B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1987 Hope College
Ph.D. 1993 University of Minnesota
NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow 1992-1995 Northwestern University
Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar Award 1998
NSF CAREER Award 1998

Fluoropolymers represent a rapidly growing area within the broader field of synthetic polymer chemistry.  Our group makes highly fluorinated aromatic polymers using novel synthetic methods that we develop in our laboratories.  These polymers have truly unique structure and are expected to provide a range of materials with useful physical and chemical properties.  Current projects include:

• Synthetic methodology for monomers
• Polymer synthesis and characterization
• Fluorous nanomaterials

Organometallic chemistry is the study of metal-carbon bonds and is therefore an "interdisciplinary" blend of organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry. Organometallic compounds have important applications in catalysis and in materials chemistry. We are specifically interested in the chemistry of metallocenes and related complexes. Current 

• The design of electron-withdrawing cyclopentadienyl ligands.
• The development of metallocene catalysts for olefin polymerization.
• The use of fluorine-19 NMR spectroscopy to study organometallic reaction mechanisms.

As one can see, our polymer synthesis and organometallic chemistry projects are bound together by a common theme:  Fluorine.

1. "Synthesis and Structure of Piano Stool Complexes Derived from the Tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)cyclopentadienyl Ligand." M. P. Thornberry, C. Slebodnick, P. A. Deck, and F. R. Fronczek. Organometallics 2001, 20, 920-926.
2. "Step-Growth Polymers Derived from Indene and Decafluorobiphenyl. A New Polymerization Mode for Indene." P. A. Deck and C. R. Maiorana." Macromolecules 2001, 34, 9-13.
3. "Structural and Electronic Effects of Pentafluorophenyl Substituents on Cyclopentadienyl Complexes of Fe, Co, Mn, and Re." M. P. Thornberry, C. Slebodnick, P. A. Deck, and F. R. Fronczek. Organometallics 2000, 19, 5352-5369.
4. "Influence of the Departing Group on the Electrophilic Cleavage of Silicon-Carbon Bonds Adjacent to Zirconocene Dichloride. Preparation of Electrophile-Functionalized Zirconocene Dibromides." Organometallics 2000, 19, 5404-5409.
5. "Selective Tin-Carbon Bond Cleavage Reactions of Trimethylstannylzirconocene Dichloride with Electrophiles." X. Cheng, C. Slebodnick, P. A. Deck, D. R. Billodeaux and F. R. Fronczek. Inorganic Chemistry 2000, 39, 4921-4926.