Education
1986 Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
1982 M.A., State University of New York at Buffalo
1981 B.S., State University of New York at Buffalo

Research Interests

The research interests of Prof. Kirss and his group lie in the application of organometallic compounds to organic and materials synthesis.  Projects are underway in three areas. 

1) Investigation of ruthenium (II) compounds bearing pentadienyl and cyclohexadienyl ligands as catalysts in carbon-carbon bond forming reactions. Our interest is in the electronic and steric effects of different hydrocarbon ligands on the rate and selectivity of the catalysts.
                        

2) Synthesis of rhenium containing coordination compounds for use as labels in imaging and as models for potential new therapeutic technetium drugs.  This project is a collaborative effort with Professor Robert Hanson. 

3) A combination of NMR spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and Mossbauer spectroscopy allows the Kirss group to identify the site of oxidation, probe the degree of electron delocalization and determine the magnetic properties of heteroatom bridged polyferrocenes.  Ferrocenylphosphines and poly(ferrocenyl)phosphines are oxidized at phosphorus rather than iron while ferrocenylphosphine oxides undergo reversible thermal redox processes with possible application as molecular switches.
                                                                 

 
Selected Publications

Barriere, Frederic; Kirss, Rein U.; Geiger, William E.   Anodic Electrochemistry of Multiferrocenyl Phosphine and Phosphine Chalcogenide Complexes in Weakly Nucleophilic Electrolytes.    Organometallics  (2005), 24(1), 48-52.

Kirss, Rein U.   Synthesis, characterization and spectroscopy of alkyl substituted edge-bridged open ruthenocenes.    Inorganica Chimica Acta  (2004), 357(11), 3181-3186.

Kirss, Rein U.; Ernst, Richard D.; Arif, Atta M.   Chloro(h5-dihydropentalenyl)-bis(triphenylphosphine)ruthenium(II): synthesis, structural characterization and catalytic activity in the dimerization of phenylacetylene.    Journal of Organometallic Chemistry  (2004), 689(2), 419-428.