The Evans group does synthetic inorganic and organometallic chemistry with the rare earth elements, thorium, uranium, and bismuth. The group seeks to make new classes of complexes of these heavy metals to realize unusual properties relevant to quantum science. For six years, the group held the world record for synthesis of the best single-molecule magnet (SMM), a molecule that showed a new paradigm in SMM design. Recent studies to develop new oxidation states have provided new classes of molecules that can function as quantum bits, i.e. qubits. The group collaborates extensively with the Furche, Ho, and Wu groups.

Publications:

“Flash Communication: A Sc(II) Pentamethylcyclopentadienyl Complex Is Isolable as an Isocyanide Adduct by Dinitrogen Elimination.” Joshua D. Queen, Quinn E. Goudzwaard, Ahmadreza Rajabi, Joseph W. Ziller, Filipp Furche, and William J. Evans Organometallics 2025, 44, 2852–2856. DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.5c00431.

“A Linear Metallocene of Sc(II) Supported by [C₅Me₄(SiMe₂ᵗBu)]¹– Ligands.” Joseph Q. Nguyen, Ahmadreza Rajabi, Anthony J. Wang, Joseph W. Ziller, Filipp Furche, and William J. Evans Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147 (25), 21357–21362. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c07237.

“Four-electron oxidation and one-electron reduction of the bis(terphenylthiolate) U(II) complex, U(SArⁱPr₆)₂ [ArⁱPr₆ = C₆H₃-2,6-(C₆H₂-2,4,6-ⁱPr₃)₂].” Joshua D. Queen, Eric Ma, Ahmadreza Rajabi, Joseph W. Ziller, Filipp Furche, and William J. Evans Chemical Communications 2025, 61, 10319–10322. DOI: 10.1039/D5CC02284C.

“Redox Studies of the Scandium Metallocene (C₅H₂ᵗBu₃)₂Sc(II) Lead to a Terminal Side-On (N═N)²– Complex: [(C₅H₂ᵗBu₃)₂Sc(η²-N₂)].” Joshua D. Queen, Ahmadreza Rajabi, Joseph W. Ziller, Filipp Furche, and William J. Evans Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147 (14), 12138–12149. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c00607.

“Dinitrogen reduction chemistry with scandium provides a complex with two side-on (N═N)²– ligands bound to one metal: (C₅Me₅)Sc[(µ-η²:η²-N₂)Sc(C₅Me₅)₂]₂.” Joshua D. Queen, Ahmadreza Rajabi, Quinn E. Goudzwaard, Qiong Yuan, Dang Khoa Nguyen, Joseph W. Ziller, Filipp Furche, Zhenfeng Xi, and William J. Evans Chemical Science 2024, 15, 16069–16078. DOI: 10.1039/D4SC03977G.

“Synthesis, Structure, and Reactivity of a Sterically Demanding Scandium Metallocene Supported by a Bulky Cyclopentadienyl Ligand.” Joshua D. Queen, Ahmadreza Rajabi, Joseph W. Ziller, Filipp Furche, and William J. Evans Organometallics 2024, 43 (18), 2621–2628. DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.4c00240.