Bryan Nell publishes research in scientific journal

Bryan Nell, assistant professor of chemistry at Ripon College, recently published a paper in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Acta Crystallographica Section E about a new X-ray crystal structure of a compound he synthesized.

The paper, “Synthesis and crystal structure of sodium (ethane- 1,2-diyl)bis[(3-methoxypropyl)phosphinodithiolate] octahydrate,” details a new molecule that has never been reported with its solid state structure, which is often found by a technique called single crystal X-ray diffraction.

“We were building a larger molecule containing phosphorus around a copper ion, and our plan was to take the copper out to put a different metal in,” said Nell, who received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Ripon College in 2009. “During the course of the reaction, the subject of this paper was a serendipitous molecule that we were able to collect and characterize.”

Nell’s contribution to this paper was synthesizing the molecule and writing the manuscript along with Dean Johnston, a chemistry professor and crystallographer from Otterbein University. Johnston helped interpret the original data and write the manuscript.

Other collaborators include David R. Tyler and Lev Zakarov from the University of Oregon, now both retired. Zakarov was the original crystallographer who gathered the data and Tyler was Nell’s Ph.D. mentor. While the original data for this paper was collected when Nell was a graduate student at the University of Oregon, the group only recently analyzed and interpreted the data.

“We had been working on a project and this molecule turned out to actually be a bit of a disappointment, as it was not our target molecule of interest,” Nell said. “So, it kind of sat by the wayside for a while. It wasn’t until I recently found the data again that we decided to finish the analysis and get this molecule out into the world.”

Nell is a synthetic inorganic chemist by training.

“I work with phosphorus-containing molecules and how they interact with various metals, like platinum, palladium and — in the case of this paper — copper,” Nell said. “In my lab, we focus on making new compounds, usually incorporating phosphorus atoms, and exploring how they interact with transition metals.”

Nell said this project is a reminder that even disappointments, like this molecule, can be opportunities to learn.

“I was able to learn more about the world of crystallography with this paper, information that I can share with my students, particularly my inorganic chemistry students,” Nell said. “I also learned more about the writing and publishing process in chemistry.”