Jorge L. Colón
Associate Professor
Contact
Office: FB-109
Phone: (787)402-2015
E-mail: jlcolon@uprrp.edu
Laboratory: FB-105
Laboratory Phone: (787)764-0000 Ext. 3220
Education
Ph.D. 1989 from Texas A&M University
Postdoc 1989-1990 from Texas A&M University
NSF Postdoc 1990-1992 from California Institute of Technology
Research Interests
Inorganic, bioinorganic, and materials chemistry; Layered inorganic compounds; Artificial photosynthesis; Amperometric biosensors; Drug delivery systems; Photophysics and photochemistry of luminescent metal complexes.
Research Focus
We focus our research efforts on the use of layered inorganic materials in applications ranging from artificial photosynthesis, amperometric biosensors, vapochromic materials, and drug delivery systems. We make use of X-ray powder diffraction methods, UV-vis spectrophotometry, luminescence spectroscopy and lifetime measurements, X-ray photoelectron, NMR and IR spectroscopies, and electrochemical methods to characterize and study our materials.
As global warming and climate change dramatize the urgent need to switch to sustainable carbon-free energy sources we are pursuing an artificial photosynthesis project in which excited state electron donors are being intercalated in zirconium phosphate layered materials and reacted with suitable quenchers to provoke long-lived charge separation as a way to mimic the primary processes of photosynthesis and develop cheap, efficient, solar cells.
Amperometric biosensors are being prepared by modifying electrodes with zirconium phosphates intercalated with electron mediators based on ruthenium, iron, and cobalt complexes for sensing substrates such as ethanol and lactate.
Platinum terpyridyl complexes intercalated in zirconium phosphate are the basis of our project aimed at developing vapochromic and vapoluminescent materials for detection of volatile organic compounds.
Biohybrid materials based on intercalated drugs such as cisplatin and insulin are being developed in a biomedicine project aimed at selectively delivering bioactive agents to intended biological targets using layered nanoparticles.
Collaborations for several of these projects are currently in place with researchers at the University of Cincinnati, the University of California at Irvine, Texas A&M University and the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras.
Selected Recent Publications
1. Rivera, E. J.; Figueroa, C.; Colón, J. L.; Grove, L.; Connick, W. B. “Room Temperature Emission from Platinum(II) Complexes Intercalated into Zirconium Phosphate Layered Materials”, Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 8569-8576.
2. Santiago, M. B.; Declet-Flores, C.; Díaz, A.; Vélez, M. M.; Bosques, M. Z.; Colón, J. L., “Layered inorganic materials as redox agents: ferrocene-intercalated zirconium phosphate”, Langmuir, 2007, 23, 7810-7817.
3. Martí, A. A.; Rivera, N.; Soto, K.; Maldonado, L.; Colón, J. L. “Intercalation of Re(phen)(CO)3Cl in a zirconium phosphate framework: a water insoluble inorganic complex immobilized in a highly polar lamellar matrix”, Dalton Transactions 2007, 1713 - 1718.
4. Martí, A. A.; Paraliticci, G; Maldonado, L.; Colón, J. L., “Photophysical Characterization of Methylviologen Ion-Exchange Within a Zirconium Phosphate Framework”, Inorg. Chim. Acta 2007, 360, 1535-1542.
5. Santiago, M. B.; Vélez, M. M.; Borrero, S.; Díaz, A.; Casillas, C.A.; Hofmann, C.; Guadalupe A. R.; Colón, J. L., “NADH Electrooxidation using Bis(1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione)(2,2'-bipyridine) ruthenium(II)-exchanged Zirconium Phosphate Modified Carbon Paste Electrodes”, Electroanalysis 2006, 18, 559-572.
6. Bermúdez, R. A.; Arce, R.; Colón, J. L., “Photolysis of 1-Pyrenemethylamine Ion-Exchanged into a Zirconium Phosphate Framework”, J. Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chem., 2005, 175, 201-206.
7. Bermúdez, R. A.; Colón, Y.; Tejada G. A.; Colón, J. L., “Intercalation and Photophysical Characterization of 1-Pyrenemethylamine in Zirconium Phosphate Layered Materials”, Langmuir 2005, 21, 890-895.
8. Martí, A. A.; Mezei G.; Maldonado, L.; Paralitici, G.; Raptis. R.G.,Colón, J. L., “Structural and Photophysical Characterization of fac-Tricarbonylchloro-1,10-phenanthroline (5,6)epoxiderhenium(I)”, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2005, 118-124.
9. Marti, A. A.; Colón, J. L., “Direct Ion Exchange of Tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)Ruthenium(II) into a Zirconium Phosphate Type Framework”, Inorganic Chemistry, 2003, 42, 2830-2832.
10. Navarro, A. M.; Maldonado, M.; González-Lagoa, J.; López-Mejía, R.;López-Garriga, J.; Colón, J. L., “Control of Carbon Monoxide Binding States and Dynamics in Hemoglobin I of Lucina pectinata by Nearby Aromatic Residues", Inorg. Chim. Acta 1996, 243, 161-166.