Magdalena Pala

Magdalena Pala

Professor
member of graduate faculty

Email: magdalena.e.pala@uwrf.edu

Education:

M.S. and Eng. in Chemistry, 1972, Warsaw Technical University (Politechnika), Warsaw, Poland. Thesis: "Investigation of Reactions of Triphenylchloromethane with Methyl- and Ethylaluminum Compounds". Advisor: Dr. R. Giezynski.

Ph.D. in Chemistry, 1981, Warsaw Technical University (Politechnika), Warsaw, Poland. Dissertation: "Catalytic Oxidation of Unsaturated Cyclic Hydrocarbons with Molecular Oxygen". Advisor: Prof. St. Pasynkiewicz.

Research Interests:

Research and Teaching Experience

Teaching - development of advanced inorganic/organometallic laboratory for chemistry majors; first year general chemistry lectures and laboratories for science and nonscience majors; organic chemistry laboratory; organometallic chemistry laboratory; advanced inorganic chemistry lecture and laboratory.

Research - synthesis, characterization and investigation of chelating properties of early transition metal metallocene derivatives containing thiolate ligands.

Investigation of reactivity and characterization of Ni(II) complexes containing macrocyclic ligands; template effect.

Synthesis, characterization and reactivity studies of the transition metal complexes, especially compounds of tungsten, chromium, and ruthenium, and their application in homogeneous catalysis.

Synthesis and characterization of organic compounds.

Liquid-phase oxidation of cyclic nonconjugated polyenes with molecular oxygen, non-catalytic and in the presence of homogeneous catalysts (complexes of molybdenum).

Chemistry of organoaluminum compounds: reactions of triphenylchloromethane with methyl- and ethylaluminum compounds.

• Synthesis of unsymmetrical titanocene thiolates
• Investigation of ligand lability in titanocene thiolates
• Derivatization of ligands in titanocene compounds
• Synthesis of chiral metal complexes
• Design of new experiments for the advanced laboratory using Spartan Plus modeling program

Professional Activities:

I am a co-director of Semester Abroad: Europe program

Publications:

Selected Presentations

1. "Attempted Synthesis of Palladium, Copper, and Nickel Complexes of a Chiral Bis(dihydrooxazole) Ligand", Linda Williams and Magdalena Pala, 36 th Annual Great Lakes Regional Meeting of ACS, Peoria, Il, October 2004.

2. "Synthesis of Chiral Bidentate Ligand Derived from l-Valinol: Applications in Pd(II)-catalyzed Organic Transformations", Magdalena E. Pala, Nicole M. Holm, and Karl Peterson, ACS Great Lakes Regional Meeting, Minneapolis, June 2-4, 2002.

3. "Synthesis of Disubstituted Titanocene Thiolates Using Grignard Reagents", Magdalena E. Pala and Terry S. Neumann, ACS Great Lakes Regional Meeting, Minneapolis, June 2-4, 2002.

4. "The Synthesis and Ligand Exchanges within Titanocene Compounds", Jessica Cremer and Magdalena Pala, Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity Day, River Falls, May 9, 2000.

5. "'Living' Polymerization of Propylene by Ziegler-Natta Catalysis", Heidi B. Nerud, Magdalena Pala and Kevin W. McLaughlin, 216th ACS National Meeting, Boston, August 23-27, 1998.

6. "Polymerization of Ethylene with Ziegler-Natta Catalysts Containing Sulfur", Jacob D. Hackl and Magdalena Pala, Research/Scholarly Activity Day, River Falls, May 5, 1999.

7. "Investigation of Transition Metal Carbene Complexes Using Molecular Modeling: Developing an Experiment for Advanced Laboratory", Daniel Lindner and Magdalena Pala, 41th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in Chemistry sponsored by Minnesota Section of the ACS, April 18, 1998.

Selected Publications

1. Book review "Molecular Chemistry of the Transition Elements" by F. Mathey and A. Sevin, Journal of Chemical Education, 1998, 75(5), 547.

2. "Synthesis and NMR Analysis of N-Methyl-2-(4'-bromophenyl)morpholine: An Undergraduate Advanced Lab Experiment", David B. Rusterholz, Magdalena Pala, and Kendie Runge, The Chemical Educator, 1997, 2(1).

3. "Synthetic Strategies for N₂S₂O-Pentacoordinate Nickel(II) Based on the Highly Sterically Encumbered Ligand N,N'-Bis(2-mercapto-2-methylpropane)-1,5-diazacyclooctane", Marcetta Y. Darensbourg, Ivan Font, Magdalena Pala, and Joseph H. Reibenspies, J. Coord. Chem., 1994, 32, 39.

4. "Variable Modes of Nickel(II) Coordination with Macrocyclic Ligands Based on 1,5-Bis(2-mercaptoethyl)- 1,5-diazacyclooctane (BME-DACO)", Marcetta Y. Darensbourg, Ivan Font, Daniel K. Mills, Magdalena Pala, and Joseph H. Reibenspies, Inorg. Chem., 1992, 31, 4965.

5. "Stereochemical Nonrigidity in Heterobimetallic Complexes Containing the Bent Metallocene-Thiolate Fragment", Marcetta Y. Darensbourg, Magdalena Pala, Stephen A. Houliston, K. Paul Kidwell, David Spencer, Stephen S. Chojnacki, and Joseph H. Reibenspies, Inorg. Chem., 1992, 31, 1487.

Professional Background

2003 - present Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

1998 - 2003 Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

1993 - 1998 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

1988 - 1993 Senior Lecturer and Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.

1985 - 1987 Organic Laboratory instructor at Agricultural Academy in Warsaw, Poland.

1984 - 1985 Lecturer in the first year chemistry program, Texas A&M University.

1982 - 1985 Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University.

1980 - 1982 Senior Research Assistant at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, Warsaw Technical University, Warsaw, Poland.

1975 - 1980 Graduate student at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, Warsaw Technical University, Warsaw, Poland.

1972 - 1975 Research Assistant and Senior Research Assistant at the Institute of Gas Technology, Warsaw, Poland.