Isaac Mills, Ph.D.

Coad Science Building

BSEd, Secondary Science Education, Youngstown State University, 2010

M.S. Chemistry, Youngstown State University, 2012

PhD Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, 2017

Spectroscopic Society of Pittsburgh 2017 College Equipment Grant Recipient

Expertise

Catalysis, Transition metal chemistry, Photochemistry

Courses Taught

CHEM 100/101/102 Introductory Chemistry, General Chemistry I, General Chemistry II, and CHEM 420: Advanced Inorganic Chemistry

Research Interests

My research focuses on the design, synthesis, and evaluation of transition metal complexes for light-driven reactions. These complexes can be used to lower our dependence on fossil fuels either directly by producing solar fuels such as hydrogen, or indirectly by using light to transform industrial and pharmaceutical feedstock chemicals without the use of heat or harsh conditions. Currently, my lab is focused on three projects: 1) Enhancement of the photocatalytic properties of iridium(III) complexes, 2) The development of new photoredox catalysts, and 3) The development of teaching laboratory exercises and equipment to bring these techniques to less affluent areas.

Lab Members - Past

• Megan Suchewski
• Annie Kayser is student at Cornell pursuing a PhD in Chemistry.
• Bailie Shockley

Lab Members - Current

• Kerri Czeckner
• Nicholas Starvaggi was awarded the 2020 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, and was selected for a government REU at Las Alamos National Lab in 2019. Nick presented a poster at UMBC’s Undergraduate Research Symposium in 2019 where he received an award for his presentation. He, along with Brad Owen and Taylor Mensah have been published in the Journal of Chemical Education
• Brad Owen was awarded the 2020 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, and was selected for a competitive REU with AbbVie as part of the Franciscan Institute for World Health’s 2019 Neglected Diseases program. Brad presented a poster at UMBC’s Undergraduate Research Symposium in 2019 where he received an award for his presentation. He, along with Nick Starvaggi and Taylor Mensah have been published in the Journal of Chemical Education.
• Taylow Mensah
• Gary Rojewski
• John Johnson will be graduating this semester, and has been accepted to the University of Florida where he will begin studies toward a PhD in Chemistry.
• Jared Hampton
• Casey Spiridopoulos
• Molly Shipley
• Mary Yenca

“TCDuino: Development of an Inexpensive Microcontroller-Based Thermal Conductivity Detector for Quantification of Gas Mixtures.” B.A. Owen, N.S. Starvaggi, T.I. Mensah, I.N. Mills, Journal of Chemical Education. 2020. DOI:10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00977

“Judicious design of cationic, cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes for photochemical energy conversion and optoelectronics” I. N. Mills, J. A. Porras, S. Bernhard, Acc. Chem. Res., 2018, 51(2) 352-364.

Light-driven hydrogen generation from microemulsions using metallosurfactant catalysts and oxalic acid. H. N. Kagalwala; D. N. Chirdon; I. N. Mills, N. Budwal; S. Bernhard Inorg. Chem. 2017, acs.inorgchem.7b00463.

"Highly fluorinated Ir(III)-2,2?:6?,2?-terpyridine-phenylpyridine-X complexes via selective C-F activation" J. Porras, I. N. Mills, W. Transue, S. Bernhard, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138 (30), 9460Ð9472.

"Cyano-decorated ligands: a powerful alternative to fluorination for tuning the photochemical properties of cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes" I. N. Mills, H. N. Kagalwala, S. Bernhard, Dalton Trans., 2016, 45, 10411-10419.

"Visible light driven alcohol dehydrogenation using a rhodium catalyst" H. N. Kagalwala, A. B. Maurer, I. N. Mills, S. Bernhard, Chem. Cat. Chem. 2014, 6, 3018-3026.

"New Ir(III) 4,4?-dicyano-2,2?-bipyridine photosensitizers for solar fuel generation" I. N. Mills, H. N. Kagalwala, D. N. Chirdon, A. C. Brooks, S. Bernhard, Polyhedron 2014, 84, 104-108.

"Synthesis of a-D-glucopyranosyl azide: spectroscopic evidence for stereochemical inversion in the S_N2 reaction" O. G. Adesoye, I. N. Mills, D. P. Temelkoff, J. A. Jackson, and P. Norris, J. Chem. Ed. 2012, 89 (7), 943-945.