About

Kim Dunbar is a Senior Professor at Texas A&M University College of Arts and Sciences, specializing in inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry. Her research spans synthetic, structural, and physical aspects of inorganic chemistry, utilizing tools such as spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, magnetometry, electron microscopy, mass spectrometry, and electrochemistry. Her work includes the study of molecular magnets, conducting metal-organic solids, and spin-crossover compounds, focusing on molecule-based, metal-containing materials with conducting, optical, and magnetic properties. Dunbar's research involves designing molecules and materials with transition or lanthanide metal ions connected by organic radicals, leading to discoveries of materials exhibiting high conductivity, magnetic ordering, and single-molecule magnetism. She also explores cyanide chemistry of transition metals, synthesizing architectures with properties like charge-transfer spin transitions and photoinduced magnetic behavior. Additionally, her work addresses metals in medicine, developing compounds such as dirhodium and ruthenium agents for potential cancer therapies, and investigating their biological interactions and photodynamic applications. Dunbar's research extends to the study of anion-pi interactions in supramolecular chemistry. She holds a B.S. from Westminster College and a Ph.D. from Purdue University, and has received numerous awards and honors, including the ACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry and being elected a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.

Research topics

• Physical chemistry
• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Chemical physics
• Polymer chemistry
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Optoelectronics
• Organic chemistry
• Photochemistry

Selected publications

• Magnetic dynamics and exchange coupling in dinuclear lanthanide complexes bridged by naphthoquinone and anthraquinone radicals

  Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers · 2025-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The first dinuclear Dy III complexes bridged by naphtho- and anthraquinone radicals are reported, showing strong Dy-radical ferromagnetic coupling and SMM behavior, and highlighting the key role of redox-active ligands in modulating magnetic dynamics.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• CCDC 2231567: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2023-08-15

  datasetOpen access

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

• CCDC 2257736: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2023-06-21

  datasetOpen access

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

• CCDC 2278246: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2023-09-19

  datasetOpen access

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

• Linear versus Bent 3d/4f-Heterometallic Clusters: The Carboxylate Effect on the Metal Topology and Magnetic Properties of Two {Mn^III₂Dy₂} Complexes Supported by <i>N</i>-Naphthalidene-<i>o</i>-Aminophenol

  Crystal Growth & Design · 2023-06-20 · 10 citations

  articleCorresponding

  The initial use of N-naphthalidene-o-aminophenol (naphH2) chelate in heterometallic cluster chemistry has provided access to two chemically similar but structurally dissimilar [MnIII2Dy2(OMe)2(O2CR)6(naph)2] (R = Me (1), Ph (2)) compounds with rare linear (1) and zigzag (2) topologies, respectively, depending only upon the ancillary carboxylate groups. The “twisted” or “bent”-like structure of 2 has mostly altered the DyIII coordination geometry (square antiprismatic vs triangular dodecahedral in 1), resulting in a slight differentiation of the magnetic dynamics of 2 in comparison with 1. Direct-current (dc) magnetic susceptibility measurements revealed the presence of predominant antiferromagnetic exchange interactions within 1 and 2, while both {MnIII2Dy2} clusters exhibit out-of-phase (χ″Μ), frequency-dependent tails of signals in zero external dc field, characteristic of the onset of the quantum tunneling of magnetization. Attempts to suppress the tunneling through the application of an external dc field were unsuccessful for a wide range of applied fields and alternating-current (ac) frequencies. The combined results demonstrate the ability of the naphH2/RCO2– “blend” of ligands to yield new heterometallic cluster compounds with appealing structural motifs and potentially interesting magnetic properties.

  PublisherDOI

• CCDC 2278245: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2023-09-19

  datasetOpen access

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

• CCDC 2257737: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2023-06-21

  datasetOpen access

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

• Correction: Magnetic coupling between Fe(NO) spin probe ligands through diamagnetic Ni^II, Pd^II and Pt^II tetrathiolate bridges

  Chemical Science · 2023-01-01

  erratumOpen accessCorresponding

  Correction for ‘Magnetic coupling between Fe(NO) spin probe ligands through diamagnetic Ni II , Pd II and Pt II tetrathiolate bridges’ by Manuel Quiroz et al. , Chem. Sci. , 2023, 14 , 9167–9174, https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SC01546G.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Synthesis and exceptional operational durability of polyaniline-inspired conductive ladder polymers

  Materials Horizons · 2023-01-01 · 22 citations

  articleOpen access

  . Impressively, this polymer demonstrates unparalleled stability in strong acid and under harsh UV-irradiation, significantly surpassing commercial benchmarks like PEDOT:PSS and polyaniline. Moreover, it displays superior durability across numerous redox cycles as the active material in an electrochromic device and as the pseudocapacitive material in a supercapacitor device. This work provides structural design guidance for durable conductive polymers for long-term device operation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• CCDC 2231569: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2023-08-15

  datasetOpen access

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Systematic Studies of the Structural, Magnetic, and Spectroscopic Properties of Clusters and Extended Arrays Based on Cyanide Ligands

  NSF · $429k · 2006–2009

• Chemical, Electrochemical and Physical Properties of Metallosupramolecular Architectures with Neutral and Radical Bridging Ligands and the Influence of Non-Covalent Interactions

  NSF · $640k · 2018–2023

• Magnetism, Conductivity and the Interplay between these Properties in d, p and f block Materials with Organocyanide Ligands

  NSF · $450k · 2010–2013

• Chemical, Electrochemical and Physical Properties of Metallosupramolecular Architectures with Tetrazine Based Ligands Including Investigations of Anion-pi Interactions

  NSF · $465k · 2013–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Rodolphe Clérac

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  224 shared

• Hanhua Zhao

  175 shared

• A.V. Prosvirin

  173 shared

• Michael Shatruk

  National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

  168 shared

• F. Albert Cotton

  166 shared

• S. Ostrovsky

  Moldova State University

  154 shared

• Andrey V. Prosvirin

  152 shared

• Sophia I. Klokishner

  Institute of Applied Physics

  152 shared

Labs

• Dunbar Research GroupPI