Eric Deguns

Ph.D. 2006 - Chemistry (Inorganic)

H.B.Sc. Chemistry 2001
B.Sc. Biology and Chemistry 2000
Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON Canada

ESB 3127
University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080
edeguns@engineering.ucsb.edu

(805) 893-7403 (office)
(805) 893-4363 (lab)

Research Project

My project involves the structure determination of oxide supported organometallic fragments using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Elucidating the structure of supported metal species is key to understanding the presence of contaminants in chemical vapour deposition of thin films and correlating stucture to reactivity in heterogeneous catalytic systems. Although extemely powerful, conventional spectroscopies can sometime lack detailed structural information that can be gained by using XAS on well defined heterogeneous materials. We employ a variety of techniques, including FT-IR, SS-NMR, UV-Vis and quantitation methods, to study materials before characterization via XAS.

Research sponsored by:

Posters Presented / Conferences Attended
Eric W. Deguns "Metal-Support Interactions in Supported Catalysts for Olefin Polymerization: Insight from Low Temperature XAS" 32nd Annual Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) Users Meeting, Oct. 17-19, 2005. Stanford University: Menlo Park, CA USA. (Invited talk)
Eric W. Deguns and Susannah L. Scott "Investigation of Silica-Supported Zr- and Hf-metallocenes". 3rd Annual University of California Symposium on Surface Science and Its Applications, Mar. 3-4, 2005. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Berkeley, CA USA.
Eric W. Deguns, George D. Meitzner, Susannah L. Scott. "XAS Evidence of Silica-Interactions with Supported Transition Metal Chlorides". 31st Annual Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) Users Meeting, Oct 20-22nd, 2004. Stanford University: Menlo Park, CA USA. (Outstanding Graduate Student Poster - Materials Science)
Deguns, E. W.; Scott, S. L. "XAS Investigation of Transition Metal Alkylidenes". 11th International Symposium on Relations Between Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis, July 20-25th, 2003. Northwestern University: Evanston, IL USA.
Deguns, E. W.; Taha, Z.; Scott, S. L.; Meitzner, G. D. "Characterization of Silica-Supported Vanadium Complexes Using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy" Inorganic Discussion Weekend, October 25-27th, 2002. McGill University/Universitede Montreal: Montreal, PQ, Canada.

Publications
Susannah L. Scott and Eric W. Deguns, 2003, Multifunctional Active Sites on Silica Surfaces by Grafting of Metal Complexes, in "Nanostructured Catalysts", S. L. Scott, C. M. Crudden and C. W. Jones, Eds, Kluwer/Plenum: New York, pp. 1-14.
Meitzner, G.; Gardea-Torresdey, J.; Parsons, J.; Scott, S. L.; Deguns, E. W. "The Effect of Cryogenic Sample Cooling on X-ray Absorption Spectra", Microchem. J. 2005, 81(1), 61-68.
Deguns, E. W.; Taha, Z.; Meitzner, G. D.; Scott, S. L. "An X-ray Absorption Study of Two VOCl3-modified Silicas: Evidence for Chloride-Silica Interactions" J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 5005-5011.
Taha, Z. A.; Deguns, E. W.; Chattopdahyay, S.; Scott, S. L. "Dinuclear Sites are Formed in the Reaction of Trimethylgallium with Silica", submitted.
Deguns, E. W.; Taha, Z.; Meitzner, G. D.; Scott, S. L. " Structure of Silica Supported TiCl4: Effect of Pretreatment Conditions on Site Nuclearity", in preparation.

Undergraduate Work
Kinrade, S. D.; Deguns, E. W.; Gillson, A.-M. E.; Knight, C. T. G. "Aqueous Hypervalent Silicon Complexes with Furanodic Vicinal Cis-diols" J. Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans. 2003, 3713-3716.
Knight, C. T. G.; Gillson, A.-M. E.; Deguns, E. W.; Kinrade, S. D. "The aqueous chemistry of organosilicate complexes." Second Silicon in Agriculture Conference, Tsuruoka, Japan, Aug. 22, 2002.
Knight, C. T. G.; Gillson, A.-M. E.; Deguns, E. W.; Kinrade, S. D. "Organosilicates in nature." Second Silicon in Agriculture Conference, Tsuruoka, Japan, Aug. 22, 2002
Deguns, E. W.; Gillson, A.-M. E.; Hamilton, R. J.; Knight, C. T. G.; Kinrade, S. D. "Direct evidence of silicon biochemistry." The Fourth Keele Meeting on Aluminium, Stoke-on-Trent, Feb. 24, 2001.