosphonates, carboxylate-phosphonates, boronate-phosphonates, carboxylate-boronates, etc.
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Recent Papers
 | Heteroatomic Deltahedral Zintl Ions of Group 14 and their Alkenylation, Miriam M. Gillett-Kunnath, Ivaylo Petrov, and Slavi C. Sevov Inorg. Chem. 2010, 49, 721 Link |
 | Isolated Co15 Clusters and Their Assembly into a 3D Network: Conformation-Directed Synthesis Gu, Z-G.; Sevov, S.C. Inorg. Chem. 2009, 48, 8066 Link |
 | Functionalization of Nine-Atom Deltahedral Zintl Ions with Organic Substituents: Detailed Studies of the Reactions, Michael W. Hull and Slavi C. Sevov J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 9026 Link |
 | "n-Doping" of Deltahedral Zintl Ions, Miriam M. Gillett-Kunnath, Allen G. Oliver, and Slavi C. Sevov J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 6560 Link |
 | Addition of a Thallium Vertex to Empty and Centered Nine-Atom Deltahedral Zintl Ions of Germanium and Tin, Daniel Rios, Miriam M. Gillett-Kunnath, Jacob D. Taylor, Allen G. Oliver, and Slavi C. Sevov Inorg. Chem. 2011, 50, 2373 Link |
 | The Elusive closo-Ge102- Zintl Ion: Finally "Captured" as a Ligand in the Complex [Ge10Mn(CO)4]3-, Daniel Rios and Slavi C. Sevov Inorg. Chem. 2010, 49, 6396 Link |
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