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Michael J. Therien

Therien

William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

Our research involves the synthesis of compounds, supramolecular assemblies, nano-scale objects, and electronic materials with unusual ground-and excited-state characteristics, and interrogating these structures using state-of-the-art transient optical, spectroscopic, photophysical, and electrochemical methods. Over chemical dimensions that span molecules to materials, we probe experimental and theoretical aspects of charge migration reactions and ultrafast electron transfer processes. Insights into the structure-property relationships of molecular, nanoscale, and macroscopic materials allow us to fabricate polarizable and hyperpolarizable chromophores, structures for molecular electronics applications, optical limiters, and a wide range of other electrooptic and photonic materials that include novel conducting polymers, structures for solar energy conversion, and new platforms for in vivo optical imaging. Other efforts in our laboratory involve the elaborating de novo electron- and energy-transfer proteins, interrogating catalytic redox reactions, designing catalysts for small molecule activation, and developing new tools to manipulate nanoscale structures.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
  • Professor of Chemistry
  • Faculty Network Member of The Energy Initiative
  • Member of the Duke Cancer Institute

Contact Information

  • Office Location: 5330 French Family Science Cen, Durham, NC 27708
  • Office Phone: (919) 660-1670
  • Email Address: michael.therien@duke.edu
  • Websites:

Education

  • California Institute of Technology, 1990
  • Ph.D. University of California - San Diego, 1987
  • B.S. University of St. Andrews (United Kingdom), 1982

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Fellow. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 2020
  • Fellow. Flemish Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2009
  • International Francqui Chair. Belgium. 2008
  • Fellow. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2005
  • American Chemical Society Philadelphia Section Award . American Chemical Society. 2004
  • Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines Young Investigator Award . Society of Porphyrins & Phthalocyanines. 2002
  • Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar . Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.. 1997
  • E. I. duPont de Nemours Young Faculty Award . DuPont. 1995
  • Sloan Research Fellowship-Chemistry. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 1995
  • National Science Foundation Young Investigator . National Science Foundation. 1993
  • Beckman Young Investigators. Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. 1992
  • Searle Scholar. Searle Scholars Program. 1991

Courses Taught

  • CHEM 393: Research Independent Study
  • CHEM 394: Research Independent Study
  • CHEM 410: Inorganic Chemistry
  • CHEM 493: Research Independent Study
  • CHEM 494: Research Independent Study
  • CHEM 521: Inorganic Chemistry
  • CHEM 590: Special Topics in Chemistry

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Wang, R; Ko, C-H; Brugh, AM; Bai, Y; Forbes, MDE; Therien, MJ, Topology, Distance, and Orbital Symmetry Effects on Electronic Spin-Spin Couplings in Rigid Molecular Systems: Implications for Long-Distance Spin-Spin Interactions., The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, vol 124 no. 37 (2020), pp. 7411-7415 [10.1021/acs.jpca.0c06112] [abs].
  • Jiang, T; Bai, Y; Zhang, P; Han, Q; Mitzi, DB; Therien, MJ, Electronic structure and photophysics of a supermolecular iron complex having a long MLCT-state lifetime and panchromatic absorption., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 117 no. 34 (2020), pp. 20430-20437 [10.1073/pnas.2009996117] [abs].
  • Viere, EJ; Qi, W; Stanton, IN; Zhang, P; Therien, MJ, Driving high quantum yield NIR emission through proquinoidal linkage motifs in conjugated supermolecular arrays., Chem. Sci., vol 11 no. 31 (2020), pp. 8095-8104 [10.1039/d0sc03446k] [abs].