Nicholas C. Payne

Nicholas C. Payne

In Memorium

Professor Emeritus

Research Areas

Chemical Crystallography

Education

B.Sc. (Imperial College, London, U.K.); Ph.D. (Sheffield University)


RESEARCH

Research interests can be subdivided as follows:

  1. Studies of the causes of stereoselectivity in asymmetric synthesis are under way through both a synthetic program for preparing optically active phosphine and arsine ligands, and crystal structure determinations of their complexes.

    Absolute configurations of these compounds are determined by the anomalous dispersion of X-rays, a method pioneered by Bijvoet, which requires accurate measurements of intensities using the computer controlled diffractometer.
  2. Stereoelectronic effects in sulfonyl chemistry are being examined through single crystal X-ray determinations; the molecular conformations and bond distances are correlated with kinetic data obtained by Dr. J.F. King's group.
  3. Collaboration also occurs with any member of the department who has an interesting molecular structure problem.

PUBLICATIONS

  • "Experimental Evidence for Negative Hyperconjugation as a Component of the Polar Effect: Variation of the Ease of Sulfonyl Carbanion Formation with the Orientation of an Alkoxy Substituent" J.F. King, R. Rathore, Z. Guo, M. Li and N.C. Payne. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122, 10308-10324 (2000)
  • "Stereoelectronic effects in sulfonyl compounds: axial orientation of an N-Methyl group in a six-membered sultam". J.F. King, G. Yuyitung, M.S. Gill, J.C. Stewart, N.C. Payne Can. J. Chem. 76, 164-170 (1998).
  • "The Pseudosymmetric Structure of Pb(SPh)2" A.D. Rae, D.C. Craig, I.G. Dance, M.L. Scudder, P.A.W. Dean, M.A. Kmetic, N.C. Payne, J.J. Vittal Acta Cryst. B53 457-465 (1997).
  • "A Condensed Dialkoxide Complex of Copper; The Structure of {(CH3)2NCH2CH2N(CH3)2} Cu[{-OC(CF3)2}2O]" R.C. Hynes, C.J. Willis, N.C. Payne Acta Cryst. C52, 2173-2176 (1996).
  • "Rigid-rod Polymers and Model Compounds with Gold(I) Centers Bridged by Diisocyanides and Diacetylides" M.J. Irwin, G. Jia, N.C. Payne, R.J. Puddephatt Organometallics 15, 51-57 (1996).