go to UNSW home page
UNSW logo School of Chemistry Home Page
> Contacts   > Sitemap
About the School divider Research divider Graduate Study divider Undergraduate Study divider High School Resources

Staff Profiles

Ian Dance

 

Ian Gordon Dance

M.Sc. Syd., Ph.D. Manc., CChem, FRACI, FAA
Emeritus Professor
E-mail: i.dance@unsw.edu.au

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

Born 1940. Ph.D. Manchester University. Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., USA, 1968-1974. At UNSW: Lecturer (1975), Senior Lecturer (1976), Associate Professor (1981), Professor (1986). and New Zealand 1993/4; Panel member of the Australian Research Council 1995-1997; Burrows Lecturer, RACI, 1996. Fellow of the Australian Academy 1997. Albright and Wilson lecturer, University of Warwick, July 1999; 3M lecturer, University of Western Ontario, May 2000. Emeritus Professor (2002).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Current research is in four main areas:
1. Gas phase inorganic chemistry. Using laser ablation and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry, unprecedented inorganic compounds of type [MxEy]+/- can be generated and trapped in the gas phase. For example, the laser ablation of CoS yields 83 new molecules [CoxSy]- ranging in size up to [Co38S24]-. These new molecules (many hundreds of them, also as phosphides, oxides, carbides, cyanides) are then reacted with key reactants such as hydrocarbons, S8, H2S, thiols, P4, and PH3. This research has two main aims: (1) discovery of new inorganic molecules and reactions, and (2) development of a broad understanding of the patterns and principles of structure and reactivity for fundamental inorganic molecules in the absence of the ameliorating effects of solvation. The mass spectrometry is benefiting from a major expansion in 1998 of the available ion generation techniques and the scope of the experiments possible. These projects are supported by density functional calculations.
2. Supramolecular inorganic chemistry. This research investigates supramolecular interactions between inorganic molecules: it is stimulated by and seeks to answer the large and difficult question "how can we reliably predict the geometrical arrangements and energies of the supramolecular associations of molecules with the diversity of surfaces which occur in inorganic and organometallic chemistry?" The research is premised on the view that "a molecular crystal is a supramolecular entity par excellence", and uses the crystallographic data on ca 170,000 crystals in the Cambridge structural database, supplemented by our own crystallographic studies of key compounds. Recognition of the elaborate and concerted supramolecular motifs which determine the crystal structures of compounds containing Ph4P+, MePh3P+ or Ph3P leads us to the crystal engineering of metal containing compounds.
3. Bio-inorganic chemistry. The enzyme nitrogenase catalyses the reduction of one of the most inert molecules, N2, under mild conditions far more efficient than the industrial process, at an active site which is a metal sulfide cluster - Fe7MoS9(cysteine)(homocitrate)(histidine). Using density functional calculations, a full description of the electronic and geometric structure of this site has been developed, together with details of the binding of N2, H2 and other substrates. Probable rearrangement processes during this remarkable catalytic process are being explored. The yeast Candida glabrata detoxifies Cd by generating a CdS nanocrystallite coated and stabilised with peptides. In collaboration with experimental biochemists at the University of Queensland, the structures of these biogenic photoresponsive quantum dots are being modelled. In the same collaboration the structure of the Menkes protein involved in irregular Cu metabolism is being modelled.
4. Computational inorganic chemistry. Contemporary computational chemistry is powerful, and can now be applied to large molecules and molecules with large atoms, encompassing the diversity of inorganic compounds and reactions. The methods of (1) density functional theory, (2) molecular mechanics, and (3) the combination of a quantum engine and force field methods, together with excellent supercomputing facilities, enable us to tackle numerous problems with confidence. Particular emphasis is on the elucidation of the mechanisms of inorganic reactions.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • Metal Chalcogenide Cluster Chemistry, Progress in Inorganic Chemistry, 41, 637-803, (1994)
  • Supramolecular Inorganic Chemistry, in Perspectives in Supramolecular Chemistry, edited by G. Desiraju, John Wiley, ch 5, pp 137-233, (1995)
  • Calculated Details of a Mechanism for Conversion of N2 to NH3 at the FeMo Cluster of Nitrogenase, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Comm., 165-166, (1997)
  • Understanding structure and reactivity of new fundamental inorganic molecules: metal sulfides, metallocarbohedrenes, and nitrogenase. Chemical Communications, 523-530, (1998)
  • A short but weak Cu-Cu interaction in [Cu2Br5]2-, a crystal engineered (Cu+1.5)2 confacial bitetrahedral complex, Caitlin Horn, Ian Dance, Don Craig, Marcia Scudder and Graham Bowmaker, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 120, 10549-10550 (1998)
  • Crystal supramolecular motifs: two-dimensional grids of terpy embraces in [ML2]z complexes (L = terpy or aromatic-N3-tridentate ligand), Marcia L. Scudder, Harold A. Goodwin and Ian G. Dance, New J. Chem., 23, 695-705, 1999
  • Structural Variability of the Active Site of Fe-only Hydrogenase and its Hydrogenated Forms, Ian Dance, Chemical Communications, 1655-1656 (1999)
  • Crystal supramolecular motifs in trimorphs of [Fe(phen)3] I12. Caitlin Horn, Marcia Scudder and Ian Dance, CrystEngComm, 2000, 9, 1-14
  • Supramolecular potentials and embraces for fluorous aromatic molecules. Susan Lorenzo, Gareth R. Lewis and Ian Dance, New J. Chem., 24, 295-304 (2000)
  • Supramolecular assemblies of quaternary ammonium cations and halide anions in the gas phase: ESMS-FTICR data and computer modelling. Catrin Hasselgren, Keith Fisher, Susan Jagner and Ian Dance, Chem. Eur. J., 6, 3671-3678 (2000)
  • Crystal structures, crystal packing and supramolecular motifs in [Fe(phen)3]I14 and [M(phen)3]I18 (M = Fe, Ni): complementary orthogonality of [M(phen)3]2+ cations and polyiodide anions, Caitlin Horn, Marcia Scudder and Ian Dance, CrystEngComm, 2001, 002, 1-6
  • The crystal supramolecularity of metal phenanthroline complexes. Vanessa Russell, Marcia Scudder, and Ian Dance, J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Transactions, 2001, 789-799
  • The first endoannular metal halide-cucurbituril: cis-SnCl4(OH2)2@cucurbit[7]uril. Susan Lorenzo, Anthony Day, Don Craig, Rodney Blanch, Alan Arnold and Ian Dance, CrystEngComm., 2001, 49, 1-7
  • Coordination and Dehydrogenation of PH3 by 23 Transition Metal Ions in the Gas Phase: FTICR Experiments and Density Functional Interpretations. Hugh Harris, Keith Fisher and Ian Dance, Inorg. Chem., 40, 6972-6982 (2001)
  • A Cucurbituril-based Gyroscane: a new supramolecular form. Anthony Day, Rodney J. Blanch, Alan P. Arnold, Susan Lorenzo, Gareth R. Lewis and Ian Dance, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 41, 275-277 (2002)
  • Three-coordinate [Cu(II)X3]- (X = Cl, Br), trapped in a molecular crystal. Catrin Hasselgren, Susan Jagner, and Ian Dance, Chem. Eur. J., 8, 1269-1278 (2002)
  • The hydrogen chemistry of the FeMo-co active site of nitrogenase. Ian Dance, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 127, 10925-10942 (2005)
  • Mechanistic significance of the preparatory migration of hydrogen atoms around the FeMoco active site of nitrogenase,  Ian Dance, Biochemistry, 45, 6328-6340 (2006)
  • The mechanistically significant coordination chemistry of dinitrogen at FeMo-co, the catalytic site of nitrogenase. Ian Dance, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 129, 1076-1088 (2007).  http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja0644428
  • Elucidating the Coordination Chemistry and Mechanism of Biological Nitrogen Fixation.  Ian Dance, Chem. Asian J., 2, 936-946 (2007).  http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asia.200700131

Full publication list (PDF file).