I am a third year graduate student at (obviously) the University of Rochester. I recieved my B.S. in Chemistry in 1996 from the University of Washington in Seattle. My undergraduate research was done with Jim Mayer, developing new synthetic routes to various Tp*ReO alkyl, aryl and alkoxy complexes. Some of this research was recently published in Organometallics. If you've got Adobe's Acrobat Reader installed, you can check it out - otherwise you'll have to hoof it to the library.

I'm currently living in Rochester with my lovely wife Marla , enjoying the lilacs and generally having a grand ol' time. When I'm not in the lab, I enjoy wasting my time playing Quake with a group of friends known as Clan CNN or watching the greatest show on earth with Marla - The Simpsons. (Of course, you'll want to visit the Flash-enhanced site.) Other things I like: trees, rocks, music, food, sleeping, blah, blah, blah...

My research here in the Jones lab again involves the use of of pyrazolylborate metal complexes. I'm studying carbon-hydrogen bond activation using tris(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)borate rhodium isocyanide complexes. Recently I discovered that there was a direct correlation between the hapticity of the ligand and its chemical shift in the boron NMR. A manuscript has been submitted to Organometallics. This research was the subject of my recent candidacy exam - which I passed.

The graph below shows dramatically how well the boron NMR data and B-H stretching frequency correlate with the hapticity of the ligand

I'm hoping to extend the correlation a little more by moving to earlier metals, with a couple of tris(pyrazolyl)borate rhenium imido complexes studied by the Mayer group next in line for examination. I also hope to actually do a bit of C-H bond activation eventualy. <grin>

In typical nerd fashion I've tried to combine two intrests of mine: the Internet and chemistry. The result is a small VRML file for you to enjoy of my first x-ray crystal structure. It looks pretty sharp, if I don't say so myself. Check out a virtual molecule of Tp*Rh(ethylene)(neopentylisocyanide).

"Fluoride Reactions with Hydrotris(pyrazolyl)borate Rhenium Oxo Complexes: Re-F vs B-F Bond Formation." Darin D. Dumez, Todd. O. Northcutt, Yoshihiro Matano, and James M. Mayer. Inorg. Chem. 1999, 38, 3309-3312. "11B NMR: A New Tool for the Determination of the Hapticity of Trispyrazolylborate Ligands." Todd O. Northcutt, Rene J. Lachicotte and William D. Jones Organometallics 1998, 17, 5148-5152. "Carbon-Hydrogen and Carbon-Carbon Bond Actication of Cyclopropane by a Hydridotrispyrazolylborate Rhodium Complex." Douglas D. Wick, Todd O. Northcutt, Rene J. Lachicotte and William D. Jones Organometallics 1998, 17, 4484-4492. "Syntheis and Reactions of Rhenium(V) Oxo-Hydride Complexes." Yoshihiro Matano, Seth N. Brown, Todd O. Northcutt and James M. Mayer. Organometallics 1998, 17, 2939-2941.

If you need to get in touch with me, here's all the information you'll need for voice, US mail and e-mail. Want to have a look at my resume? Enjoy it, sparse as it is.

Todd Northcutt Department of Chemistry University of Rochester Rochester NY 14627

Phone: (716) 275-6768 e-mail: tono@uhura.cc.rochester.edu Lab: Hutchison Hall B46 Office: Hutchison Hall B42