Emily C. Monkcom

Emily C. Monkcom is a researcher at the Organic Chemistry and Catalysis group within the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science at Utrecht University. Her work focuses on synthetic coordination chemistry, specifically developing bioinspired ligands to model metalloenzyme active sites. In the 2020 paper, she contributed to synthesizing a bulky tripodal N,N,O phenolate ligand (Im^Ph2NNO^tBu) that structurally mimics the 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad (2H1C) in non-heme iron enzymes. The ligand forms well-defined mononuclear iron and zinc complexes, enabling detailed studies of their solution-state behavior and redox properties. Her research provides a platform for creating biomimetic complexes with biorelevant cofactors.

• Key contributions: Ligand design, coordination chemistry of non-heme iron/zinc complexes, structural characterization via X-ray crystallography and NMR.
• Methodology: Electrochemical analysis, DFT computational studies, solvent effect investigations on coordination stability.

Funding & Awards:

• Marie Sklodowska-Curie NoNoMeCat ITN network (2015-ETN)
• Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for supercomputer access