Anthony Cheetham

Anthony Cheetham
Professor Emeritus

Specialization

Inorganic Chemistry

Bio

Dr. Cheetham received his D. Phil. in 1971 from the University of Oxford, England. After working at A.E.R.E Harwell and taking a faculty position at Oxford, he joined the UCSB Faculty as Professor of Materials in 1991 and in 1992 became a Professor of Chemistry. He has been the Director of the Materials Research Laboratory since 1992. Dr. Cheetham has received the Corday-Morgan Medal (1982) and the Solid State Chemistry Award (1988) of the Royal Society of London. He has also been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (1994) and is a member of the U.S. National Committee on Crystallography (1995).

Research

Research Group Website: http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/fihm/

Current Research 

My research interests lie in the area of inorganic materials, and encompass the synthesis, characterization and applications of such materials. I am actively involved in the development of advanced methods for the chemical and structural characterization of polycrystalline materials, and the application of such methods to the study of zeolite catalysts, molecular sieves, and optical materials. Recent work in this area has focused on the use of resonant X-ray diffraction with synchrotron radiation to study the structural and electronic properties of mixed valence solids, and the complementary use of X-ray and neutron powder diffraction to solve crystal structures ab initio.

In the catalysis area, there are three programs. In the first, we are exploring the use of non-aqueous media in the synthesis of novel, shape-selective catalysts, especially the phosphates of aluminum and gallium. Characterization is by single crystal X-ray diffraction. In the second, where the emphasis is on the study of adsorbed molecules in zeolite cavities, we are harnessing the combined strengths of diffraction methods, solid state NMR and molecular dynamics simulations to probe the structure and dynamics of hydrocarbons and other sorbates. Thirdly, we are attempting to develop new methods for natural gas conversion, including the use of carbon dioxide as an oxidant.

Publications

Selected Research Publications

Merrill, CA, Cheetham, AK, et al. Inorganic-organic framework structures; M(II) ethylenediphosphonates (M = Co, Ni, Mn) and a Mn(II) ethylenediphosphonato-phenanthroline INORG CHEM 46 (1): 278-284 JAN 8 2007. 

Cheetham, AK, Rao, CNR, et al. Structural diversity and chemical trends in hybrid inorganic-organic framework materials CHEM COMMUN (46): 4780-4795 2006.

Feller, RK, Cheetham, AK, et al. Fe(III), Mn(II), Co(II), and Ni(II) 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoate (gallate) dihydrates; a new family of hybrid framework materials SOLID STATE SCI 8 (9): 1121-1125 SEP 2006.

Dan, M, Cheetham, AK, et al. Diverse structures and dimensionalities in hybrid frameworks of strontium and lanthanum with isomeric dihydroxybenzoates INORG CHEM 45 (20): 8227-8238 OCT 2 2006.

Rao, VK, Kam, KC, Cheetham, AK, et al. Inorganic-organic hybrid structures: Synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of a new iron oxalatoarsenate, [NH3(CH2)CH(NH3)CH3](3)[Fe-6(AsO4)(2)(HAsO4)(6)(C2O4)(3)] SOLID STATE SCI 8 (6): 692-697 JUN 2006.