Professor Sally Brooker, Our people, Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, New Zealand

sally_brooker3 PhD, BSc(Hons) (Cant)

Tel: +64 3 479 7919
Location: Science II, 2c4
Email: sbrooker@chemistry.otago.ac.nz

Full information about my research group and research opportunities: http://otago.ac.nz/brooker

My research group is currently working in the following areas:

Designer heterocycle-containing and diphenylamine-containing ligands (including macrocycles) and coordination complexes: design, synthesis, crystal structure determinations, redox and magnetic properties.
Green catalysts for (a) generation of green hydrogen (C-zero fuel) from water and for (b) reduction of carbon dioxide to C-neutral fuels and commodity chemicals. Both are being studied under electrocatalytic (in collaboration with Associate Professor Aaron Marshall, Canterbury) and photocatalytic (solar fuels, in collaboration with Professor Garry Hanan, Montreal) conditions.
Spin crossover complexes – towards nanoswitches and memory devices. We measure magnetic data in house (and Mössbauer spectroscopy 4.6-300 K via in-house collaboration with Dr Guy Jameson).
Single Molecule Magnets (SMMs): one-pot self-assembly of soluble stable 3d-4f tetrametallic SMMs, by formation of a large organic Schiff-base macrocyclic ligands with differing coordination pockets, N₂O₂ for 3d and central O6 for 4f, and differing ring sizes (in collaboration with Prof Annie Powell, KIT; detailed magnetic studies with Dr Rodolphe Clerac, Bordeaux).
Immobilisation by attachment of magnetically or catalytically interesting complexes to nanoparticles (in-house collaboration with Associate Professor Carla Meledandri) or to other surfaces (in collaboration with Associate Professor Aaron Marshall, Canterbury).
Green polymerisation catalysts for (i) controlled polymerisation of rac-lactide (from biomass, not oil building blocks), and (ii) co-polymersiation of CO₂ with epoxide (in collaboration with Professor Charlotte Williams, Imperial College London).
Self-assembly of communicating arrays of transition metal ions – grids vs side-by-side complexes.
Functional models of the Mn₄Ca cluster, the oxygen evolving complex (OEC), otherwise known as the water oxidation catalyst (WOC) of green plants (2H₂O = O₂ + 4H+ + 4e-).
Lanthanide cages as a new generation of luminescent 'probes'.

Publications

Robb, M. G., & Brooker, S. (2023). Incorporation of switchable inorganic building blocks into heterometallic coordination polymers. Crystal Growth & Design. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1021/acs.cgd.2c01341

Brooker, S. (2022). German-New Zealand Green Hydrogen Centre: Research, networking and outreach. Proceedings of the 16th Otago Energy Research Centre (OERC) Symposium: An Equitable and Low-Cost Energy Transition. (pp. 21). Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/oerc/symposia

Hamonnet, J., Bennington, M. S., Johannessen, B., Hamilton, J., Brooksby, P. A., Brooker, S., … Marshall, A. T. (2022). Influence of carbon support on the pyrolysis of cobalt phthalocyanine for the efficient electroreduction of CO₂. ACS Catalysis, 12, 14571-14581. doi: 10.1021/acscatal.2c03929

Bouldi, N., Mannini, M., Retegan, M., Miller, R. G., Cahier, B., Sainctavit, P., … Brooker, S., & Juhin, A. (2022). XAS and XMCD reveal a cobalt(II) imide undergoes high-pressure-induced spin crossover. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 126, 5784-5792. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c00614

Bondì, L., Garden, A. L., Totti, F., Jerabek, P., & Brooker, S. (2022). Quantitative assessment of ligand substituent effects on σ- and π-contributions to Fe-N bonds in spin crossover Fe^II complexes. Chemistry: A European Journal. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1002/chem.202104314

Olguín, J., & Brooker, S. (2013). Spin-crossover in discrete polynuclear complexes. In M. A. Halcrow (Ed.), Spin-crossover materials: Properties and applications. (pp. 77-120). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781118519301.ch3

Chapter in Book - Research

Journal - Research Article

Singh, V., Abudayyeh, A. M., Robb, M. G., & Brooker, S. (2022). Mono-copper far more active than analogous di-copper complex for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Dalton Transactions. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1039/d2dt00141a

Journal - Research Article

Abudayyeh, A. M., Schott, O., Feltham, H. L. C., Hanan, G. S., & Brooker, S. (2021). Copper catalysts for photo- and electro-catalytic hydrogen production. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 8(4), 1015-1029. doi: 10.1039/d0qi01247e

Journal - Research Article

Bondì, L., Brooker, S., & Totti, F. (2021). Accurate prediction of pressure and temperature T_1/2 variation in solid state spin crossover by ab initio methods: The [Co-^II(dpzca)₂] case. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 9, 14256. doi: 10.1039/d1tc03467g

Journal - Research Article

Bondì, L., Rodríguez-Jiménez, S., Feltham, H. L. C., Garden, A. L., & Brooker, S. (2021). Probing the generality of spin crossover complex T_½ vs. ligand ¹⁵N NMR chemical shift correlations: Towards predictable tuning. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 8(22), 4846-4857. doi: 10.1039/d1qi00919b

Journal - Research Article

Rodríguez-Jiménez, S., Bennington, M. S., Akbarinejad, A., Tay, E. J., Chan, E. W. C., Wan, Z., Abudayyeh, A. M., … Gordon, K. C., … Brooker, S. (2021). Electroactive metal complexes covalently attached to conductive PEDOT films: A spectroelectrochemical study. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 13(1), 1301-1313. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c16317

Journal - Research Article

Singh, S., & Brooker, S. (2021). Correlations between ligand field Δ_o spin crossover T_1/2 and redox potential E_pa in a family of five dinuclear helicates. Chemical Science, 12, 10919. doi: 10.1039/d1sc01458g

Journal - Research Article

Bondì, L., Garden, A. L., Jerabek, P., Totti, F., & Brooker, S. (2020). Quantitative and chemically intuitive evaluation of the nature of M-L bonds in paramagnetic compounds: Application of EDA-NOCV theory to spin crossover complexes. Chemistry: A European Journal, 26, 13677-13685. doi: 10.1002/chem.202002146

Journal - Research Article

Dhers, S., Wilson, R. K., Rouzieres, M., Clérac, R., & Brooker, S. (2020). A one-dimensional coordination polymer assembled from a macrocyclic Mn(III) single-molecule magnet and terephthalate. Crystal Growth & Design, 20, 1538-1542. doi: 10.1021/acs.cgd.9b01269

Journal - Research Article

Miller, R. G., Warren, M. R., Allan, D. R., & Brooker, S. (2020). Direct crystallographic observation of CO₂ captured in zig zag channels of a copper(I) metal-organic framework. Inorganic Chemistry, 59, 6376-6381. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c00471

Journal - Research Article

Rinck, J., Kitchen, J. A., Carter, A. B., Lan, Y., Anson, C. E., Fink, K., Brooker, S., & Powell, A. K. (2020). Di- and tri-nuclear V^III and Cr^III complexes of dipyridyltriazoles: Ligand rearrangements, mixed valency and ferromagnetic coupling. Frontiers in Chemistry, 8, 540. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.00540

Journal - Research Article

Singh, S., & Brooker, S. (2020). Extension of azine-triazole synthesis to azole-triazoles reduces ligand field, leading to spin crossover in tris-L Fe^II. Inorganic Chemistry, 59(2), 1265-1273. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b02993

Journal - Research Article

Sundaresan, S., Kitchen, J. A., & Brooker, S. (2020). Hydrophobic tail length in spin crossover active iron(II) complexes predictably tunes T_½ in solution and enables surface immobilisation. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 7, 2050-2059. doi: 10.1039/C9QI01478K

Journal - Research Article

Dhers, S., Feltham, H. L. C., Rouzières, M., Clérac, R., & Brooker, S. (2019). Discrete versus chain assembly: Hexacyanometallate linkers and macrocyclic {3d-4f} single-molecule magnet building blocks. Inorganic Chemistry, 58, 5543-5554. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b03455

Journal - Research Article

McPherson, J. N., Hogue, R. W., Akogun, F. S., Bondì, L., Luis, E. T., Price, J. R., Garden, A. L., Brooker, S., & Colbran, S. B. (2019). Predictable substituent control of Co^III/II redox potential and spin crossover in Bis(dipyridylpyrrolide)cobalt complexes. Inorganic Chemistry, 58(3), 2218-2228. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b03457

Journal - Research Article

Rodríguez-Jiménez, S., & Brooker, S. (2019). Qualitative guest sensing via iron(II) triazole complexes. Inorganic Chemistry, 58, 8188-8197. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b01006

Journal - Research Article

Rodríguez-Jiménez, S., Bondì, L., Yang, M., Garden, A. L., & Brooker, S. (2019). Predictable electronic tuning by choice of azine substituent in five iron(II) triazoles: Redox properties and DFT calculations. Chemistry: An Asian Journal, 14, 1158-1166. doi: 10.1002/asia.201801537

Journal - Research Article

Singh, S., Hogue, R. W., Feltham, H. L. C., & Brooker, S. (2019). Dinuclear helicate and tetranuclear cage assembly using appropriately designed ditopic triazole-azine ligands. Dalton Transactions, 48, 15435. doi: 10.1039/c9dt01890e

Journal - Research Article

Wilson, R. K., Dhers, S., Sproules, S., McInnes, E. J. L., & Brooker, S. (2019). Three manganese complexes of anionic N₄-donor Schiff-base macrocycles: Monomeric Mn^II and Mn^III, and dimeric Mn^IV. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 72, 805-810. doi: 10.1071/CH19209

Journal - Research Article

Balinski, K., Schneider, L., Wöllermann, J., Buling, A., Joly, L., Piamonteze, C., … Feltham, H. L. C., Brooker, S., … Kuepper, K. (2018). Element specific determination of the magnetic properties of two macrocyclic tetranuclear 3d-4f complexes with a Cu₃Tb core by means of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 20(33), 21286-21293. doi: 10.1039/c7cp08689j

Journal - Research Article

Feltham, H. L. C., Clérac, R., Peng, Y., Moreno-Pineda, E., Powell, A. K., & Brooker, S. (2018). The effect of modifying the macrocyclic ring size on Zn₃Ln (Ln = Dy, Er, and Yb) single-molecule magnet behavior. Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie, 644(14), 775-779. doi: 10.1002/zaac.201800155

Journal - Research Article

Feltham, H. L. C., Cowan, M. G., Kitchen, J. A., Jameson, G. N. L., & Brooker, S. (2018). Targeted structural modification of spin crossover complexes: Pyridine vs pyrazine. Supramolecular Chemistry, 30(4), 296-304. doi: 10.1080/10610278.2017.1358449

Journal - Research Article

Feltham, H. L. C., Dankhoff, K., Meledandri, C. J., & Brooker, S. (2018). Towards dual-functionality spin-crossover complexes. ChemPlusChem, 83(7), 582-589. doi: 10.1002/cplu.201700512

Journal - Research Article

Hogue, R. W., Lepper, C. P., Jameson, G. B., & Brooker, S. (2018). Manipulating and quantifying spin states in solution as a function of pressure and temperature. Chemical Communications, 54(2), 172-175. doi: 10.1039/c7cc08104a

Journal - Research Article

Hogue, R. W., Schott, O., Hanan, G. S., & Brooker, S. (2018). A smorgasbord of 17 new cobalt complexes active in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Chemistry: A European Journal, 24(39), 9820-9832. doi: 10.1002/chem.201800396

Journal - Research Article

Karabulut, F. N. H., Feltham, H. L. C., & Brooker, S. (2018). Substituents drive ligand rearrangements, giving dinuclear rather than mononuclear complexes, and tune Co^II/III redox potential. Dalton Transactions, 47, 11749-11759. doi: 10.1039/c8dt01502c

Journal - Research Article

Malthus, S. J., Cameron, S. A., & Brooker, S. (2018). Improved access to 1,8-diformyl-carbazoles leads to metal-free carbazole-based [2 + 2] Schiff base macrocycles with strong turn-on fluorescence sensing of zinc(II) ions. Inorganic Chemistry, 57(5), 2480-2488. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b02763

Journal - Research Article

Rodríguez-Jiménez, S., Barltrop, A. S., White, N. G., Feltham, H. L. C., & Brooker, S. (2018). Solvent polarity predictably tunes spin crossover T_1/2 in isomeric iron(II) pyrimidine triazoles. Inorganic Chemistry, 57(11), 6266-6282. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b00128

Journal - Research Article

Bennington, M. S., Feltham, H. L. C., Buxton, Z. J., White, N. G., & Brooker, S. (2017). Tuneable reversible redox of cobalt(III) carbazole complexes. Dalton Transactions, 46(14), 4696-4710. doi: 10.1039/c7dt00295e

Journal - Research Article

Feltham, H. L. C., Barltrop, A. S., & Brooker, S. (2017). Spin crossover in iron(II) complexes of 3,4,5-tri-substituted-1,2,4-triazole (Rdpt), 3,5-di-substituted-1,2,4-triazolate (dpt^–), and related ligands. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 344, 26-53. doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2016.10.006

Journal - Research Article

Feltham, H. L. C., Dumas, C., Mannini, M., Otero, E., Sainctavit, P., Sessoli, R., Meledandri, C. J., & Brooker, S. (2017). Proof of principle: Immobilisation of robust Cu^II₃Tb^III-macrocycles on small, suitably pre-functionalised gold nanoparticles. Chemistry: A European Journal, 23(11), 2517-2521. doi: 10.1002/chem.201604821

Journal - Research Article

Hogue, R. W., Dhers, S., Hellyer, R. M., Luo, J., Hanan, G. S., Larsen, D. S., Garden, A. L., & Brooker, S. (2017). Self-assembly of cyclohelicate [M₃L₃] triangles over [M₄L₄] squares, despite near-linear bis-terdentate L and octahedral M. Chemistry: A European Journal, 23(57), 14193-14199. doi: 10.1002/chem.201702153

Journal - Research Article

Malthus, S. J., Wilson, R. K., Aggarwal, A. V., Cameron, S. A., Larsen, D. S., & Brooker, S. (2017). Carbazole-based N₄-donor Schiff base macrocycles: Obtained metal free and as Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes. Dalton Transactions, 46(10), 3141-3149. doi: 10.1039/c6dt04598g

Journal - Research Article

Rodríguez-Jiménez, S., & Brooker, S. (2017). Solid versus solution spin crossover and the importance of the Fe-N≡C(X) angle. Inorganic Chemistry, 56, 13697-13708. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01338

Journal - Research Article

Rodríguez-Jiménez, S., Yang, M., Stewart, I., Garden, A. L., & Brooker, S. (2017). A simple method of predicting spin state in solution. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139(50), 18392-18396. doi: 10.1021/jacs.7b11069

Journal - Research Article

Dhers, S., Feltham, H. L. C., Rouzières, M., Clérac, R., & Brooker, S. (2016). Macrocyclic {3d-4f} SMMs as building blocks for 1D-polymers: Selective bridging of 4f ions by use of an O-donor ligand. Dalton Transactions, 45, 18089-18093. doi: 10.1039/c6dt03734h

Journal - Research Article

Hogue, R. W., Feltham, H. L. C., Miller, R. G., & Brooker, S. (2016). Spin crossover in dinuclear N₄S₂ Iron(II) thioether-triazole complexes: Access to [HS-HS], [HS-LS], and [LS-LS] States. Inorganic Chemistry, 55(9), 4152-4165. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.5b02851

Journal - Research Article

Janzen, D. E., Juchum, M., Presow, S. R., Ronson, T. K., Mohr, W., Clérac, R., Feltham, H. L. C., & Brooker, S. (2016). Trigonal (-3) symmetry octahedral lanthanide(III) complexes of zwitterionic tripodal ligands: Luminescence and magnetism. Supramolecular Chemistry, 28(1-2), 125-140. doi: 10.1080/10610278.2015.1102264

Journal - Research Article

Malthus, S. J., Cameron, S. A., & Brooker, S. (2016). First row transition metal complexes of di-o-substituted-diarylamine-based ligands (including carbazoles, acridines and dibenzoazepines). Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 316, 125-161. doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2016.02.006

Journal - Research Article

Malthus, S. J., Wilson, R. K., Larsen, D. S., & Brooker, S. (2016). Acridine-based ligands from cobalt(II) mediated rearrangement of diphenylamine-based starting materials. Supramolecular Chemistry, 28(1-2), 98-107. doi: 10.1080/10610278.2015.1091458

Journal - Research Article

Miller, R. G., & Brooker, S. (2016). Reversible quantitative guest sensing via spin crossover of an iron(II) triazole. Chemical Science, 7(4), 2501-2505. doi: 10.1039/c5sc04583e

Journal - Research Article

Miller, R. G., Southon, P. D., Kepert, C. J., & Brooker, S. (2016). Commensurate CO₂ capture, and shape selectivity for HCCH over H₂CCH₂, in zigzag channels of a robust Cu^I(CN)(L) metal—organic framework. Inorganic Chemistry, 55(12), 6195-6200. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b00813

Journal - Research Article

Rodríguez-Jiménez, S., Feltham, H. L. C., & Brooker, S. (2016). Non-porous iron(II)-based sensor: Crystallographic insights into a cycle of colorful guest-induced topotactic transformations. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55(48), 15067-15071. doi: 10.1002/anie.201608813

Journal - Research Article

Thevenon, A., Romain, C., Bennington, M. S., White, A. J. P., Davidson, H. J., Brooker, S., & Williams, C. K. (2016). Dizinc lactide polymerization catalysts: Hyperactivity by control of ligand conformation and metallic cooperativity. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55(30), 8680-8685. doi: 10.1002/anie.201602930

Journal - Research Article

White, N. G., & Brooker, S. (2016). New complexation behaviour of the potentially bis-terdentate triazole based ligands PMAT and PMPT: Fe^III₄ oxo-bridged metallomacrocycles. Polyhedron, 103(Part B), 283-287. doi: 10.1016/j.poly.2015.03.034

Journal - Research Article

Brooker, S. (2015). Spin crossover with thermal hysteresis: Practicalities and lessons learnt. Chemical Society Reviews, 44, 2880-2892. doi: 10.1039/c4cs00376d

Journal - Research Article

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