Ivan A. Popov

Doctoral Student

2011 - present Ph.D. student
Professor Boldyrev's Group, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University
Theoretical and Computational Chemistry

2009 - 2011 M.Sc.,Physical Chemistry
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, diploma with honors
Ab initio investigation of structure and chemical bonding in group IIIA elements clusters

2004 - 2009 B.Sc., Chemistry
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, diploma with honors
Ab initio investigation of structure and chemical bonding in anionic boron clusters

Contact Information

E-mail address: vanekpopov@gmail.com

Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Utah State University
0300 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-0300, USA

Office: Maeser Lab 287

Awards and Honors

2017 College of Science PhD Graduate Researcher of the Year, Utah State University.

2016 Graduate Research and Collaborative Opportunities Grant, Utah State University.

2016 Oral Presentation Winner at the Student Research Symposium, Utah State University.

2016 Marjorie H. Gardner Teaching Award, Utah State University.

2015 Outstanding Graduate Student in Chemistry Award, Utah State University

2013 Award for Early Research Progress in Chemistry, Utah State University

2013 USU Office of Research and Graduate Studies Graduate Student Travel Award 2013, Utah State University

2011 M.Sc. Honor Diploma, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia

2009 Best Bachelor's Degree Diploma, Department of Science, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia

2009 Dr.Gryaznov Memorial Award for Excellence in Science, Department of Science, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia

2009 B.Sc. Honor Diploma, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia

2004-2011 Scholarship for Outstanding Academic Achievements, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia

Conference Presentations

1. (Poster) Chemical bonding in graphene, its derivatives, and several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Ivan Popov, Yafei Li, Zhongfang Chen, Konstantin V. Bozhenko, and Alexander Boldyrev
245^th National ACS Meeting & Exposition, Division of Computers in Chemistry, Apr. 7 - 11 2013, New Orleans, LA.

2. (Participation) International Conference on Chemical Bonding, July 24-28 2014, Kauai, HI.

3. (Poster) Complexes between planar boron clusters and transition metals: a photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio study of CoB₁₂^- and RhB₁₂^-

Ivan A. Popov, Wei-Li Li, Zachary A. Piazza, Alexander I. Boldyrev, and Lai-Sheng Wang
2014 nanoUtah Conference and Exhibition/19^th International Conference on Commercializing Micro- and Nanotechnology, Oct. 12 - 15 2014, Salt Lake City, UT.

4. (Poster) Combined photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio studies of pure, carbon-doped, and transition-metal-doped boron clusters.

Ivan A. Popov, V. F. Popov, K. V. Bozhenko, I. Černušàk, R. Pal, X. C. Zeng, W.-L. Li, Z. A. Piazza, L.-S. Wang, and A. I. Boldyrev
249^th National ACS Meeting & Exposition, Division of Physical Chemistry, March 22-26, 2015, Denver, CO.

5. (Invited Talk, Presiding Chair) Application of the AdNDP/SSAdNDP Methods for Understanding Chemical Bonding in Low-Dimensional Systems
International Conference on Chemical Bonding, July 02-06, 2015, Kauai, HI.

6. (Oral Presentation) Cobalt-Centred Boron Molecular Drums: the Highest Coordination Number in Chemistry
Student Research Symposium 2016, April 14, 2016, Logan, UT.

7. (Invited Talk, Presiding Chair) Unique Cases of Chemical Bonding in Clusters and Solids: Localized and Delocalized Bonding Patterns
International Conference on Chemical Bonding, July 14-18, 2016, Kauai, HI.

8. (Invited Talk) Chemical Bonding in Graphene and Newly Predicted Two-Dimensional Materials
Materials Science & Technology 2016 (Symposium: 3D Graphene for Energy Conversion and Storage), October 24, 2016, Salt-Lake City, Utah.

Teaching Experience

Spring 2016 CHEM 1220. Recitation instructor, Principles of Chemistry II (Majors), USU

Spring 2013 – Spring 2016 CHEM 1215. Laboratory instructor, Principles of Chemistry I, USU

Spring 2012 CHEM 1210. Recitation instructor, Principles of Chemistry I, USU

Summer 2011 Utah State University Teaching Assistant Workshop, USU

Fall 2010 College Level Chemistry Teaching (1 semester course and practical training), PFUR

Mentoring

Undergraduate students:

Valery Popov (2011-2012)
Nikolay Baranov (2015-2016)
Maria Ustenko (2015-2016)

Graduate students:

Katie Mendenhall (2016)

Service and Professional Activities

- Member of the American Chemical Society (ACS)

- Organizer of International Conference on Chemical Bonding (ICCB) 2016, July 14 - 18, 2016. Kauai, HI, USA.

Reviewer for

Journal of the American Chemical Society
Nature Communications
Chemical Science
Nanoscale
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Journal of Physical Chemistry
Chemical Physics Letters
Chemistry – An Asian Journal

List of Publications

1. Is Graphene Aromatic?

Ivan A. Popov, Konstantin V. Bozhenko, Alexander I. Boldyrev
Nano Research, 2012, 5, 117-123
(Article)

featured on the Cover of the Chemical & Engineering News ("Pushing the Limits of Chemical Bonding"), 2014, Vol. 92, Issue 38

(Chemical bonding pattern recovered for the model fragment of graphene (nineteen 6c-2e π-bonds))

2. Deciphering Chemical Bonding in a BC₃ Honeycomb Epitaxial Sheet

Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev
J. Phys. Chem. C, 2012, 116, 3147-3152
(Article)

3. Chemical Bonding in Coronene, Isocoronene, and Circumcoronene

Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev
Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2012, 2012, 3485-3491
(Article)

4. Computational Probing of All-Boron Li_2nB_2nH_2n+2 Polyenes

Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev
Comp. Theor. Chem., 2013, 1004, 5-11
(Article)

5. "Benzation" of graphene upon addition of monovalent chemical species

Ivan A. Popov, Yafei Li , Zhongfang Chen, Alexander Boldyrev
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013, 15 (18), 6842 - 6848
(Article)

6. Structural changes in the series of boron-carbon mixed clusters C_xB_10-x^- (x = 3-10) upon substitution of boron by carbon

Ivan A. Popov, Valery F. Popov, Konstantin V. Bozhenko, Ivan Černušàk, Alexander I. Boldyrev
J. Chem. Phys., 2013, 139, 114307
(Article)

7. A combined photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio study of the quasi-planar B₂₄^- cluster

Ivan A. Popov, Zachary A. Piazza, Wei-Li Li, Lai-Sheng Wang, Alexander I. Boldyrev
J. Chem. Phys., 2013, 139, 144307
(Article)

8. Complexes between planar boron clusters and transition metals: a photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio study of CoB₁₂^- and RhB₁₂^-

Ivan A. Popov, Wei-Li Li, Zachary A. Piazza, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Lai-Sheng Wang
J. Phys. Chem. A, 2014, 118, 8098-8105
(Invited Article, Special Issue: A. W. Castleman, Jr. Festschrift)

9. Understanding Boron through Size-Selected Clusters: Structure, Chemical Bonding, and Fluxionality

Alina P. Sergeeva, Ivan A. Popov, Zachary A. Piazza, Wei-Li Li, Constantin Romanescu, Lai-Sheng Wang, and Alexander I. Boldyrev
Acc. Chem. Res., 2014, 47, 1349-1358
(Invited Review)

10. Chemical Bonding in Inorganic Aromatic Compounds

Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev
In The Chemical Bond. Chemical Bonding Across the Periodic Table.
G. Frenking and S. Shaik (Eds), Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2014, pp. 421-444
(Invited chapter)

11. The I=X (X = O, N, C) Double Bond in Hypervalent Iodine Compounds: Is it Real?

Alexander S. Ivanov, Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Viktor V. Zhdankin
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2014, 53, 9617-9621
(Communication)
highlighted in Chemistry World

12. A Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Ab Initio Study of the Structures and Chemical Bonding of the B₂₅^- Cluster

Zachary A. Piazza, Ivan A. Popov, Wei-Li Li, Rhitankar Pal, Xiao Cheng Zeng, Alexander I. Boldyrev, and Lai-Sheng Wang
J. Chem. Phys., 2014, 141, 034303
(Article)

13. Supertetrahedral B₈₀H₂₀, C₈₀H₂₀, and Al₈₀H₂₀ Analogs of Dodecahedrane and their Substituted Molecules

Ruslan M. Minyaev, Ivan A. Popov, Vitaly V. Koval, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Vladimir I. Minkin
Struct. Chem., 2015, 26, 223-229
(Article)

14. Assessing the Viability of Extended Nonmetal Atom Chains in M_nF_4n+2 (M=S and Se)

Ivan A. Popov, Boris B. Averkiev, Alyona A. Starikova, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Ruslan M. Minyaev, and Vladimir I. Minkin
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015, 54, 1476-1480
(Communication)
highlighted in Sciencing and Nanoscience News [University of Cambridge]

15. Two-dimensional Cu₂Si Monolayer with Planar Hexacoordinate Copper and Silicon Bonding

Li-Ming Yang, Vladimir Bačić, Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Thomas Heine, Thomas Frauenheim, and Eric Ganz
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2015, 137, 2757-2762
(Article)

highlighted in
Nanoscience News [University of Cambridge]

JACS SPOTLIGHTS: THE GRAPHENE MIMIC OF THE FUTURE?

16. Homocatenation of Aluminum: Alkane-like Structures of Li₂Al₂H₆ and Li₃Al₃H₈

J. Tyler Gish, Ivan A. Popov and Alexander I. Boldyrev
Chem. Eur. J., 2015, 21, 5307-5310
(Communication, highlighted in CHEMEUROPE.COM)

Designated as "Hot Paper" by CHEMISTRY - A European Journal

Featured on
the Cover Profile (Chem. Eur. J., 2015, 21, 5261)

the Front Cover Page (Chem. Eur. J., 2015, 21, 5257)

17. Post-anti-van't Hoff-Le Bel Motif in Atomically Thin Germanium-Copper Alloy Film

Li-Ming Yang, Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Thomas Heine, Thomas Frauenheim and Eric Ganz
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015, 17, 17545-17551
(Communication)

18. Aluminum Chain in Li₂Al₃H₈^- as Suggested by Photoelectron Spectroscopy and ab initio Calculations

Ivan A. Popov, Xinxing Zhang, Bryan W. Eichhorn, Alexander I. Boldyrev and Kit H. Bowen
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015, 17, 26079-26083
(Advance Article)

(highlighted in the Atlas of Science as a summary entitled "Confirming Aluminum Homocatenation")

19. Revealing Unusual Chemical Bonding in Planar Hyper-Coordinate Ni₂Ge and Quasi-Planar Ni₂Si Two-Dimensional Crystals

Li-Ming Yang, Ivan A. Popov, Thomas Frauenheim, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Thomas Heine, Vladimir Bačić and Eric Ganz
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015, 17, 26043-26048
(Advance Article)

20. Cobalt-Centred Boron Molecular Drums with the Highest Coordination Number in the CoB₁₆^- Cluster

Ivan A. Popov, Tian Jian, Gary V. Lopez, Alexander I. Boldyrev and Lai-Sheng Wang
Nat. Commun., 2015, 6, 8654
(Article)

highlighted in
Chemical & Engineering News: "Cobalt-Boron Molecular Drum Beats Bonding Record"

ChemViews Magazine: "Record Coordination Number"

Utah State Today: "USU Chemists Observe Molecular 'Drum' that Beats Coordination Record"

N+1 Internet edition: "Molecular drum" beats coordination number record

CoB₁₆^- cluster has been named one of the Molecules of the Year for 2015 by Chemical & Engineering News

21. Classical and Multicenter Bonding in Boron: Two Faces of Boron

Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev
In Boron. The Fifth Element.
Drahomír Hnyk and Michael L. McKee (Eds), Springer International Publishing, 2015, pp. 1-16
(Invited chapter)

22. d-AO Spherical Aromaticity in Ce₆O₈

Xiaohu Yu, Artem R. Oganov, Ivan A. Popov and Alexander I. Boldyrev
J. Comput. Chem., 2016, 37, 103-109
(Article, Special Issue: in Memory of Paul von Ragué Schleyer)

23. Antiferromagnetic Stabilization in the Ti₈O₁₂ Cluster

Xiaohu Yu, Artem R. Oganov, Ivan A. Popov, Guangrui Qian and Alexander I. Boldyrev
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2016, 55, 1699-1703
(Communication, highlighted in Skoltech News)

24. Two-Dimensional Magnetic Boron

Xiang-Feng Zhou, Artem R. Oganov, Zhenhai Wang, Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev, and Hui-Tian Wang
Phys. Rev. B, 2016, 93, 085406
(Article)

25. All-Metal Antiaromaticity in Sb₄-Type Lanthanocene Anions

Xue Min, Ivan A. Popov, Fu-Xing Pan, Lei-Jiao Li, Eduard Matito, Zhong-Ming Sun, Lai-Sheng Wang, Alexander I. Boldyrev
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2016, 55, 5531-5535
(Communication)

highlighted in
Chemical & Engineering News: "Cyclic antimony complexes take aromaticity to a new level"

26. Manganese-Centered Tubular Boron Cluster - MnB₁₆^-: A New Class of Transition-Metal Molecules

Tian Jian, Wan-Lu Li, Ivan A. Popov, Gary V. Lopez, Xin Chen, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Jun Li, Lai-Sheng Wang
J. Chem. Phys., 2016, 144, 154310
(Article)

27. Peculiar All-Metal σ-Aromaticity of the [Au₂Sb₁₆]⁴⁻ Anion in the Solid State

Ivan A. Popov, Fu-Xing Pan, Xue-Rui You, Lei-Jiao Li, Eduard Matito, Chao Liu, Hua-Jin Zhai, Zhong-Ming Sun, Alexander I. Boldyrev
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2016, 55, 15344-15346
(Communication, highlighted in SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS)

28. A Stable Compound of Helium and Sodium at High Pressure

Xiao Dong, Artem R. Oganov, Alexander F. Goncharov, Elissaios Stavrou, Sergey Lobanov, Gabriele Saleh, Guang-Rui Qian, Qiang Zhu, Carlo Gatti, Volker L. Deringer, Richard Dronskowski, Xiang-Feng Zhou, Vitali B. Prakapenka, Zuzana Konôpková, Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev and Hui-Tian Wang
Nat. Chem., 2017, 9, 440–445 (Article)
Highlighted in

Chemical & Engineering News
Utah State Today
Chemistry World
GIZMODO
Carnegie Science
International Business Times
IFLSCIENCE!
ScienceAlert
AZOMATERIALS
EurekAlert!
SPACE.com

29. Long-Range Magnetic Response of Toroidal Boron Structures: B₁₆ and [Co@B₁₆]^−/3− Species

Alvaro Muñoz-Castro, Ivan A. Popov, Alexander I. Boldyrev
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2017, 19, 26145-26150
(Article)

30. Predicting the Structure and Chemistry of Low‐Dimensional Materials

X. Yu, A. R. Oganov, Z. Wang, G. Saleh, V. Sharma, Q. Zhu, Q. Wang, X.-F. Zhou, I. A. Popov, A. I. Boldyrev, V. S. Baturin, S. V. Lepeshkin
In Handbook of Solid State Chemistry. R. Dronskowski, S. Kikkawa and A. Stein (Eds). Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2017, pp. 527-570.
(Book Chapter)

31. Usefulness of the σ-Aromaticity and σ-Antiaromaticity Concepts for Clusters and Solid-State Compounds

Ivan A. Popov, Alyona A. Starikova, Dmitry, V. Steglenko, and Alexander I. Boldyrev
Chem. Eur. J., 2018, 24, 292–305
(Review)

32. [Co₂@Ge₁₆]^4-: Localized vs. Delocalized Bonding in Two Isomeric Intermetalloid Clusters

Chao Liu, Ivan A. Popov, Lei-Jiao Li, Ning Li, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Zhong-Ming Sun
Chem. Eur. J., 2018, 24, 699-705
(Article, designated as "Hot Paper" by CHEMISTRY - A European Journal)

33. Multicenter Bonding Effects in Oxygen Vacancy in the Bulk and on the Surface of MgO

Ivan A. Popov, Elisa Jimenez-Izal, Anastassia N. Alexandrova, and Alexander I. Boldyrev
J. Chem. Phys. C, 2018, 122, 11933-11937
(Article)

34. Aromaticity and Antiaromaticity in Zintl Clusters

Chao Liu, Ivan A. Popov, Zhongfang Chen, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Zhong-Ming Sun
Chem. Eur. J., 2018, 24, 14583-14597
(Invited Review)

35. Realization of an Al≡Al Triple Bond in the Gas-Phase Na₃Al₂- Cluster via Double Electronic Transmutation

Xinxing Zhang, Ivan A. Popov, Katie A. Lundell, Haopeng Wang, Chaonan Mu, Wei Wang, Hansgeorg Schöckel, Alexander I. Boldyrev, and Kit H. Bowen
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2018, 57, 14060-14064
(Communication)

highlighted in Chemical & Engineering News: "Aluminum triple bond made for first time"

36. Symmetry Reduction upon Size Mismatch: The Non-Icosahedral Intermetalloid Cluster [Co@Ge₁₂]³⁻

Chao Liu, Leijiao Li, Ivan A. Popov, Robert Wilson, Congqiao Xu, Jun Li, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Zhong-Ming Sun
Chin. J. Chem., 2018, 36, 1165-1168
(Article)

Research Highlights and Related Stories by C&EN magazine

Aluminum triple bond made for first time

-Sodium ions enable elusive species in theoretical and experimental studies

The art of the chemical bond

-A look at the scientists who spend most of their time thinking about chemistry’s most central concept

The littlest aromate

-In quest for the smallest possible aromatic ring, chemists have found winners in various categories

C&EN’s Molecules Of The Year For 2015

-Structure Menagerie: Compounds that made headlines in 2015

Cyclic antimony complexes take aromaticity to a new level

-Compounds containing an all-metal antiaromatic ring isolated for the first time

Cobalt-Boron Molecular Drum Beats Bonding Record

-Structure and Bonding: Chemists prepare an unprecedented 16-coordinate species in the gas phase, explore its existence computationally

Pushing The Limits Of Chemical Bonding

-Conference highlights how computational and experimental chemists are applying bonding models to more complex systems

Aromaticity For All

-Chemists argue over how the sacred concept of aromaticity should be invoked

Aromaticity By Any Other Name

-C&EN Online Exclusive: Chemists discuss the merits of the unbridled use of the concept of aromaticity

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