Organic Chemistry Faculty Research Interests

Prof. Deb Dillner Overview: 1.Organic Synthesis 2.Collaboration with Professor Rehill (biology) on a project to isolate and identify tannins from oak leaves. 3.Chemical Education Projects 1 and 2 fulfill Biochemistry Option requirement

Continuing projects: Prof. Dillner 1. Organic Synthesis – Use of Microwave Reactor to Accelerate Wittig (Horner Eamons) Reaction

Continuing projects: Prof. Dillner 2. Isolation and identification of tannins from oak leaves (Midn. J. Francisco) – Combines LC/MS 2D NMR spectroscopy

Chemical Education Research Question: Will changing the order of topics in SC111 lead to improved understanding and performance in SC112?

Prof. Shirley Lin Overview: My background is in organometallic and supramolecular chemistry with a focus on polymers. My research interests are: A)developing new catalytic transformations (with Prof MacArthur) B)synthesis of new functional materials C) chemistry education Project : catalytic synthetic methodologies (fulfills biochemistry concentration) Amidation of aryl chlorides using a current tandem catalytic methodology (1/C Brice Clairmont) Previous CTC publications: K. A. Cannon, M. E. Geuther, C. K. Kelly, S. Lin, and A. H. R. MacArthur Organometallics (15), M. M. Coughlin, C. K. Kelly, S. Lin, and A. H. R. MacArthur Organometallics (12),

Title: Soluble Biomimetic Carbon Monoxide Sensor. Background: - There is a need for a cheap portable CO-detecting badge / film. - Most substances which bind CO also bind oxygen (O 2 ). - Thus selective detection of trace amounts of CO in air is difficult due to competitive binding of the much more abundant O 2. - Josh Lebenson (USNA '07) discovered, studied and published a new material, Fe(TATAP), which changes color on exposure to CO but which has no detectable affinity for O 2. - Pybus and West-Santos (USNA ‘14) and Toohig (USNA ‘15) have improved solubility and possibly enhanced CO affinity of Fe(TATAP). Proposal: Perhaps test other metals, test in films, etc. Prof. Fitzgerald

Title: Kinetic Molecular Theory Explanation of Bernoulli’s Principle. Background: - Kinetic Molecular Theory, taught in all general chemistry courses, explains how gases exert pressure on surfaces, effusion / diffusion, etc. - Bernoulli’s Principle, a fundamental concept in fluid dynamics, states that the pressure exerted by a flowing fluid is inversely related to the speed of the fluid. - two seem incompatible! (to me) Proposal: Reconcile Kinetic Molecular Theory and Bernoulli’s Principle in a way that can be understood by general chemistry students and college professors. Develop simple laboratory activities or demonstrations that explain Bernoulli’s Principle in terms of Kinetic Molecular Theory. Prof. Fitzgerald

Prof. Joe Urban Overview: Computational chemistry/molecular modeling of organic and bioorganic compounds Projects: Molecular Modeling Studies of Model Peptide Mimics Computational chemistry techniques are being used to investigate the conformational properties of modified peptide compounds. The work involves using molecular modeling software (ex: Spartan) on local computers as well as remote DoD supercomputers.

Professor Craig Whitaker Overview: My research areas focus on materials chemistry and polymer chemistry. Project: Smart hydrogels incorporating chemical agent markers and dye sensor molecules are designed to detect organophosphorus nerve agents (such as Sarin gas). The stimuli-responsive hydrogels act as sensors when immersed in water supplies and in gas phase detection. Current students: Eleanor Derouin (‘16) and Morgan O’Connor (‘16)