Marek Pruski
Scientist

Ames Laboratory
230 Spedding Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011
Phone: (515) 294-2017
Fax: (515) 294-5233
Available to Consult: Yes
mpruski@iastate.edu

PERSONAL HISTORY

• Scientist and Solid State NMR Group Leader in the Molecular Processes Program at Ames Laboratory, since 1994

• Associate Scientist and Solid State NMR Group Leader in the Processes and Techniques Program at Ames Laboratory, 1992-1994

• Postdoctoral Fellow, 1985-88, Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University

• Ph.D. 1981, N. Copernicus University, Torun, Poland

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Development and application of transient techniques in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to probe the chemistry of materials involved in heterogeneous catalysis, surface science and materials science. The work on catalysts, which in the recent years constituted most of the research effort, focuses on the physical properties and structure of supported catalysts, micro- and mesoporous molecular sieves, as well as the molecular structure, dynamics and reactions of the adsorbed species. Current interests also include the development and exploitation of new high-resolution methods for studying the half-integer quadrupolar nuclei by the combined use of magic angle spinning and multiple-quantum (MQMAS) NMR. Several new experimental techniques resulted from this effort, referred to as CPMQMAS (MQMAS with Cross Polarization), MQ-REDOR (MQ Rotational Echo Double Resonance), MQ-TEDOR (MQ Transferred Echo Double Resonance) and MQ-HETCOR (MQ HETeronuclear CORrelation spectroscopy). They provide information about interatomic connectivities and allow for the measurement of distances between spin-1/2 (e.g. ¹H, ¹⁹F and ³¹P) and quadrupolar (e.g. ¹¹B, ¹⁷O, ²³Na and ²⁷Al) nuclei in solids under high-resolution conditions. The analytical capabilities of these and other solid state NMR techniques are utilized in several important areas of the Hetero-Atom Catalysis program at Ames Laboratory, currently including: (i) study of sol-gel synthesis of vanadium oxide from peroxovanadates by using solid and liquid state NMR of ⁵¹V and in situ laser Raman spectroscopy (with G. Schrader), (ii) structural study of new types of micro- and mesoporous catalytic materials (with B. Shanks), (iii) study of the structure and function of the tethered complex and supported metal components of TCSM catalysts for enantioselective hydrogenation of arenes (with R. Angelici).

 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS