School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Chemistry

Faculty

Faculty

Core Faculty

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Yu-Shan Lin

Professor and Department Chair of Chemistry
Theoretical and Computational Biophysical Chemistry. The YSL Group aims to elucidate the structures and functions of biomolecules by integrating the power of advanced computations with the elegance of chemical theory. Our focus is to develop and apply computational methodology to significant biological problems that are difficult to address experimentally. Two major research projects in the YSL Group are (1) to understand and design cyclic peptides with desired conformations to modulate protein–protein interactions and (2) to elucidate the structural and functional roles of post-translational modifications and non-natural amino acids on protein folding.
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Ravichandra Bachu

Lecturer
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Clay Bennett

Professor
Organic Synthesis, Carbohydrate Chemistry, Synthetic Methodology, Bioorganic Chemistry. Complex carbohydrates play critical roles in a number of biological processes including, protein folding, cellular adhesion and signaling. Despite their importance, very little is understood about the molecular basis of their activity. This is largely due to the fact that the only source of pure oligosaccharides is tedious multi-step synthesis, which can take months or even years to compete. Our research is focused on developing methodologies, based on asymmetric catalysis, to streamline complex oligosaccharide synthesis. Ultimately such methods will aid in the rapid and routine preparation of oligosaccharides for biophysical studies and drug discovery.
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Tim Brunker

Lecturer
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Ira Caspari-Gnann

Assistant Professor
Chemistry and STEM Education. In order to understand how and why successful teaching and learning of chemistry at the university level works, the Caspari research group focuses on analyzing students', teaching assistants' (TA), learning assistants' (LA), and instructors' reasoning, interactions, and culture. The group collects video data of classroom practices and conducts qualitative research interviews with instructors, TAs, LAs, and students to better understand how certain interactions and ways of reasoning lead to student sense making and learning. While zooming in and investigating how students connect aspects of chemistry, the group also zooms out and investigates classroom culture and how individual interactions and personal experiences integrate into larger systems of teaching and learning. The group uses this fundamental research as a theoretical basis for implementing teaching innovations and designing training opportunities in order to promote supportive learning environments for students that value and encourage their unique ways of being, knowing and doing.
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Kevin Clark

Assistant Professor
Analytical Chemistry, Separations, Mass Spectrometry, RNA Modifications, Neuro-analytical Chemistry. Our group is interested in the characterization of RNA modifications in the central nervous system and single cells. These naturally occurring modifications to RNA biopolymers play important roles in regulating protein translation, but little is known about their functions in the brain. We are focused on developing new approaches for chromatographic separations and mass spectrometry measurements of in small-volume samples such that they can be applied for the simultaneous profiling of multiple RNA modifications in single neurons. The Clark Lab is particularly interested in ionic liquid solvents and ion-tagged oligonucleotides as customizable materials for nucleic acid sample preparation that can be leveraged to improve the performance of downstream analysis methods. We combine our analytical methodologies with a powerful neurobiological model, the marine mollusk Aplysia californica, to investigate relationships between the dynamic landscape of RNA modifications and animal behavior, learning and memory, and function of the central nervous system in health and disease.
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Luke Davis

Assistant Professor
I am interested in synthesis and characterization in inorganic and materials chemistry. I am especially interested in fundamental or applied chemistry that has important societal implications. My research laboratory has ongoing projects in several areas: Zero-emissions ironmaking. The synthesis of iron metal from iron ore contributes ca. 4% of global carbon dioxide emissions. I am interested in alternative thermochemical methods, such as the use of ammonia, for making iron from iron oxides. This project has extended to other critical metals also. Thin-film photovoltaics with earth-abundant, sulfide-based absorber layers. Thin-film photovoltaics (solar cells) provide electricity from sunlight with just a few hundred nm of light-absorbing material. We are exploring binary and ternary sulfides as top-cell materials for tandem photovoltaics. Earth-abundant molecular light absorbers and emitters. Molecular light absorbers and emitters are used in photoredox catalysis, dye-sensitized solar cells, and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). We are exploring high-spin complexes of iron and manganese to prepare new molecules that absorb and emit light. I am developing new research programs in other areas: New superconducting materials. Near-room-temperature superconductors have recently been realized in compressed hydrides. I am interested in new hydride compounds that are stable at ambient pressure and might serve as ambient-pressure, ambient-temperature superconductors. Volatile molecules carrying metal-atom equivalents for superconducting wires. Cryogenic superconducting wires enable quantum bits based on Josephson junctions. We are developing new molecules and methods to deposit the electropositive metals that make up these wires from chemical vapors.
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Xinqiang Ding

Dr. Charles W. Fotis A37, AG39 Assistant Professor
The Ding Group develops and uses computational approaches to solve problems in chemistry and biophysics. We currently focus on the following two areas. 1. Computational drug design. We aim to accelerate drug design by developing fast and accurate methods for computing protein-ligand binding free energy. To do that, we combine ideas and methods from molecular simulations, statistical mechanics and machine learning. 2. Force field development. We aim to develop a transferable and accurate coarse-grained force field for simulating large biophysical systems.
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Eric High

Lecturer
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Samuel Kounaves

Professor
Planetary Chemical Analysis & Astrobiology - In the search for life in our solar system over the past several decades, it has become increasingly clear that there may be multiple worlds besides Earth that either once had or may still have environments capable of supporting microbial life as we know it. Our current research is focused on two aspects of this search: (1) In the search for life on Mars, one key question is; how are biologically-produced molecules (biomarkers) altered when exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation in the presence of oxychlorines and their intermediate formation products? To help answer this question we are investigating the "fragmentation" patterns of such altered biogenic compounds which could then be used to identify the original biomarker and thus provide evidence for life on Mars. (2) We are developing in-situ analytical instrumentation that is designed to unambiguously detect microbial life and determine the habitability of planetary environments that may be present at the surface or subsurface of Mars, and the oceans of icy-worlds such as Saturn's moon Enceladus or Jupiter's moon Europa.
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Joshua Kritzer

Professor
Bioorganic, Biophysical, & Chemical Biology. Peptides and their mimetics can target protein surfaces in ways small molecules rarely do, making peptide libraries attractive for screening for nontraditional modes of action. The Kritzer research group takes advantage of peptide and peptidomimetic libraries to bypass many of the disadvantages of small molecule screening. They also explore how modifications such as substitution of peptide bonds with isosteres, amide N-methylation, and head-to-tail cyclization affect the activities, specificities, and bioavailabilities of functional peptides. By combining powerful techniques from organic synthesis, biophysical chemistry, molecular biology and genetics, they are developing new molecules and new strategies to attack cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases.
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Sergiy Kryatov

Distinguished Senior Lecturer
Inorganic Chemistry. Kinetics and mechanism of oxygen and hydrogen peroxide activation by metal complexes.
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Krishna Kumar

Robinson Professor of Chemistry
Bioorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology The research interests of the Kumar laboratory are centered on the (1) use of chemistry to design molecules to interrogate and illuminate fundamental mechanisms in biology, or be used as therapeutics; and (2) use of biology to "evolve" and "select" molecules that can perform chemistry in non-biological and medicinal settings. These are some questions we are trying to answer: (i) Is it possible to design and mimic natural proteins and other biological macromolecules by use of building blocks that nature does not use – and whether such constructs can be endowed with properties that are not found in biology?; (ii) How did the first enzymes arise in the imagined Darwin's pond – is there a way to recreate this scenario and in the process develop a fundamentally new method to create enzymes?; (iii) Biology uses phase separation, that is, clustering of different compounds in confined locations – a process that is key in orchestrating the daily activities of a cell – can we find methods that can predictably dictate where molecules are located in a given environment and thereby direct the phenotype that is generated?; (iv) Can we rationally design small molecules and peptides that can function against antibiotic resistant bacteria that are threatening the most basic tenet of modern medicine?
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Charlie Mace

Associate Professor
Bioanalytical and Materials Chemistry. To solve outstanding problems in global health, the Mace Lab applies a multidisciplinary approach combining aspects of analytical chemistry, materials science, and engineering. The primary goal of the Mace lab is to develop low cost, patient-centric technologies that can improve access to healthcare. To achieve this, the Mace Lab designs devices that improve the self-collection of blood and enable the diagnosis of diseases in resource-limited settings, and they are exploring ways the methods that are developed in the lab can used by others. Their main techniques leverage the properties of paper and other porous materials to integrate function into simple, affordable devices. Unique to laboratories in Chemistry departments, his group specializes in handling human blood and saliva. Technologies developed in the Mace lab have made the leap to clinical sites in Africa, South America, and the US, owing to their network of clinical, academic, and industry collaborators. The Mace Lab has broad expertise in assay development and device prototyping, which they apply to evaluating the efficacy of candidate therapeutics, performing separations that lead to new measurements, and making field-deployable kits for point-of-care testing. They have additional expertise in instrument development, phase separation in systems of polymers, and microfluidics.
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Diren Pamuk Turner

Senior Lecturer
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Rebecca Scheck

Associate Professor
Chemical Biology and Bioorganic Chemistry. The post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins is an essential cellular vocabulary that allows critical information to be communicated within and between cells. The Scheck lab pioneers new chemical biology tools that enable the decoding of PTM networks. We use these methods to unlock previously unattainable information about how PTMs are integrated into signaling networks in living cells. Our focus is on PTMs with unusual mechanisms that make them particularly complicated to study using traditional tools, which typically inhibit or profile specific enzyme activities. We use an integrated mass spectrometry and chemical biology approach to develop new, selective chemistries and chemical methods that can predictably modulate, track, or capture specific PTMs, like glycation, ubiquitination, or phosphate B-elimination. Learning how these signals are interpreted or degraded will provide access to new therapeutic targets for preventing or treating neurodegenerative diseases, bacterial infection, autoimmune disease, cancer, diabetes, and age-related diseases.
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Mary Shultz

Professor
Physical Chemistry and Surface Science. The Shultz group applies physics and chemistry to understand the inner workings of hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding plays key roles in environmental, biological, and atmospheric chemistry. Our program has research thrusts in all three directions. We specialize both in devising environments that clearly reveal key interactions and in developing new instrumentation. The most recent focus is on icy surfaces and on clathrate formation. Probing the ice surface begins with a well-prepared single-crystal surface. We have unique capabilities for growing single-crystal ice from the melt and for and preparing any desired ice face. Our clean water efforts are aimed at developing new materials to fill the significant need for safe drinking water. According to the World Health Organization, over one billion people lack safe drinking water. Our program is based on using photo catalysts to capture readily available sunlight to turn pollutants into benign CO2 and water. We developed methods to grow ultra-nano (~2 nm) particles that have well-controlled surface structures and chemistry.
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E. Charles Sykes

John Wade Professor
Physical Chemistry, Surface Science, and Nanoscience. The Sykes group utilizes state of the art scanning probes and surface science instrumentation to study technologically important systems. For example, scanning tunneling microscopy enables visualization of geometric and electronic properties of catalytically relevant metal alloy surfaces at the nanoscale. Using temperature programmed reaction studies of well defined model catalyst surfaces structure-property-activity relationships are drawn. Of particular interest is the addition of individual atoms of a reactive metal to a relatively inert host. In this way reactivity can be tuned, and provided the energetic landscapes are understood, novel bifunctional catalytic systems can be designed with unique properties that include low temperature activation and highly selective chemistry. Newly developed curved single crystal surface are also being used to open up previously inaccessible areas of structure sensitive surface chemistry and chiral surface geometries. In a different thrust, the group has developed various molecular motor systems that are enabling us to study many important fundamental aspects of molecular rotation and translation with unprecedented resolution.
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Samuel Thomas

Professor and Senior Dean of Academic Affairs
Organic Materials Chemistry Our group applies the philosophy of physical organic chemistry to organic materials, in the forms of polymers, crystals and surfaces. Specifically, we investigate new materials that show macroscopic changes in properties upon exposure to external stimuli. Our main focus has been new materials that respond to light, which has a unique combination of characteristics: i) easy control over where light goes and when it goes there (spatiotemporal control), ii) easy control over intensity and energy, and iii) the ability to pass through many solid materials that traditional chemical reagents cannot. Our research has focused in three separate areas. 1. Photochemical control of charge. As interactions between charges dictate much of molecular behavior, controlling charge can yield control over matter. We have developed a series of materials in which light switches the charge-based interactions between polymer chains from attractive. By combining this top-down fabrication approach of with the bottom-up fabrication method of layer-by-layer assembly, we have developed thin films in which photochemical lability is confined to individual nanoscale compartments, yielding photo-delaminated free-standing films and multi-height photolithography. 2. Using functional side chains to control conjugated materials. Conjugated materials hold great promise for applications including solar cells and displays. We have focused on expanding the role of the side-chains of these materials, which occupy up to half of their mass but are typically reserved only for solubility. Early work in our group focused on integrating photolabile side chains for negative conjugated photoresists. This has evolved to using the non-covalent interactions of aromatic side-chains for controlling interactions between molecules, and therefore their material properties, including the use of mechanical force to control luminescence—mechanofluorochromism. 3. Singlet-oxygen responsive materials. Singlet oxygen (1O2) is a critical reactive oxygen species in photodynamic therapy for cancer as well as in damage to plants upon overexposure to light. Its photochemical production is also chemically amplified through a photochemical reaction, which is the lynchpin of several commercial bioanalytical technologies. Through a combination of fundamental physical organic chemistry and materials chemistry, we have luminescent conjugated polymer nanoparticles as probes for 1O2 in water that shows improved limit of detection over the commercially available luminescent probe for 1O2.
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Arthur Utz

Professor
Physical and Surface Chemistry. The Utz group studies how molecules react on surfaces. Reactions at the gas-surface interface are highly dynamical events. Large-scale atomic and vibrational motions transform reactants into products on sub-ps and Å scales. The experiments probe ultrafast nuclear motion and energy flow dynamics that underlie heterogeneous catalysis and chemical vapor deposition. The goal is to to better model existing processes and direct the rational design of new catalytic materials and deposition techniques. The experiments use vibrational- and rotational-state selective laser excitation of molecules in a supersonic molecular beam to provide precise control over the energetics and orientation of the gas-phase reagent as it approaches the surface. Reaction probability and product identity is then quantified as a function of the reagent's energetic configuration. These experiments have shown that the vibrational state of the incident molecule can have a profound effect on reaction probability, and suggest that energy redisribution within the reaction complex is not complete prior to reaction and that the competing kinetics of energy redistribution and reaction might be manipulated to control the outcome of a reaction. This has been subsequently confirmed by exerting bond-elective control over a heterogeneously catalyzed reaction.
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Yu Zhang

Assistant Professor
Inorganic chemistry, Organometallic chemistry, Photochemistry, Bioinorganic Chemistry. Transition metal complexes are crucial for catalysis, energy conversion, and biological functions. Our research group is dedicated to synthesizing innovative transition metal complexes for sustainable applications. Our main research interests include: 1) developing molecular inorganic complexes for solar energy conversion; 2) exploring organometallic catalysis and small molecule activation; and 3) investigating the mechanisms underlying significant natural and industrial processes.

Affiliate Faculty

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David Walt

Affiliate

Part-time Faculty

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Jessica Karch

Lecturer
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Andrew West

Lecturer

Visiting Scholars

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Martin Beinborn

Visiting Scholar

Emeriti Faculty

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Terry Haas

Professor Emeritus
Physical Inorganic and Materials Chemistry. Current work is largely in the area of solid-state electronic and ionic conducting materials, and attempts to achieve useful optical and electronic properties through an understanding of the fundamental contributing effects. An example is the attempt to obtain nearly-free-electron (metallic) behavior in metal oxide bronzes and other intercalation compounds, in both bulk and thin-film materials. Synthesis of new materials and the characterization of their electronic, structural, and transport properties is the major goal of the work. To this end, we use optical spectroscopic (UV-VIS, NIR, IR) and magnetic measurements to probe electronic ground state structures, single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction to investigate crystallography and conductivity, Hall-effect measurements to probe electronic transport, and electrochemical means to investigate thermodynamic properties and kinetics of ionic motion.
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Albert Robbat Jr

Associate Professor Emeritus
Analytical Chemistry Professor Robbat's area of expertise is in separation science and mass spectrometry. His group develops data analysis software that automatically identifies and quantifies target compounds by mathematically deconvolving mass spectra for up to 20 coeluting compounds. Once identified the spectra of target compounds are subtracted from the total ion current chromatogram resulting in mass spectra of unknowns. Once these compounds are identified, they are added to the retention time and mass spectrum library to analyze a wide variety of samples. They routinely track plant-climate interactions for tea, coffee, citrus fruit, and berries of between 500 and 1500 volatile metabolites. The objective is to learn how changes in climate will affect the sensory and nutritional compounds in foods we consume. Toward this end, they employ GC/MS, GC-GC/MS, and GCxGC/MS all with olfactory detection to learn first-hand how changes in metabolite distribution and concentration are affected. Professor Robbat's research interests include the development of innovative analytical instruments, methods, and data analysis software used to solve a wide range of environmental problems, including: a subsurface sampling and analysis probe that detects pollutants without bringing soil or groundwater to the surface for analysis. This technology is used to rapidly characterize hazardous waste sites and to provide monitoring data during cleanup.
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Robert Stolow

Professor Emeritus
Physical Organic Chemistry. Research interests include use of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in studies of the stereochemistry and conformations of organic molecules, computer applications in teaching and research, and organic synthesis. Projects have included the study of nonchair conformations of cyclohexane derivatives, the influence of electrostatic interactions among polar groups upon conformational equilibria, and conformational studies of molecules of biological interest. Much of this work required the synthesis of organic compounds with deuterium and carbon-13 at specific locations for use in the determination of NMR coupling constants and relaxation times, and are interpreted in terms of conformational equilibria. Experimental conformational energies were also compared with those calculated by use of the methods of computational chemistry. Other projects have involved the use of computers in teaching organic chemistry. The most ambitious of these projects was designed to develop an interactive computer program for teaching of organic synthesis.