ChemistryAND CHEMICAL PHYSICS

GRADUATE STUDIES

University of Nevada, Reno

Contents

Welcome 3About the University of Nevada, Reno 4The Chemistry Program 5 Degree Programs 5 Courses 5 Credit Requirements 5 Examinations 6 Student Seminars 6 Research 6 Graduate Teaching 7 Graduate Courses 7 Graduate Admission 8Chemical Physics Program 9Facilities and Equipment 11Reno: The Community and Its Setting 13The Faculty Frank G. Baglin 16 Thomas W. Bell 17 Ana de Bettencourt-Dias 18 Sean M. Casey 19 Vincent J. Catalano 20 Joseph I. Cline 21 Kent M. Ervin 22 Brian J. Frost 23 Benjamin T. King 24 David M. Leitner 25 David A. Lightner 26 Jason Shearer 27 Robert S. Sheridan 28 Suk-Wah Tam-Chang 29 Hyung-June Woo 30 Liming Zhang 31 Sarah A. Cummings, Garry N. Fickes, Sési M. McCullough, Charles B. Rose 32 Scott W. Waite, Richard D. Burkhart 33 Kenneth C. Kemp, H. Eugene Lemay, Jr., John H. Nelson 34 Hyung K. Shin 35

Above: Students align a Nd:YAG laser system in Dr. Cline’s laboratory. Below: Reno skyline. At right: the Chemistry building. On cover: View of the University of Nevada.

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Thank you for your interest in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno.

We are a teaching- and research-oriented department offering degrees in Chemistry (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.), Environmental Chemistry (B.S.), and Chemical Physics (Ph.D., jointly with the Physics Department), including bachelor’s degree programs certified by the American Chemical Society. As a relatively small department, we are able to provide close interactions among students and faculty. Many of our undergraduates and all of our graduate students participate in state-of-the-art chemistry research, working with a faculty mentor. Our graduates go on to employment in

academia, industry, and government; many of our Bachelor’s degree graduates are admitted to high-ranked graduate chemistry programs, medical, or dental schools. In the most recent National Resource Council survey of chemistry departments, our department was ranked second nationally among departments of our size or smaller.

We are located in the Chemistry Building near the center of the University of Nevada, Reno campus. This brochure is designed to provide information for both current and prospective students about our programs and services. More detail can be found on our web site (link at right).

Please contact us if you have any questions.— Dr. Vince Catalano, Department Chair

For more information write:

Graduate Admissions CommitteeDepartment of Chemistry

University of Nevada, RenoReno, NV 89557-0216

E-mail: grad@chem.unr.eduWebsite: www.chem.unr.edu

Or call (775)-784-6041

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About the University of Nevada, Reno Situated on the foothills at the northern edge of the

Truckee Meadows metropolitan area, the University of Nevada campus commands a panoramic view of the Washoe Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevada to the west, and Reno to the south. The University is a land grant institution and the oldest of the eight institutions in the Nevada System of Higher Education. The student body numbers over 16,000 and consists of the Colleges of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources; Business Administration; Education; Engineering; Health and Human Sciences; the Reynolds School of Journal-ism; Liberal Arts; Medicine; and Science. Additionally, Cooperative Extension is a non-degree-granting college. Several schools exist as sub-units of the colleges, includ-ing the Schools of Nursing, Public Health, and Social Work in Health and Human Sciences, the School of the Arts in Liberal Arts, and the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering in the College of Science. The Department of Chemistry is part of the College of Science with its graduate programs administered by the Graduate School.

The 255-acre main campus features both historic and contem-porary architecture. The central campus includes scenic Manzanita Lake (pictured above) and the beautiful elm-lined Quadrangle (pictured at left), listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On the campus are five galleries and museums, the Church Fine Arts Complex with several theaters, and the Lawlor Events Center, a regular site for concerts, athletic events, and other local activities. At the north end of campus are the university-affiliated Fleischmann Planetarium and the E.L. Cord Public Telecommunications Center, which provide educational programs and public radio/TV broad-casting. Although affordable on-campus parking is available for stu-dents, many choose to find housing among a wide variety available

within convenient walking or cycling distance to campus. There is also an extensive public transportation system providing campus access from throughout the Truckee Meadows.

The University is the cultural focus of Northern Nevada, sponsoring a special performing artist series, a plethora of musical concerts, an active drama program with several plays on campus each year, and frequent exhibitions that feature local artists. In addition, it supports major college athletics such as football, basketball, track, baseball, swimming, and volleyball as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

The chemistry department maintains a close relationship with other campus departments with related interests, including biochemistry, molecular biology, and physics. The Desert Research Institute (DRI), a division of the university system, is headquartered in Reno and sponsors research programs of particular concern to Nevada and other western states. Desert biology, atmospheric chemistry and physics, and water and soil resources are primary areas of research at the institute.

Manzanita Lake on the University campus.

The central Quad on the campus.

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The Chemistry ProgramIn comparison with many contemporary graduate institutions, Nevada’s chemistry depart-

ment enjoys an exceedingly favorable student to faculty ratio, with 17 faculty, 60-65 graduate students, and typically 12-15 postdoctoral associates and visiting faculty. Our department has enjoyed tremendous growth in its personnel and research facilities over the past 10 years. The research programs in the department enjoy an excellent international reputation, reflecting our commitment to quality and our success in competing for research funding. Research grants in the department total more than $1 million per year, with much of that money spent on sup-port for graduate research assistants.

An important aspect of graduate education is exposure to and interaction with scientists from outside the university. The department maintains an outstanding seminar program with approximately 40 outside speakers of international stature each year, many from over-seas. Among the highlights of this program are the annual R.C. Fuson Lectureship, the annual Distinguished Physical Chemist Lectureship, and the biennial Sierra Nevada ACS Distinguished Chemist Lectureship, which have featured many Nobel Laureates.

Degree Programs: The Department of Chemistry of-fers graduate programs leading to a Master of Science in Chemistry and to a Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry. An interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Chemical Physics is offered in cooperation with the Department of Physics. Students enrolled in the Chemical Physics program follow a different set of requirements, outlined beginning on page 9.

Courses: The department emphasizes individualized programs for each graduate student, tailored to interest and career goals. Initial assessment examinations in inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry are given at the beginning of students’ graduate studies in order to ascertain prepara-tion levels. The examinations are used primarily for initial advisement purposes to help select a program of courses appropriate to individual student training. Each year a monetary award is presented to the entering student with the best overall performance on these exams.

Chemistry M.S. and Ph.D. graduates are expected to have a broad background in the major areas of chemistry. Most students take “core” courses in the areas of inorganic (CHEM 631), organic (CHEM 642), and physical chemistry (CHEM 650) during their first semester. Students that demonstrate exceptional proficiency in one or more areas on the qualifying exams may be exempted from taking the corresponding core courses. Following the graduate core courses, two additional graduate lecture courses are required for the M.S. degree; four additional gradu-ate lecture courses are required for the Ph.D. degree. These specialized courses are chosen in consultation with one’s research adviser to fit specific interests and to provide a suitable background for research.

Credit Requirements: The general credit requirements for the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry are listed on the website at: www.chem.unr.edu. Information on requirements for

Students discuss organic chemistry in Dr. Zhang’s laboratory.

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the Chemical Physics Ph.D. program are given separately on pages 9-10. Further details about degree requirements, including general requirements of the Graduate School, may be found in the most recent General Catalog of the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Chemistry Gradu-ate Student Guidelines, which always supersede the information given here.

Examinations: The written candidacy exam in chemistry is a series of cumulative examina-tions that are given to test one’s ability to solve problems in chemistry and to integrate material from various courses, the current chemical literature, and seminars. After completion of the cumulative exam requirement an oral comprehensive examination is required for admission to Ph.D. candidacy. Fulfillment of the requirements for the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees is attained with the writing of an original thesis (M.S.) or dissertation (Ph.D.) on one’s research. Finally, the thesis or dissertation is defended in an oral examination before one’s graduate advisory committee.

Student Seminars: Recognizing the importance of oral communication in the sciences, the department requires all graduate students to present at least two departmental seminars. The first of these is given in the third semester of residence and is based on a topic taken from the

chemical literature. The second seminar, usually given no later than the third year of residence, is a final thesis seminar for M.S. candidates and a “research progress report” for Ph.D. candidates. Ph.D. students also often present a dissertation seminar immedi-ately prior to their oral defense.

Research: Research is the foundation for all the graduate degree programs offered by the Department of Chemistry. The focus of graduate study is a program of original research under the direction of a faculty adviser. Students are encouraged to select a research adviser and start on thesis (M.S.) or disserta-tion (Ph.D.) research by the second semester in residence. This is especially important as one’s research topic is a large factor in

determining subsequent course curriculum. Research study options in the department include organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, theoretical chemistry, chemical physics, physical organic chemistry, bio-organic chemistry, bio-inorganic chemistry, and organometallic chemistry. After choosing a research adviser, a graduate advisory committee comprised of the adviser and other faculty in the chemistry department is formed. This committee approves programs of study and presides over oral examinations. The research pro-gram culminates in the completion of a thesis or dissertation.

Graduate Teaching: The ability to communicate knowl-edge to others is an important part of a graduate education, whether or not one plans to pursue a career in teaching. The department requires that all graduate students have some teaching experience as part of their advanced degree require-

Students work on an ultrahigh vacuum chamber in Dr. Casey’s laboratory.

A student working up a reac-tion in Dr. Bell’s laboratory.

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ments. To aid in the development of teaching and communication skills, beginning teaching assistants participate in the Graduate School Instructional Development orientation program just prior to their first fall semester, and take CHEM 700, Supervised Teaching in College Chemis-try, during their first fall semester.

A typical first year graduate student is assigned to teach two laboratories per week (6 contact hours) plus some exam proctoring and grading. Lab responsibilities include providing brief introductions of the experiments, answering student questions in lab, and grading students’ written lab reports. Experiments take 1.5 to 3 hours and the enrollment of lab sections is limited to 25 students. Teaching assistants frequently generate and administer pre lab quizzes to their students to test preparation and understanding of concepts used in the experiments. Each year the department presents an award to its outstanding teaching assistant.

Graduate Courses: The following is a listing of regularly offered graduate courses in the Department of Chemistry. Courses in other departments of interest to chemistry graduate students may be found in the UNR General Catalog. The University of Nevada, Reno operates on the semester system with the Fall semester beginning in late August and ending in mid December, and the Spring semester beginning in late January and ending in mid May.

631 ADVANCED INORGANIC CHEMISTRY635 CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS 642 ADVANCED ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 643 ORGANIC SPECTROSCOPY AND STRUCTURE 644 ORGANIC STRUCTURE DETERMINATION LABORATORY649 POLYMER CHEMISTRY 650 ADVANCED PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 651 THE ELEMENTARY PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY OF MACROMOLECULES655 INSTRUMENTAL ANALYSIS 700 SUPERVISED TEACHING IN COLLEGE CHEMISTRY 711 THEORETICAL INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 712 THE LESS FAMILIAR ELEMENTS 713 ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY 714 SPECIAL TOPICS IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 740 ADVANCED ORGANIC SYNTHESIS 741 ADVANCED ORGANIC STRUCTURE ELUCIDATION 742 THEORETICAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 743 SPECIAL TOPICS IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 744 STEREOCHEMISTRY AND CONFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS 745 CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL PRODUCTS 751 SPECIAL TOPICS IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY752 CHEMICAL KINETICS 754 MOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY 755 STATISTICAL THERMODYNAMICS 757 QUANTUM CHEMISTRY

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Chairman, Graduate Admissions CommitteeDepartment of ChemistryUniversity of Nevada, Reno1664 N. Virginia St.Reno, NV 89557-0216E-mail: grad@chem.unr.eduor to apply on-line please see our web site at: http://www.chem.unr.edu

Graduate Admission: Formal application is required for admission to the degree programs of the Graduate School. Application materials may be requested by writing to the address given below or visiting the web site at www.chem.unr.edu. The application consists of several parts, including an application form for admission to our graduate school and an application form for graduate fellowship for financial support, instructions for completing these forms, and enve-lopes for letters of recommendation written by individuals able to comment on one’s qualifica-tions for graduate studies. Completed application forms should then be sent directly to the chemistry department. The department accepts applications at all times of the year; however, most students apply during the winter and spring of their senior year in college for admission in the following fall semester.

Applicants should have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry or a related field, and should have a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for admission to the Ph.D. program and 2.75 (or 3.0 for the last two years) for the M.S. program. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) general exam scores must be submitted as part of the application. Consideration for admission to the depart-ment’s program is based on one’s apparent potential for successful completion of the degree as indicated by undergraduate performance, letters of recommendation, and GRE scores. The department encourages applications from women and minority students.

Financial Aid: Financial support for incoming graduate students is provided primarily through teaching fellowships. The amount of the stipend for a ten month appointment is adjusted for cost of living increases each year, and the department should be contacted to learn the cur-rent stipend. Students generally receive an additional two month research fellowship during the summer. It should be noted that the actual value of a teaching fellowship appointment for an out of state student is quite a bit higher because tuition and other fees are significantly subsidized.

Financial support from research assistantships and fellowships is also available to highly qualified entering students. It is the usual practice of the department to support students during the entire time that they are working toward an advanced degree. Most students are supported during the bulk of their graduate studies on their research director’s research grants. It has been our experience that the stipends we provide to students, coupled with the reasonable cost of living found in Reno, make it possible for students to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

For more information regarding the department’s gradu-ate program and financial assistance, please contact:

Students load a sample into an ultrahigh vacuum chamber for sur-face chemical analysis in Dr. Casey’s laboratory.

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Chemical PhysicsThe chemical physics program provides an interdisciplinary curriculum for those students

whose primary research interests are in atomic and molecular physics and physical chemistry. While requiring the student to complete a rigorous selection of courses that outline the foun-dations of modern chemical physics, the chemical physics program also offers extreme flex-ibility in the choice of dissertation topic as the student may choose any of the affiliated faculty in either the chemistry or the physics departments to serve as a research adviser.

Graduates of the program have gone on to a variety of outstanding postdoctoral research and teaching positions, with many excellent employment opportunities awaiting them in academics, industry, and government research labs. Several of today’s most exciting new tech-nologies are in the areas of molecular and materials sciences— for example, nanotechnology, molecular devices, and high temperature superconducting materials— and a background in chemical physics is the key to exploring the future in these areas.

Curriculum: The curriculum in chemical physics is based on five required, or “core,” courses which should be taken as early as possible in the student’s residency. The core courses are comprised of the following:

Mathematical Physics PHYS 701 Quantum Theory I CHEM 757 or PHYS 721 Quantum Theory II PHYS 722 or CHEM 750 Statistical Mechanics CHEM 755 or PHYS 732

Choice of: Classical Mechanics PHYS 702 Chemical Kinetics CHEM 752 Modern Optics and Laser Physics PHYS 730

Additional, or “elective,” courses in areas of particular interest to the student are then used to fill out the curriculum. These courses are typically chosen from the 600- and 700-level courses offered by the physics, chemistry, and mathematics departments. A full listing of the degree requirements for the program can be found on the web page: www.chemphys.unr.edu

Associated Faculty: The faculty associated with the chemical physics program are listed below along with a brief indication of their research areas.

Frank G. Baglin Chemistry Raman scattering in supercritical fluidsBruno S. Bauer Physics Experimental studies of plasma waves and instabilitiesReinhard Bruch Physics Low and high energy ion-atom and ion- molecule collisionsSean M. Casey Chemistry Semiconductor surface scienceJoseph I. Cline Chemistry Molecular stereodynamicsAndrei Derevianko Physics Theoretical physics

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Kent M. Ervin Chemistry Cluster ion reactions and photophysicsDavid M. Leitner Chemistry Biophysical theoretical chemistryRoberto C. Mancini Physics Theory and modeling of laser-produced transient plasmasKatherine R. McCall Physics Theoretical condensed matter physicsHans Moosmüller Physics Atmospheric and aerosol physicsRonald A. Phaneuf Physics Experimental studies of highly charged ion interactions with electrons and atoms Alla Safranova Physics Theoretical plasma physics Jonathan Weinstein Physics Ultracold atomic and molecular physics Peter Winkler Physics Theory of many-body systemsHyung-June Woo Chemistry Biophysical theoretical chemistry

Admission: Admission into the chemical physics program is handled separately by the chem-istry and physics departments. Interested students whose background is primarily in chemistry are encouraged to apply through the chemistry department, listing “chemical physics” as the specific area of chemistry on the application form. Those students whose background is in physics should likewise seek admission through the physics department. The individual de-partments provide financial support through teaching and research fellowships to the chemical physics students that they admit.

For more information about the program, please con-tact:

Prof. Joseph I. ClineDirector, Chemical Physics ProgramDepartment of ChemistryUniversity of Nevada, Reno1664 N. Virginia St.Reno, NV 89557-0216WWW: http://www.chemphys.unr.edu

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Facilities and EquipmentChemistry research is heavily reliant on modern facilities, instrumentation, and technical

support personnel. The Chemistry Department at Nevada is endowed with a full complement of support services, shops, and laboratories. These facilities are managed by our Director of Chemistry Laboratories, Scott Waite.

The Chemistry Building is a four-story structure located in the central campus, adjoining the Leifson Physics Building and near the engineering research complex. Custom research instru-

ments are fabricated in our professionally staffed machine shop and a student shop is also available. Specialty glassware and high vacuum systems are fabricated in the glass shop. Custom circuit design, construction, and instrument maintenance is provided by electronics engineer Tom Grothaus in the electron-ics shop.

Research in synthetic chemistry is heavily dependent on the most sophisticated tools for structure elucidation. The Magnetic Resonance Laboratory houses three nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers for departmental use: two Varian 400-MHz spec-trometers, and a Varian Unity-Plus 500-MHz spectrometer. The 400-MHz instruments are equipped with quad nucleus probes

(proton, fluorine, carbon, and phosphorous) and a 100 sample autochanger. The Varian-500 is a multi-nuclear instrument with variable temperature, double resonance, and two-dimensional capabilities, and it can also carry out C/H/P triple resonance, indirect detection, and gradient spectroscopy. Each NMR instrument is connected by Ethernet to remote data stations for off-line data processing and analysis. Magnetic resonance specialist Lew Cary maintains these instruments and provides expert assistance with more sophisticated experiments. The X-ray structure determination laboratory is equipped with a Bruker-Nonius SMART Apex CCD-based single crystal diffractometer with low temperature capabilities. This instrument is interfaced to multiple workstations for data analysis and structure visualization. Mass spectrometry can be performed using a Saturn GC-MS equipped with an autoinjector, a Bruker Proflex MALDI-TOF instrument, a Waters atmospheric pressure chemical ionization / photoionization / electrospray ionization (APCI / APPI / ESI) quadrupole mass spectrometer, or the high-resolution mass spec-trometry center on campus, depending on one’s sample needs. Transient emission, absorption, and excited state lifetime studies are possible using the departmental laser spectroscopy facility which includes a diode array spectrometer and a tunable pulsed laser. The department also maintains an atomic absorption spectrometer, a routine Perkin-Elmer Spectrum 2000 FTIR with mid- and far-IR capabilities, a routine Fluoromax-3 Horiba fluorimeter, several UV-vis spectro-photometers, and a scanning tunneling microscope that are primarily used for instructional purposes. Electronic absorption, infra-red, and fluorescence spectroscopies are facilitated by several other departmental teaching spectrometers.

Computational facilities are a critically important part of chemical research. The chemistry department maintains several high performance Beowulf computer clusters. The departmental general use cluster is configured with 42 2.2-GHz AMD Opteron (64-bit) processors, 84 GB of RAM, TB RAID disk storage, and gigabit networking. Computational research groups also have their own clusters. PBS and a sophisticated scheduler handle job allocations. Available applica-

A student sets up a reaction in a fume hood in Dr. Bell’s laboratory.

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tions include Gaussian 03, Amber, NWChem, Ghemical, and ORCA. A chemistry com-puting laboratory consisting of 12 Pentium IV-class computers is available for instructional and research computing. These departmental ma-chines, together with those in individual research groups, are connected by the departmen-tal Ethernet to the high-speed campus fiber optic computing backbone and the Internet. The department’s computer systems are coordinated by our Computing and Network-ing Administrator.

Much of our most impres-sive and specialized instru-mentation is found within the laboratories of individual re-search groups. Computational equipment available includes UNIX and LINUX workstations and a host of desktop microcomputers. The physical chem-istry groups utilize lasers for non-linear, high-resolution, or fast spectroscopy, and for studies of molecular dynamics. Laser equipment includes pulsed high-power Nd:YAG lasers, tun-able infrared and visible semiconductor lasers, high-power excimer lasers, Ar ion lasers, copper vapor lasers, and several tunable CW and pulsed dye lasers. Other state-of-the-art equip-ment includes high vacuum molecular beam and ion beam chambers, ultra-high vacuum chambers for studies of surface chemistry, a variety of specialized optics and instruments for nonlinear spectroscopy and polarized laser experiments, ion and photon detectors, fast digital oscilloscopes and detection electronics, and time-of-flight, quadrupole, and magnetic mass spectrometers and octopole ion traps. Most synthetic chemistry groups have their

Chemsitry front office staff: (l to r) Roxie Taft, Jennifer Melius, Xanthea Elsbree, and Jenny Costa.

(Above left) Machinist Walt Weaver fabricates specialized instruments for research projects in the chemistry department. (Above) Electrical engineer Tom Grothaus designs and fabricates custom electronic circuits for research projects. (Above right) Lew Cary manages the departmen-tal magnetic resonance laboratories.

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own Fourier transform IR spectrometers and other specialized research instruments.The DeLaMare Library currently subscribes to about 1200 print journals and provides con-

nection to over 19000 electronic journals. The Library, which is the physical science and engi-neering library on the UNR campus, houses Chemical Abstracts and provides 24-hour access via SciFinder to the full Chemical Abstracts and Registry files online. Bound journal volumes and an exhaustive collection of reference books (about 100000) are also housed there. Computer access to on-line retrieval services and databases is readily available, with assistance provided from our librarians. The online catalog provides instant information on holdings in the entire University of Nevada Library System and other libraries connected to the Internet.

Reno: The Community and its SettingReno is situated in a broad valley of the Truckee River on the eastern slope of the Sierra

Nevada Mountains and on the western boundary of the Great Basin high desert. Reno weather is temperate due to the mountainous location and the elevation of 4500 feet. Summers are comfortable and dry with cool evening temperatures and low humidity. Despite heavy snow in the surrounding mountains, winters in Reno are moderate with only occasional, short-lived snowfalls. The average temperatures call for highs in January of 45 F and lows of 18 F. July temperatures range from a normal high of 91 F to a normal low of 50 F.

Reno has long been famed as "The Biggest Little City in the World." With a population of about 400,000 in the greater Reno area, the region offers the advantages and excitement of a major urban area along with the quality of life characteristic of a relatively small western community. The major industry in Reno is tourism and the big names in show business can be found in the downtown and Lake Tahoe entertainment centers. Fine restaurants and night clubs exist in abundance.

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Reno also supports a thriving arts community rivaled by few cities of its size: philharmonic and chamber orchestras, a municipal band, an opera guild, a performing artist series, a summer arts festival, and active theater groups. Several art galleries, museums, and a planetarium are located on or near the university campus and throughout the community. The municipally-owned Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Reno and the Church Fine Arts Complex at the university provide fine settings for artistic and cultural events. The Convention Center near the southern edge of the city and the Lawlor Events Center on campus are used for indoor athletic activities such as basketball, for large concerts, conventions, and trade fairs.

Many major special events and festivals are held in Reno on an annual basis. Examples in-clude the National Championship Air Races, The Great Reno Balloon Race, Hot August Nights (a celebration of 50's music, cars, and culture), the Nevada State Fair and the Reno Rodeo ("the World's Wildest and Richest"). Reno is the home of the National Bowling Stadium, where bowl-ing tournaments are held regularly. The nearby communities of Virginia City and Carson City are of interest to fans of the culture and history of the Old West.

Rand McNally's Vacation Places Rated has ranked Reno-Tahoe as the number one location in the nation for outdoor sports activities. Dozens of’ golf courses lie within an hour's drive of downtown Reno and numerous parks, swimming pools, and picnic areas are found within the city. The Truckee River, which runs from Lake Tahoe through Reno to Pyramid Lake, provides a natural parkway that winds through the heart of the city and a developed bicycle and pedes-trian path follows its course. Reno is surrounded by public lands that provide hiking and moun-

tain biking opportunities immediately accessible from the city and the university campus.

The Reno-Lake Tahoe area provides one of the highest concentration of developed alpine and nordic skiing facilities in the world and back country skiing opportunities are equally acces-sible. In summers, road and mountain biking, camping, hiking (including portions of the Pacific Crest Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail), and rock climbing in the Sierra Nevada are unsurpassed.

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To the east of the city, the rugged mountains and isolation of the Great Basin desert challenge more adventurous outdoor enthusiasts with country as wild and remote as can be found in the West, including National Forests and National Wilderness Areas. Big game and bird hunting, as well as fishing, are out-standing in the immediate Reno area and throughout the state. Special regional attractions include the winter sports complex at Squaw Valley, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, one of the country’s largest cross-country ski resorts at Royal Gorge, and the unique year-round recreational opportunities at Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake.

Beyond the local area, Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic, Great Basin, Red-wood, Crater Lake, Death Valley, and Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks are located within a day’s drive from Reno. Interstate 80 leads west through Sacramento (about two and one-half hours), to the San Francisco Bay area (about four hours), passing through some of the finest mountain scenery in the nation.

Reno is a major industry and trade center for the western geographic region. While gaming, mining, and agriculture remain the most important components of the regional economy, local industry, usually science-based and research oriented, is becom-ing an increasingly significant economic factor in the community.

Reno is the headquarters for the Sierra Nevada Section of the American Chemical Society. Many of the faculty, students, and staff in the chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical engineer-ing departments, the Desert Research Institute, and scientists in local government and industry are involved in local ACS activities.

32 - Faculty

The development and application of electrochemical methods are the focus or our research. We are interested in using these methods to solve problems in analytical chemistry, energy conversion and corrosion. Renewable energy sources can be utilized with electrochemical devices such as fuel cells, batteries and dye-sensitized solar cells. We are interested in studying the fundamental properties of materials used for these applications to explain observed trends in electrocatalytic

activity; we aim at using this knowledge to design new materials for more efficient devices. We apply electrochemical principles to study the thermodynamics and kinetics of electron transfer reactions to correlate these with structure and other properties of materials. We are interested in developing new methods for the analysis of nanostructures, films and bulk materials for their potential use in energy conversion, such as semiconductors for harvesting solar energy and electrocatalysts for fuel cells (see Fig. 1).

Selected Publications

1. “Photoelectrochemistry studies of the band structure of Zn2SnO4 prepared by the hydro-thermal method,” Alpuche-Aviles, M.A.; Wu, Y. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2009, ASAP.

2. “Interrogation of surfaces for the quantification of adsorbed species on electrodes: Oxygen on gold and platinum in neutral media,” Rodriguez Lopez, J.; Alpuche-Aviles, M.A.; Bard, A.J. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2008, 130, 16985-16995.

3. “Cyclic voltammetry studies of Cd2+ and Zn2+ complexation with hydroxyl terminated polyamidoamine generation 2 dendrimer at a mercury microelectrode,” Nepomnyashchii, A.; Alpuche-Aviles, M.A.; Pan, S.; Zhan, D.; Fan, F.-R.; Bard, A.J. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry 2008, 621, 286-296.

4. “Screening of oxygen evolution electrocatalysts by scanning electrochemical microscopy using a tip shielding approach,” Minguzzi, A.; Alpuche-Aviles, M.A.; Rodriguez Lopez, J.; Ron-dinini, S.; Bard, A.J. Analytical Chemistry 2008, 80, 4055-4064.

5. “Imaging of metal ion dissolution and electrodeposition by anodic stripping voltammetry-scanning electrochemical microscopy,” Alpuche-Aviles, M.A.; Baur, J.E.; Wipf, D.O. Analytical Chemistry 2008, 80, 3612-3621.

6. “Scanning electrochemical microscopy. 59. Effect of defects and structure on electron trans-fer through self-assembled monolayers,” Kiani, A.; Alpuche-Aviles, M.A.; Eggers, P.; Jones, M.;. Gooding, J.J.; Paddon-Row, M.N.; Bard, A.J. Langmuir 2008, 24, 2841-2849.

7. “Selective insulation with polytetrafluoroethylene of substrate electrodes for electrochemi-cal background reduction in scanning electrochemical microscopy,” Rodriguez Lopez, J.; Alpuche-Avilés, M.A.; Bard, A.J. Analytical Chemistry 2008, 80, 1813-1818.

8. “Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry - scanning electrochemical microscopy,” Luis Díaz-Ballote, L.; Alpuche-Avilés, M.A.; Wipf, D.O. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry 2007, 604, 17-25.

Mario A. AlpucheAssistant ProfessorAnalytical, Physical and Materials ChemistryE-mail: malpuche@unr.edu

B.S. (Licenciatura, 1999) Autonomous University of Yucatan; Ph.D. (2005), Mississippi State University (David Wipf); Postdoctoral Fellow (2005-2007), The University of Texas at Austin, Center for Electrochem-istry (Allen J. Bard), and (2007-2009) The Ohio State University (Yiying Wu).

16 - Faculty

FRANK G. BAGLINProfessorPhysical Chemistry; Chemical Physics E-mail: baglin@unr.edu

B.S. (1963), Michigan State University; Ph.D. (1967), Washington State University (E.L. Wagner); Postdoctoral (1967-68), NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, University of South Carolina (J.R. Durig); Alexander Van Humboldt Fellow (1981-83), University of Dortmund (Heiner Versmold).

Generally, our interests focus on the electro-optical properties of supracritical dense gases. Because of the supracritical property we can vary the density with complete freedom without condensation taking place. This allows us to probe the intermolecular potential of the system via interaction induced (ii) Raman light scattering. The Raman spectral intensity, I, may be written as I = 2 N2 <m

12>2 + 4 N3 <m

12m

13> + N4 <m

12m

34>

where N is the number density and the mij’s are the induced spectral mo-

ments. The N3 term’s moments are negative so at high enough density values the spectral intensity will begin to fall off sharply. Thus, the Raman ii

signal may be thought of as arising from local density fluctuations giving rise to transient local field gradients.

Most recently, we have been investigat-ing neat methane and methane solution spectra at supracritical conditions. We have seen that the Raman depolarization ratios (RDR) track the ultra-strong rotation-vibration coupling (coriolis constant) in the methane molecule. The RDR changes very rapidly at elevated densities (pressure) indicating changes in the intermolecular potential function. Depending upon the molecules surrounding the methane, the position of the sigmoidal curves will shift reflecting the inter-body potential change. In the figure above, frequency shifts are denoted by triangles and the RDR data by squares.

Intermolecular Raman light scattering depends upon the electron polarizabilty between molecules. As the molecules move the polarizability must change. Thus, as the molecular motion fluctuates so does the polarizabilty. As a result, the polarizability tracks the molecular positional fluctuations.

Selected Publications

“An interpretation of the solute-solvent interactions in supercritical binary fluids as moni-1. tored by interaction-induced Raman light scattering,” Palmer, T.; Stanbery, W.; Baglin, F.G. J. Mol. Liqs. 2000, 85, 153. “Interaction-induced Raman light scattering as a probe of the local density of binary super-2. critical solutions,” Baglin, F.G.; Murray, S.K.; Daugherty, J.E.; Palmer, T.E.; Stanbery, W. Mol. Phys. 2000, 98, 409.“Interaction induced Raman light scattering studies of CH3.

4/H

2 mixtures as a function of

density,” Baglin, F.G.; Sweitzer, S.; Friend, D.G. J. Phys. Chem. B 1997, 101, 8816-8822.“Raman light scattering from supracritical binary fluid mixtures: CH4.

4/CF

4,” Baglin, F.G.;

Sweitzer, S.; Stanbery, W.J. Chem. Phys. 1996, 105, 7285.“Identification of 1, 2 and 3 body Raman scattering by the field gradient induced dipole A 5. tensor in methane,” Baglin, F.G.; Rose, E.J.; Sweitzer, S. Mol. Phys. 1995, 84, 115.

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Our research projects draw upon concepts and methods in synthetic and physical organic chemistry, coordination chemistry, spectroscopy and struc-tural chemistry. The unifying theme is molecular devices: molecules that are tailored to bind and sense other molecules, to act as switches or motors, or to act as drugs interfering with biochemical processes. We have made artificial receptors by fusing rings, particularly pyridine, that can bind guest molecules by forming hydrogen bonds. These “hex-agonal lattice receptors” can be tailored to bind analytes of medical interest

and report their concentrations by an optical response. Two examples are a chromogenic reagent for measuring blood creatinine, which is an indicator of kidney function, and a fluorescent sen-sor for bicarbonate ion.

Our third research area is aimed at novel antiviral drugs. We have synthe-sized a series of compounds, called CADA analogs, that are active against several viruses, including HIV. Our ap-proach to new drugs for AIDS is to syn-thesize and test compounds designed on the basis of proposed mechanisms of action.

Selected Publications

“Design and cellular kinetics of dansyl-labeled CADA derivatives with anti-HIV and CD4 1. receptor down-modulating activity,” Vermeire, K.; Lisco, A.; Grivel, J.-C.; Scarbrough, E.; Dey, K.; Duffy, N.; Margolis, L.; Bell, T.W.; Schols, D. Biochemical Pharmacology 2007, 74, 566-578. “Synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies of CD4 down-modulating cyclotriaz-2. adisulfonamide (CADA) analogs,” Bell, T.W.; Anugu, S.; Bailey, P.; Catalano, V.J.; Dey, K.; Drew, M.G.B.; Duffy, N.H.; Jin, Q.; Samala, M.F.; Sodoma, A.; Welch, W.H.; Schols, D.; Vermeire, K. J. Med. Chem. 2006, 49, 1291-1312. “A D2 symmetric tetraamide macrocycle based on 1,10,4,40-tetrahydro[3,30(2H,20H)-3. spirobiquinoline]-2,20-dione: Synthesis and selectivity for lithium over sodium and alkaline earth ions,” Choi, H.-J.; Park, Y.S.; Kim, M.G.; Park, Y.J.; Yoon, N.S.; Bell, T.W. Tetrahedron 2006, 8696-8701. “CD4-targeted HIV inhibitors,” Vermeire, K.; Schols, D.; Bell, T.W. 4. Curr. Med. Chem. 2006, 13, 731-743. “Syntheses, structures, and photoisomerization of (5. E)- and (Z)-2-tert-butyl-9-(2,2,2)-triphe-nyethylidenefluorene,” Barr, J.W.; Bell, T.W.; Catalano, V.J.; Cline, J.I.; Phillips, D.J.; Procupez, R. J. Phys. Chem. 2005, A 109, 11650-11654. “CD4 down-modulating compounds with potent anti-HIV activity,” Vermeire, K.; Schols, D.; 6. Bell, T.W. Curr. Pharmaceut. Design 2004, 10, 1795-1803.

THOMAS W. BELLProfessorOrganic and Bioorganic ChemistryE-mail: twb@unr.edu

B.S. (1974), California Institute of Technology; Ph.D. (1980), University College, University of London (F. Sondheimer); NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (1980-82), Cornell University (J. Meinwald); Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1995-present).

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Our group is interested in the luminescent properties of lanthanide ion complexes and of materials containing lanthanide ions, as well as the coordination chemistry of the f elements. Lanthanide ions are utilized in luminescence applications, as they display strong light emission with high color purity. The emission is based on f-f transitions, which are spin- and par-ity forbidden. Therefore, to efficiently populate the emissive excited state, sensitizers or antennas are utilized. We synthesize and characterize new antennas and study the photophysical properties of the new ligands and of

the corresponding lanthanide ion complexes.The synthetic strategy followed in

our research group involves utilizing thiophene in our ligands, which will allow us to incorporate ligands of metal complexes into organic polymers to make luminescent films. The thiophene group is derivatized with selected moi-eties capable of coordinating lanthanide ions and sensitizing their luminescence. Comparison of the structure-properties relationship of the synthesized ligands and of the corresponding metal com-plexes allows us to optimize our systems for applications such as light-emitting diodes.

Selected Publications

“Lanthanide-based emitting materials in light-emitting diodes,” de Bettencourt-Dias, A. 1. Dalton Trans. 2007, 2229-2241. “Exploring lanthanide luminsecence in metal-organic frameworks: Synthesis, structure, 2. and guest sensitized luminescence of a mixed europium/terbium-adipate framework and a terbium-adipate framework,” de Lill, D.T.; de Bettencourt-Dias, A.; Cahill, C.L. Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 3960-3965. “Small molecule luminescent lanthanide ion complexes - Photophysical characterization 3. and recent developments,” de Bettencourt-Dias, A. Curr. Org. Chem. 2007, in press. “Phenylthiophene-dipicolinic acid-based with strong solution blue and solid state green 4. emission,” de Bettencourt-Dias, A.; Poloukhtine, A. J. Phys. Chem. B 2006, 110, 25638-25645. “Eu(III) and Tb(III) luminescence sensitized by thiophenyl-derivatized nitrobenzoato anten-5. nas,” Viswanathan, S.; de Bettencourt-Dias, A. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 10138-10146. “Nitro-functionalization and quantum yield of Eu(III) and Tb(III) benzoic acid complexes,” de 6. Bettencourt-Dias, A.; Viswanathan, S. Dalton Trans. 2006, 4093-4103. “2-Chloro-5-nitrobenzoato complexes of Eu(III) and Tb(III) - A 1 D coordination polymer and 7. enhanced solution luminescence,” Viswanathan, S.; de Bettencourt-Dias, A. Inorg. Chem. Comm. 2006, 9, 444-448.

ANA de BETTENCOURT-DIAS Associate ProfessorInorganic and Materials ChemistryE-mail: abd@unr.edu

Licenciatura (1993), University of Lisbon, Portugal; Dr. rer. nat. (1997), magna cum laude, University of Cologne, Germany (T. Kruck); Gulbenkian Postdoc-toral Fellow (1998-2001), University of California, Davis (A.L. Balch).

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SEAN M. CASEYAssociate Professor Physical and Surface Chemistry; Chemical PhysicsE-mail: scasey@unr.edu

B.S. (1988), State University of New York, College at Purchase; Ph.D. (1993), University of Minnesota (D.G. Leopold); NRC-NIST Postdoctoral Fellow (1993-95) and Postdoctoral (1995-97), JILA, University of Colorado (S.R. Leone).

Our research is centered on the investigation of growth mechanisms of semiconductor materials during processes such as plasma-enhanced chemi-cal vapor deposition (PECVD). To mimic these plasmas under more carefully controlled conditions, we use a hyperthermal beam of the reactive species of interest and single crystal semi-conductor wafers. Specifically, we generate a variable energy beam of mass-selected, reactive atomic or molecular ions, with

energies in the 1 - 100 eV range, and use this as the source of growth species. The interaction of these species with clean, well characterized semiconductor surfaces is then examined in an ultrahigh vacuum environment (pictured below). Mass spectrometry is used to examine the identity of desorbing and scattered species and to provide kinetic information about reactions occurring on the surface. Low-energy electron diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy are used to examine the crystallinity and composition of the resulting surfaces. Results from such experiments allow for a more complete understanding of the mecha-nisms involved in reactive ion-surface interactions, an area of great importance during these PECVD processes. Selected Publications

“Gas phase chemomechanical modification of silicon,” Lee, M.V.; Richards, J.L.; Linford, M.R.; 1. Casey, S.M. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 2006, 24, 750-755.“Molecularly designed chromonic liquid crystals for the fabrication of broad spectrum 2. polarizing materials,” Tam-Chang, S.-W.; Seo, W.; Rove, K.O.; Casey, S.M. Chem. Mater. 2004, 16, 1832-1834. “Adsorption and thermal decomposition chemistry of 1-propanol and other primary alco-3. hols on the Si(100) surface,” Zhang, L.; Carman, A.J.; Casey, S.M. J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 8424-8432.“Novel polarized photoluminescent films derived from sequential self-organization, 4. induced-orientation, and order transfer processes,” Carson, T.D.; Seo, W.; Tam-Chang, S.-W.; Casey, S.M. Chem. Mater. 2003, 15, 2292-2294.“Adsorption and thermal decomposition chemistry of 1-propanol and other primary alco-5. hols on the Si(100) surface,” Zhang, L.; Carman, A.J.; Casey, S.M. J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 8424-8432.“Novel polarized photoluminescent films derived from sequential self-organization, 6. induced-orientation, and order transfer processes,” Carson, T.D.; Seo, W.; Tam-Chang, S.-W.; Casey, S.M. Chem. Mater. 2003, 15, 2292-2294. [Communication]

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VINCENT J. CATALANO Professor and ChairInorganic ChemistryE-mail: vjc@unr.edu

B.S. (1987), University of California, Santa Barbara; Ph.D. (1991), University of California, Davis (A.L. Balch); NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (1992-93), California Institute of Technology (H.B. Gray).

Our research interests include the synthesis, structure, bonding and optical properties of transition metal complexes. We are currently exploring the application of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands as supports for maintaining short metal-metal interactions between closed-shell ions, particularly Au(I) and Ag(I). With these ligands we are able to prepare highly luminescent, one-dimensional coordination polymers that contain very short metal-metal separations. Perturbing this metal-metal separation either through intercalation or coordination alters the emission properties making these molecules ideally suited for applications as luminescent sensors.

Additionally, synthetically manipulating the NHC backbone to include specific receptor moieties, introduces selectivity for analyte sensing. Receptors for nitro arenes as mimics for explosives are or particular interest. Additionally, the physical and optical properties of discrete NHC bridged dimers are being explored as models for the larger extended polymeric systems.

All of these complexes are probed with a variety of techniques including multinuclear NMR, electronic absorption and emission spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction.

Selected Publications

“Preparation of Au(I), Ag(I), and Pd(II) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes utilizing a 1. methylpyridyl-substituted NHC ligand. Formation of a luminescent coordination polymer,” Catalano, V.J.; Etogo, A.O. Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 5608-5615.“Luminescent coordination polymers with extended Au(I)-Ag(I) interactions supported by 2. a pyridine substituted NHC ligand,” Catalano, V.J.; Etogo, A.O. J. Organomet. Chem. (Special Carbene Issue) 2005, 690, 6041-6050.“Mono-, di-, and trinuclear luminescent silver(I) and gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene 3. complexes derived from the picolyl-substituted methylimidazolium salt: 1-methyl-3-(2-pyridinylmethyl)-1H-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate,” Catalano, V.J.; Moore, A.L. Inorg. Chem. 2005, 44, 6558-6566.“Pyridine substituted N-heterocyclic carbene ligands as supports for Au(I)–Ag(I) interactions: 4. Formation of a chiral coordination polymer,” Catalano, V.J.; Malwitz, M.A.; Etogo, A.O. Inorg. Chem. 2004, 43, 5714-5724.“Mixed-metal metallocryptands. Short metal-metal separations stabilized by dipolar 5. interactions,” Catalano, V.J.; Malwitz, M.A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 6560-6561.“Metallocryptands: Host complexes for probing closed-shell metal-metal interactions,” 6. Catalano, V.J.; Bennett, B.L.; Malwitz, M.A.; Yson, R.L.; Kar, H.M.; Muratidis, S.; Horner, S.J. Comments on Inorganic Chemistry 2003, 24, 24-68.

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JOSEPH I. CLINE ProfessorPhysical Chemistry; Chemical Physics E-mail: cline@unr.edu

B.S. (1983), University of Virginia; Ph.D. (1988), California Institute of Technology (K.C. Janda); Postdoctoral (1988-90), JILA, University of Colorado (S.R. Leone).

Research interests center around the experimental investigation of inelastic molecular collisions, vibrational predissociation in weakly-bound complexes, photodissociation of molecules, and gas-phase chemical kinetics. Molecular beam techniques and time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection are used in conjunction

with laser spectroscopic probes to study these chemi-cal processes with electronic, vibrational, rotational, and translational quantum-state resolution. Experimental measurements are interpreted using theoretical models for these dynamic processes. Construction of realistic potential energy surfaces from dynami-cal measurements on complex systems is one major goal of our research. Selected Publications

“Ion imaging studies of product rotational alignment in collisions of NO (X1. 2Π1/2

, j=0.5) with Ar,” Wade, E.A.; Lorenz, K.T.; Chandler, D.W.; Barr, J.W.; Barnes, G.L.; Cline, J.I. Chem. Phys. 2004, 301, 261-272.“Ion Imaging Applied to the Study of Chemical Dynamics,” David W. Chandler and Joseph I. 2. Cline, in X. Yang and K. Liu, eds. Modern Trends In Chemical Reaction Dynamics, Part I: Experi-ment and Theory Advanced Series in Physical Chemistry Vol. 14 (World Scientific: 2004), pgs. 61-104.“Direct measurement of the binding energy of the NO dimer,” Wade, E.A.; Cline, J.I.; Lorenz, 3. K.T.; Hayden, C.; Chandler, D.W. J. Chem. Phys. 2002, 116, 4755-4757.“Measurement of bipolar moments for photofragment angular correlations in ion imaging 4. experiments,” Nestorov, V.K.; Hinchliffe, R.D.; Uberna, R.; Cline, J.I.; Lorenz, K.T.; Chandler, D.W. J. Chem. Phys. 2001, 115, 7881-7891.“Ion imaging measurement of collision-induced rotational alignment in Ar-NO scatter-5. ing,” Cline, J.I.; Lorenz, K.T.; Wade, E.A.; Barr, J.W.; Chandler, D.W. J. Chem. Phys. 2001, 115, 6277-6280.“Direct measurement of the preferred sense of NO rotation after collision with argon,” 6. Lorenz, K.T.; Chandler, D.W.; Barr, J.W.; Chen, W.; Barnes, G.L.; Cline, J.I. Science 2001, 293, 2063-2066. “Determination of 7. μ-v-j vector correlations in photodissociation experiments using 2+n resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization with time-of-flight mass spectrometry detec-tion,” Pisano, P.J.; Cline, J.I. J. Chem. Phys. 2000, 112, 6190.“Detection of ‘ended’ NO recoil in the 355 nm NO8.

2 photodissociation mechanism,” Nestorov,

V.K.; Cline, J.I. J. Chem. Phys. 1999, 111, 5287-5290.“Scalar and angular correlations in CF9.

3NO photodissociation: Statistical and nonstatistical

channels,” Spasov, J.S.; Cline, J.I. J. Chem. Phys. 1999, 110, 9568-9577.

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KENT M. ERVIN ProfessorPhysical and Analytical Chemistry; Chemical Physics E-mail: ervin@unr.edu

B.S., B.A. (1981), University of Kansas; Ph.D. (1986), University of California, Berkeley (P.B. Armentrout); Postdoctoral (1986-90), JILA, University of Colorado (W.C. Lineberger).

Tandem mass spectrometry techniques are used to study chemical systems relevant to combustion kinetics and the dissociation dynamics of molecular ions. Two custom-built tandem mass spectrometers have been developed for these studies: a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer with a magnetic sector initial mass spectrometer and a 2D quadrupole final mass spectrometer, and a crossed ion beam/molecular beam apparatus with a 3D quadrupole ion trap initial mass spectrometer and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer for detection. Both systems allow the measurement of ion-molecule reactions as a function of collision energy and time-resolved

examination of photodissociation processes. In addition, laser-induced fluorescence stud-ies of ions may be conducted in the ion trap. Current research focuses on the following projects: Proton transfer and hydrogen atom transfer reactions of organic molecules are used to investigate thermochemical proper-ties of hydrocarbon radicals important in combustion kinetics and environmental chemistry. Reaction threshold energies measured with the guided ion beam mass spectrometer can be related to the R-H bond dissociation energies. Competitive threshold collision-induced dissociation of proton-bound complex ions is used to measure relative gas-phase acidities and proton affinities. Product velocity distributions are investigated to probe microscopic reaction mechanisms and the energy disposal into vibrational and trans-lational degrees of freedom. Selected Publications

“Gas-phase acidities and O-H bond dissociation enthalpies of phenol, 3-methylphenol, 1. 2,4,6-trimethylphenol, and ethanoic acid,” Angel, L.A.; Ervin, K.M. J. Phys. Chem. A 2006, 110, 10392. “Collision-induced dissociation of HS-(HCN): Unsymmetrical hydrogen bonding in a proton-2. bound dimer anion,” Akin, F.A.; Ervin, K.M. J. Phys. Chem. A 2006, 110, 1342.“Threshold collision-induced dissociation of diatomic molecules: A case study of the ener-3. getics and dynamics of O

2- collisions with Ar and Xe,” Akin, F.A.; Ree, J.; Ervin, K.M.; Shin, H.K.

J. Chem. Phys. 2005, 123, 064308. “Systematic and random errors in ion affinities and activation entropies from the extended 4. kinetic method,” Ervin, K.M.; Armentrout, P.B. J. Mass Spectrom. 2004, 39, 1004-1015. “Competitive threshold collision-induced dissociation: Gas-phase acidity and O-H bond dis-5. sociation enthalpy of phenol,” Angel, L.A.; Ervin, K.M. J. Phys. Chem. A 2004, 108, 8346-8352. “Gas-phase reactions of the iodide ion with chloromethane and bromomethane: Competi-6. tion between nucleophilic displacement and halogen abstraction,” Angel, L.A.; Ervin, K.M. J. Phys. Chem. A 2004, 108, 9827-9833.

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BRIAN J. FROST Assistant ProfessorInorganic and Organometallic Chemistry; CatalysisE-mail: frost@unr.edu

B.S. (1995), Elizabethtown College; Ph.D. (1999), Texas A&M University (D.J. Darensbourg); Postdoctoral Research Associate (2000-02), Columbia University (J.R. Norton).

Organometallic chemistry and catalysis remain exciting areas of research with many opportunities for fundamental, not to mention pedagogical, contributions. We are interested in the synthesis, structure, and reactivity of inorganic and organometallic complexes with emphasis on those applicable to catalysis. Our research program encompasses a wide range of interests including: (1) green chemistry, (2) coordination chemistry, (3) catalysis in aqueous, organic, and biphasic media, (4) kinetic and mechanistic studies of catalytic processes, (5) small molecule activation, (6) ligand synthesis.

Currently our group is working on projects involving the synthesis and characterization of new water-soluble phosphines, and exploring the catalytic activity of water-soluble inorganic and organometallic complexes. We are also interested in utilizing carbon dioxide, or a CO

2

equivalent, as a C1 feedstock. We attempt to bring together aspects of inorganic, organic, and organometallic chemistry. One of the projects currently underway in our laboratory involves the synthesis of the water-soluble ruthenium hydride shown below and investigating its utility as an aqueous-phase hydrogenation catalyst, and its reactivity with acids and bases.

Selected Publications

“Isomerization of 1. trans-[Ru(PTA)4Cl

2] to cis-[Ru(PTA)

4Cl

2] in water and organic solvent: Revisit-

ing the chemistry of [Ru(PTA)4Cl

2],” Mebi, C.A.; Frost, B.J. Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 7115-7120.

“pH dependent selective transfer hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyls in aqueous 2. media utilizing half-sandwich ruthenium (II) complexes,” Mebi, C.A.; Nair, R.P.; Frost, B.J. Orga-nometallics 2007, 26, 429-438. “Synthesis and coordination chemistry of a novel bidentate phosphine, 3. 6-(diphenylphosphino)-1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane (PTA-PPh

2),” Wong, G.W.;

Harkreader, J.L.; Mebi, C.A.; Frost, B.J. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 6748-6755. “Manganese complexes of 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane (PTA): The first nitrogen 4. bound transition metal complex of PTA,” Frost, B.J.; Bautista, C.M.; Huang, R.; Shearer, J. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 3481-3483.“Boron-nitrogen adducts of 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane (PTA): Synthesis, reactiv-5. ity, and molecular structure,” Frost, B.J.; Mebi, C.A.; Gingrich, P.W. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 1182-1189.“Effect of pH on the biphasic catalytic hydrogenation of benzylidene acetone using 6. CpRu(PTA)

2H,” Mebi, C.A.; Frost, B.J. Organometallics 2005, 24, 2339-2346.

33 - Faculty

Research in the Jeffrey laboratory is focused on addressing important, unmet challenges in target directed synthesis. Areas of research are identified using a synergistic approach where (1) inspiration from struc-turally and biologically interesting molecular targets drives reaction discovery, and (2) innovation in methodology enables new strategies for target-directed synthesis.

Some preliminary areas of research in our laboratory are focused on the development of new methods/strategies to generate and control

electrophilic nitrogen species that will enable the direct functionalization of alkenes and C-H bonds-the two most ubiquitous functional groups in organic molecules. These research interests are focused on the development of: (i) new hetero-cycloaddition reactions, (ii) a concise and general synthesis of a family of biologically active alkaloids, and (iii) new meth-ods of metal-mediated amination. Selected Publications

1. “Dynamic Kinetic Resolution During a Vinylogous Payne Rearrangement: A Concise Synthesis of the Polar Pharmacophoric Subunit of (+)-Scyphostatin,” Hoye, T.R.; Jeffrey, C.S.; Nelson, D.P. Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 52–55.

2. “A Hypervalent Iodine-Induced Double Annulation Enables a Concise Synthesis of the Pentacyclic Core Structure of the Cortistatins,” Frie, J.L.; Jeffrey, C.S.; Sorensen, E.J. Org. Lett. 2009, 11, 5394–5397.

3. “Mosher Ester Analysis for the Determination of Absolute Configuration of Stereogenic (a.k.a. Chiral) Carbinol Carbons,” Hoye, T.R.; Jeffrey, C.S.; Shao, F. Nature Protocols 2007, 2, 2451-2458.

4. “The Structure Determination of the Sulfated Steroids PSDS and PADS – New Components of the Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) Migratory Pheromone,” Hoye, T.R.; Dvornikovs, V.; Fine, J.M.; Anderson, K.R.; Jeffrey, C.S.; Muddiman, D.C.; Shao, F.; Sorensen, P.W.; Wang, J. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 7544-7550.

5. “Student Empowerment through ‘Mini-Microscale’ Reactions: The Epoxidation of 1.0 mg of Geraniol,” Hoye, T.R.; Jeffrey, C.S. J. Chem. Educ. 2006, 83, 919-920.

6. “Mixture of New Sulfated Steroids Functions as a Migratory Pheromone in the Sea Lam-prey,” Sorensen, P.W.; Fine, J.M.; Dvornikovs, V.; Jeffrey, C.S.; Shao, F.; Wang, J.; Vrieze, L.A.; Anderson, K.R.; Hoye, T.R. Nature Chem. Biol. 2005, 1, 324-328.

7. “Relay Ring-Closing Metathesis (RRCM): A Strategy for Directing Metal Movement Through-out Olefin Metathesis Sequences,” Hoye, T.R.; Jeffrey, C.S.; Tennakoon, M.A.; Wang, J.; Zhao, H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 10210-10211.

Christopher S. JeffreyAssistant ProfessorOrganic, Bioorganic, and Organometallic ChemistryEmail:

B.S. (2002), Carroll College; Ph.D. (2007), University of Minnesota (Thomas R. Hoye); Postdoctoral Fellow (2007-2010), Princeton University (Erik J. Sorensen).

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BENJAMIN T. KING Associate Professor Organic Chemistry E-mail: king@unr.edu

B.S. (1992), Northeastern University; Ph.D. (2000), University of Colorado (J. Michl); NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (2000-02), University of California, Berkeley (R.G. Bergman).

Our research focuses on the preparation of molecules that might someday serve as useful materials. The approach is to design synthetic targets using computational chemistry, prepare them by chemical synthesis, and then study their properties and behavior. The benzenoid unit is a particularly versatile building block for nanostruc-tures, as demonstrated by graphite, fullerenes, and carbon nanotubes. We are interested in constructing benzenoid nanostructures using controlled or-ganic synthesis instead of the normal high temperature arc discharge meth-ods. Two of our molecular targets are shown below. The short nanotubes

might nucleate the growth of longer nanotubes and the extended helicenes might serve as molecular actuators. Since the incorporation of fluorine into molecules often confers unusual properties, such as high stability (e.g., Teflon®) or the ability to attain high oxida-tion states (e.g., XeF

2), the preparation of highly fluorinated nanostructures is another goal. Our

initial targets are perfluorinated fullerenes, which are expected to be good electron acceptors. This work is safely carried out in specialized vacuum manifolds.

Selected Publications

“Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by ring closing metathesis,” Bonifacio, M.C.; Robertson, 1. C.R.; Jung, J.-Y.; King, B.T. J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 8522-8526. “A slippery slope: Mechanistic analysis of the intramolecular Scholl reaction of hexaphenyl-2. benzene,” Rempala, P.; Kroulík, J.; King, B.T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 15002-15003. “Clar valence bond representation of π-bonding in carbon nanotubes,” Ormsby, J.; King, B.T. 3. J. Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 4287-4291. (Cover feature). “Alkylated carborane anions and radicals,” King, B. T.; Zharov, I.; Michl, J. 4. Chemical Innovation 2001, 31, 23-29.“Preparation of [5. closo-CB

11H

12]- by dichlorocarbene insertion into [nido-B

11H

14]-,” Franken, A.;

King, B.T.; Rudolph, J.; Rao, P.; Noll, B.C.; Michl, J. Collection of Czechoslovak Chemical Commu-nications 2001, 66, 1238-1249.“LiCB6.

11Me

12: A catalyst for pericyclic rearrangements,” Moss, S.; King, B.T.; de Meijere, A.;

Kozhushkov, S.I.; Eaton, P.E.; Michl, J. Organic Letters 2001, 3, 2375-2377.“The explosive ‘inert’ anion,CB7.

11(CF

3)

12-,” King, B.T.; Michl, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 10255.

“Crystal structure of8. n-Bu3Sn+CB

11Me

12-,” Zharov, I.; King, B.T.; Havlas, Z.; Pardi, A.; Michl, J. J. Am.

Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 10253-10254.“Cation-π interactions in the solid state: Crystal structures of M9. +(benzene)

2CB

11Me

12- (M = Tl,

Cs, Rb, K, Na) and Li+(toluene)CB11

Me12

-,” King, B.T.; Noll, B.C.; Michl, J. Collection of Czechoslo-vak Chemical Communications 1999, 64, 1001-1012.

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DAVID M. LEITNERAssociate ProfessorTheoretical and Biophysical Chemistry; Chemical PhysicsE-mail: dml@unr.edu B.S. (1985), Cornell University; Ph.D. (1989), The University of Chicago (R.S. Berry); Postdoctoral (1990),

Brown University (J.D. Doll); NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (1991-1993); Alexander von Humboldt Fellow (1993-94), Universität Heidelberg (L.S. Cederbaum); Research Associate (1994-98), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (P.G. Wolynes); Assistant Project Scientist (1998-2000), UC San Diego.

How energy flows within a molecule mediates the rate at which it reacts both in gas and condensed phases. We are developing theories describ-ing quantum mechanical energy flow in molecules, and applying them to predict rates of conformational change, such as the prototypical chair-boat isomerization of cyclohexane, as well as photoisomerization of stilbene, a re-action that in many ways serves as a prototype for the initial event in vision. We are also exploring how energy flows in rather large molecules, on the mesoscopic scale, such as proteins or crystalline nanostructures. An under-

standing of how these objects conduct heat is valuable for emerging nanotechnologies, in addition to describing the role of heat flow during chemical reactions in mesoscopic environ-ments.

Rate theories developed for chemical reactions can also be usefully applied to describe the mobility of proteins in cells. We are examin-ing models for trans-port of proteins in the membranes of cells, such as receptors or channels, that account for dynamical barriers to transport. In the red blood cell, for example, fluctuations in the structure of the membrane skeleton, largely responsible for the red blood cell’s remarkable elasticity, strongly influences the mobility of proteins spanning the red blood cell membrane.

Selected Publications

“Energy flow in proteins,” Leitner, D.M. 1. Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 2008, 59, in press. “Quantum energy flow and the kinetics of water shuttling between hydrogen bonding 2. sites on trans-formanilide,” Agbo, J.K.; Leitner, D.M.; Myshakin, E.M.; Jordan, K.D. J. Chem. Phys. 2007, 127, art. 064315, pp. 1-10. “Biomolecule large amplitude motion and solvation dynamics: Modeling and probes 3. from THz to X-rays,” Leitner, D.M.; Havenith, M.; Gruebele, M. Int. Rev. Phys. Chem. 2006, 25, 553-582. “Thermal conductivity computed for vitreous silica and methyl-doped silica above the 4. plateau,” Yu, X.; Leitner, D.M. Phys. Rev. B 2006, 74, art. 184305, pp. 1-11. “Influence of vibrational energy flow on isomerization of flexible molecules: Incorporating 5. non-RRKM kinetics in the simulation of dipeptide isomerization,” Agbo, J.K.; Leitner, D.M.; Evans, D.A.; Wales, D.J. J. Chem. Phys. 2005, 123, 1-8. “Thermal transport coefficients for liquid and glassy water computed from a harmonic 6. aqueous glass,” Yu, X.; Leitner, D.M. J. Chem. Phys. 2005, 123, art. no. 104503, pp. 1-10.“Heat flow in proteins: Computation of thermal transport coefficients,” Yu, X.; Leitner, D.M. 7. J. Chem. Phys. 2005, 122, art. no. 054902, pp. 1-11.

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DAVID A. LIGHTNER R.C. Fuson ProfessorOrganic and Bioorganic ChemistryE-mail: lightner@scs.unr.edu

A.B. (1960), University of California at Berkeley; Ph.D. (1963), Stanford University (C. Djerassi); NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (1963-64), Stanford University (C. Djerassi) and (1964-65), University of Minnesota (A. Moscowitz); Foundation Professor, University of Nevada, Reno (1987-90).

Current research is directed toward synthesis, stereochemistry, molecular rec-ognition and photochemistry, with an emphasis on (i) dipyrrole and tetrapyr-role synthetic analogs of bilirubin, the yellow pigment of jaundice; (ii) organic conformational analysis from circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopy; (iii) photobiology, molecular mechanisms of phototherapy for neonatal jaundice, bilirubin metabolism, pyrrole chemistry and photochemistry, photooxidation and

singlet oxygen; (iv) chiral molecular rec-ognition; (v) chiroptical properties and electronic interaction of non-adjacent chromophores, long-range interactions; (vi) exciton interactions in organic and biological systems as detected by circu-lar dichroism; and (vii) stereochemistry of cyclic ketones and the Octant Rule.

Selected Publications

“Amphiphilic dipyrrinones,” Dey, S.K.; Lightner, D.A. 1. Monatsh. Chem. 2007, 138, 687-697. “Converting 9-methyldipyrrinones to 9-H and 9-CHO dipyrrinones,” Boiadjiev, S.E.; Lightner, 2. D.A. Tetrahedron 2007, 63, 8962-8976. “Influence of conformation on intramolecular hydrogen bonding on the acyl glucuronida-3. tion and biliary excretion of acetylenic bis-dipyrrinones related to bilirubin,” McDonagh, A.F.; Lightner, D.A. J. Med. Chem. 2007, 50, 480-488.“Synthesis and hepatic metabolism of xanthobilirubinic acid regioisomers,” Boiadjiev, 4. S.E.; Conley, B.A.; Brower, J.O.; McDonagh, A.F.; Lightner, D.A. Monatsh. Chem. 2006, 137, 1463-1476.“Carboxylic acid to amide hydrogen bonding. Oxo-semirubins,” Salzameda, N.T.; Huggins, 5. M.T.; Lightner, D.A. Tetrahedron 2006, 62, 8610-8619. “Synthesis, properties, and hepatic metabolism of strongly fluorescent fluorodipyrrino-6. nes,” Boiadjiev, S.E.; Woydziak, Z.R.; McDonagh, A.F.; Lightner, D.A. Tetrahedron 2006, 62, 7043-7055. “Exciton chirality: (A) Origins of and (B) Applications from strongly-fluorescent dipyrrinone 7. chromophores,” Boiadjiev, S.E.; Lightner, D.A. Monatsh. Chem. 2005, 136, 489-508. “Synthesis and hepatic transport of strongly fluorescent cholephilic dipyrrinones,” Woydz-8. iak, Z.R.; Boiadjiev, S.E.; Norona, W.S.; McDonagh, A.F.; Lightner, D.A. J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 8417-8423.“pKa and aggregation of bilirubin: Titrimetric and ultracentrifugation studies on water-sol-9. uble pegylated conjugates of bilirubin and fatty acids,” Boiadjiev, S.E.; Watters, K.; Lai, B.; Wolf, S.; Welch, W.; McDonagh, A.F.; Lightner, D.A. Biochemistry 2004, 43, 15617-15632.“The 10. gem-dimethyl effect: Amphiphilic bilirubins,” Tu, B.; Ghosh, B.; Lightner, D.A. Tetrahe-dron 2004, 60, 9017-9029.

27 - Faculty

JASON SHEARER Assistant ProfessorInorganic, Bioinorganic, and Bioorganic ChemistryE-mail: shearer@unr.edu

B.S. (1998), University of Maryland, College Park; Ph.D. (2001), University of Washington (J.A. Kovacs); NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (2002-04), Johns Hopkins University (K.D. Karlin)

Many of life’s most important processes are performed by metalloproteins. Metalloproteins are proteins that contain one or more metal cofactors at their active-sites, and can be thought of as the ultimate transition metal complex. The ligand environment about the metal-center in a metallo-protein is often characterized by low symmetry, an unusual coordination geometry, and unique metal-ligand bonding. Therefore, many of the fine details concerning how interactions between the primary and secondary coordination sphere and the metal ion contribute to the metalloproteins physical properties and function in many metalloproteins remain unclear.

To understand these complex and fascinating systems the Shearer group utilizes a multi-tiered approach. We first start by considering the relevant information concerning the metalloprotein in question and design and prepare small transition metal complexes and metallopeptides based on the active-site of the metalloprotein. These metal-loprotein synthetic analogues are then subjected to a detailed spectroscopic and computa-tional analysis. Finally the in-formation acquired from these studies are applied back to the metalloprotein. Further studies on the metalloprotein then aid in refining future generations of the synthetic analogues, and the whole process is repeated. Current areas of focus in the Shearer group concern: the biological chemistry of nickel containing metalloproteins, the interaction between copper ions and proteins involved in neurodegenerative disorders, and the biological chemistry of sulfur and selenium containing proteins.

Selected Publications

“The Cu(II) adduct of the unstructured region of the amyloidogenic fragment derived from 1. the human prion protein is redox active at physiological pH,” Shearer, J.; Soh, P. Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 710-719. “The influence of amine/amide vs. bis-amide coordination in nickel superoxide dismutase,” 2. Neupane, K.P.; Shearer, J. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 10552-10566. “[Me3.

4N](NiII(BEAAM)): A synthetic model for nickel superoxide dismutase that contains Ni in

a mixed amine/amide coordination environment,” Shearer, J.; Zhao, N. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 9637-9639. “A nickel superoxide dismutase maquette that reproduces the spectroscopic and functional 4. properties of the metalloenzyme,” Shearer, J.; Long, L.M. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 2358-2360.

28 - Faculty

ROBERT S. SHERIDANProfessorOrganic ChemistryE-mail: rss@unr.edu

B.S. (1974), Iowa State University; Ph.D. (1979), University of California, Los Angeles (O.L. Chapman), NSF Predoctoral Fellow; NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (1979-80), Yale University (J.A. Berson); Foundation Professor, University of Nevada, Reno (2001-03).

Our research revolves around highly reactive organic molecules. These unstable and elusive intermediates, such as carbenes, nitrenes, and biradi-cals, are especially important in photochemistry, but their chemistry and properties are poorly understood. Moreover, these molecules are related to searches for organic conducting and magnetic materials. Much of the organic synthesis that we carry out involves making previously unknown compounds, and we spend a considerable amount of our time developing new synthetic methods to tackle these challenging molecules. A specialized technique that we use to study

reaction intermediates involves matrix isolation photochemistry. In this method, organic mol-ecules are frozen into glasses of inert gas at ex-tremely low temperatures (10 K). The samples are then irradiated with UV light to generate highly reactive intermediates. The low temperatures and high dilution in inert surroundings protect these otherwise unstable species from reaction. IR and UV spectra of the samples, acquired at low temperature, tell us a great deal about the bond-ing and structures of the products. Finally, we carry out a variety of ab initio and DFT electronic structure calculations to model the structures, spectra, and electronics of these novel molecules. Our recent work has focused on three major areas: (1) investigations of carbenes important in biological photoaffinity labeling, (2) highly strained organic molecules, and (3) quantum mechanical tunneling in reactive intermediates.

Selected Publications

“Quantum mechanical tunneling in organic reactive intermediates,” Sheridan, R.S., in 1. Reviews in Reactive Intermediate Chemistry, R.A. Moss, M.S. Platz, and M.J. Jones, Jr., Ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2007, pp 415 – 463.“A singlet aryl-CF2.

3 carbene: 2-Benzothienyl(trifluoromethyl)carbene and interconversion

with a strained cyclic allene,” Wang, J.; Sheridan, R.S. Org. Lett. 2007, 9, 3177 – 3180.“Conformational product control in the low-temperature photochemistry of cyclopropyl-3. carbenes,” Zuev, P.S.; Sheridan, R.S.; Sauers, R.R.; Moss, R.A.; Chu, G. Org. Lett. 2006, 8, 4963.“Kinetic studies of the cyclization of singlet vinylchlorocarbenes,” Moss, R.A.; Tian, J.; Sauers, 4. R.R.; Sheridan, R.S.; Bhakta, A.; Zuev, P.S. Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 4645.“Geometry and aromaticity in highly strained heterocyclic allenes: Characterization of a 5. 2,3-didehydro-2H-thiopyran,” Nikitina, A.; Sheridan, R.S. Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 4467. “Activation energies for the 1,2-carbon migration of ring-fused cyclopropylchlorocarbenes,” 6. Chu, G.; Moss, R.A.; Sauers, R.R.; Sheridan, R.S.; Zuev, P.S. Tetrahedron Lett. 2005, 46, 4137. “Singlet Vinylcarbenes: Spectroscopy and Photochemistry,” Zuev, P. S.; Sheridan, R. S. 7. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 12220.

29 - Faculty

SUK-WAH TAM-CHANG ProfessorOrganic and Materials Chemistry; BiosensorsE-mail: tchang@unr.edu

B.S. (1983), University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Ph.D. (1992), University of California, Los Angeles (F. Diederich); Postdoctoral Fellow (1992-93) and NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (1994), Harvard University (G.M. Whitesides).

An important goal of our research is to increase our basic knowledge of the relationships between molecular structure, supramolecular interactions, phase behavior, molecular orientation, and physical properties of organic compounds in the liquid-crystalline state and in the solid state. We are particularly interested in the synthesis and studies of liquid-crystalline com-pounds that exhibit dichroic properties (direction-dependent absorption of light) and fluorescence emission at long wavelengths. Dichroic dyes and fluorophores can potentially be used as sensing probes in biological studies and as polarizing materials in liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). In addition, long

wavelength absorbing materials can potentially be used in optical applications in conjunction with commercially available AlGaAs lasers that emit at 780 nm. Near-infrared (NIR) absorbing and emitting dyes have potential use in high-technology applications such as optical record-ing, thermally-written displays, laser printers, laser filters, infrared photography, and fiber-optic communications. Micro- and nano-patterned organic semiconducting materials have potential applications in the field of microelectronics, where the direction-dependent orientation of the molecules in these materials can enhance their semiconducting properties. In addition, patterned aniso-tropic (direction-dependent) materials have potential applications as angle-dependent optical materials, holographic films, and in stereoscopic displays. These organic materials may also have useful photonic and optoelectronic properties. A wide range of methods is available for the micro- and nano-patterning of isotropic (direction-independent) materials including scan-ning probe techniques, electron-beam lithography, photolithography, and soft-lithography. However, techniques for the micro-fabrication of anisotropic organic materials is presently limited to approaches that employ either uniaxially stretched polymer films or photo-alignment techniques. Our research group is interested in the micro- and nano-fabrication of anisotropic organic materials by template-guided organization of chromonic liquid crystals. Biosensors are devices interfaced with biological detector molecules for identifying specific target analytes. Biosensors have applications that range from medical diagnostics to environ-mental analysis. Our current interest focuses on the research and development of biosensors for detecting unlabeled nucleic acids.

Selected Publications

“Microfabrication of anisotropic organic materials via self-organization of an ionic perylen-1. emonoimide,” Huang, L.; Tam-Chang, S.-W.; Seo, W.; Rove, K. Adv. Mater. 2007 [Communica-tion] (Accepted).“Stem-loop probe with universal reporter for sensing unlabeled nucleic acids,” Tam-Chang, 2. S.-W.; Carson, T.D.; Huang, L.; Publicover, N.G.; Hunter, K.W., Jr. Anal. Biochem. 2007, 326, 126-130.“Anisotropic fluorescent materials via self-organization of perylenedicarboximide,” Huang, L.; 3. Catalano, V.J.; Tam-Chang, S.-W. Chem. Commun. 2007, 2016-2018. [Communication]“Template-guided organization of chromonic liquid crystals into micropatterned aniso-4. tropic organic solids,” Tam-Chang, S.-W.; Helbley, J.; Carson, T.D.; Seo, W.; Iverson, I.K. Chem. Commun. 2006, 503-505. [Communication]

32 - Lecturers, Distinguished, and Emeritus Faculty

SARAH A. CUMMINGS Lecturer and Organic Chemistry Coordinator Chemical EducationE-mail: sac@unr.eduB.S. (2001), Haverford College; Ph.D.

(2006), Columbia University (J.R. Norton); Postdoc-toral (2006-2007), University of Utah (M.S. Sigman).

Dr. Cummings is involved in developing and upgrading the Organic Chemistry Laboratory program, and in the supervision and training of laboratory teaching assistants. In addition to overseeing the laboratory program, she also teaches General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry.

Selected Publications“An estimate of the reduction potential of 1. B(C

6F

5)

3 from electrochemical measurements on

related mesityl boranes,” Cummings, S.A.; Iimura, M.; Harlan, C.J.; Kwaan, R.J.; vu Trieu, I.; Norton, J.R.; Bridgewater, B.M.; Jakle, F.; Sundararaman, A.; Tilset, M. Organometallics 2006, 1595-1598.“Formation of a dynamic η2. 2(O,N)-hydroxylaminato zirconocene complex by Nitrosoarene insertion into a ZrC σ-bond,” Cum-mings, S.A.; Radford, R.; Erker, G.; Kehr, G.; Fröhlich, R. Organometallics 2006, 839-842.

GARRY N. FICKESDistinguished Research ProfessorOrganic ChemistryE-mail: fickes@unr.eduB.S. (1960), University of California at Davis; Ph. D. (1965), University

of Wisconsin (H.L. Goering); Postdoctoral (1965-66) Harvard University (P.D. Bartlett).

My research interests are in organic synthesis and reaction mechanisms. Recent synthetic work is in the areas of polycyclic ring systems, polymers with special optical properties, and photochemically reactive chiral compounds.

Selected Publications1. “Synthesis of soluble, substituted silane high

polymers by Wurtz coupling techniques,” Miller, R.D.; Fickes, G.N.; Thompson, D.T. J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Chem. Ed. 1991, 29, 813.

2. “Block interrupt polysilane derivatives,” Miller, R.D.; Fickes, G.N. J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Chem. Ed. 1990, 28, 1397.

SÉSI M. MCCULLOUGH Lecturer and General Chemistry Coordinator Chemical EducationE-mail: smm@unr.eduB.A. (1986), California State

University, Sacramento; Ph.D. (1992), University of California, Davis (C. Lebrilla); Postdoctoral (1992-1993), Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, California (T. Lee).

Dr. McCullough is involved in developing and upgrading the General Chemistry Laboratory program, and in the supervision and training of laboratory teaching assistants. In addition to overseeing the laboratory program, she also teaches General Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry.

CHARLES B. ROSE Associate Professor Organic ChemistryE-mail: crose@unr.eduB.S. (1960), Brigham Young Uni-versity; M.A. (1963), Ph.D. (1966),

Harvard University (R.B. Woodward); Postdoctoral Fellow (1966), Harvard University (R.B. Woodward).

Current projects include synthesis and determination of physical properties of the macrocyclic tetrapyrrole salts of the tetraben-zoporphyrin system. We are also studying the isolation and structure elucidation of natural products from marine sources.

33 - Lecturers, Distinguished, and Emeritus Faculty

Selected Publications“New polychlorinated amino acid derivatives 1. from the marine sponge Dysidea herbacea,” Unson, M.D.; Rose, C.B.; Faulkner, D.J.; Brinen, L.S.; Steiner, J.R.; Clardy, J. J. Org. Chem. 1993, 58, 6336.“5-epi-Ilimiquinone, a metabolite of the sponge 2. Fenestraspongia Sp.,” Carté, B.; Rose, C.B.; Faulkner, D.J. J. Org. Chem. 1985, 50, 2785.

SCOTT W. WAITE Administrative Faculty Director of LaboratoriesE-mail: waites@unr.eduB.S. (1988), University of Arizona; Ph.D. (1993), University of Utah (J.

Harris); Procter and Gamble (1993-1998); Huntsman Corporation (1998-2003); MPR Services (2003-2005).

Dr. Waite teaches courses in analytical chemis-try and is responsible for the general physical facilities of the chemistry department includ-ing planning and operation of facilities, finan-cial planning and budgeting, planning and coordination of renovation and maintenance of facilities, and long range planning of space needs. He prepares the class schedules for instructional and laboratory programs includ-ing the AP chemistry laboratory program. He is the Departmental Safety Officer respon-sible for the administration of the Chemical Hygiene Plan, Hazardous Materials Disposal Program, the Emergency Response Plan, and the Student Safety Policy, and he serves as the Departmental Emergency Coordinator. Dr. Waite also supervises the classified technical staff and stockroom supervisors.

Selected Publications“Assessment of alcohol ethoxylate surfactants 1. and fatty alcohol mixtures in river sediments and prospective risk assessment,” Dyer, S.D.; Sanderson, H.; Waite, S.W.; Van Compernolle, R.; Price, B.; Nielsen, A.M.; Evans, A.; Decarvalho, A.J.; Hooton, D.J; Sherren, A.J. Environ. Monit. Assess.

2006, 120, 45.“Occurrence and hazard screening of alkyl sul-2. fates and alkyl ethoxysulfates in river sediments,” Sanderson, H.; Price, B.B.; Dyer, S.D.; DeCarvalho, A.J.; Robaugh, D.; Waite, S.W.; Morrall, S.W.; Nielsen, A.M.; Cano, M.L.; Evans, K.A. Sci. Tot. Env. 2006, 367, 312.“Corrosion and corrosion enhancers in amine 3. systems,” Cummings, A.L.; Waite, S.W.; Nelson, D.K. Proceedings of the Brimstone Sulfur Conference, Banff, Alberta, 2005.

RICHARD D. BURKHART Professor EmeritusPhysical Chemistry; Chemical PhysicsA.B. (1956), Dartmouth College; Ph.D. (1960), University of Colorado.

Our research is centered upon photophysi-cal processes involving pure and molecu-larly doped polymers. Since polymers are potentially useful materials for optoelectronic devices or solar energy applications, charac-terization of their light-induced properties is of considerable interest both in the solid state and in solution. We use high powered excimer lasers or tunable dye lasers as the excitation source and luminescence spectra are recorded using diode arrays.

Selected Publications“Some photophysical properties of electroni-1. cally excited phenldibenzophosphole in rigid polymer matrices,” Ganguly, T.; Burkhart, R.D. J. Phys. Chem. A 1997, 101, 5633-5639.“Triplet energy migration in poly(4-methacryloyl-2. benzophenone-co-methyl methacrylate) films: Temperature dependence and chromophore concentration dependence,” Tsuchida, A.; Yama-moto, M.; Liebe, W.R.; Burkhart, R.D.; Tsubakiyama, K. Macromolecules 1996, 29, 1589-1594.

34 - Lecturers, Distinguished, and Emeritus Faculty

KENNETH C. KEMP Professor Emeritus Organic ChemistryE-mail: kempistry@aol.comB.S. (1950), Northwestern Univer-sity; Ph.D. (1956), Illinois Institute of

Technology (M.L. Bender).

The effects of neighboring groups on reac-tions of derivatives of carboxylic acids are of interest. Examples include accelerating effects of the carbonyl group in the alkaline hydrolysis of gamma-keto esters and of the carboxylate group in the solvolysis of gamma-bromophenylacetates. The scope and sythetic utility of intramolecular Friedel-Crafts acylation of alkenes are also of interest. By studying the structure and stereochemistry of the cyclization products from acid chlorides, it is hoped that a clearer insight into the nature of the reaction will emerge.

Selected Publications“A novel, simple, and inexpensive model for 1. teaching VSEPR theory,” Kemp, K.C. J. Chem. Educ. 1988, 65, 222.“Writing chemical equations. Introductory 2. experiment,” LeMay, H.E., Jr.; Kemp, K.C. J. Chem. Educ. 1975, 52, 121

H. EUGENE LEMAY, JR. Professor Emeritus Inorganic Chemistry; Chemical EducationE-mail: lemay@unr.eduB.S. (1962), Pacific Lutheran Univer-

sity; M.S. (1964), Ph.D. (1966), University of Illinois (J.C. Bailar).

I am greatly interested in chemical education and are involved in textbook development both as a author and as a consultant. Two textbooks that I have coauthored are widely used in college and high school courses: Chemistry: the Central Science, a gen-

eral chemistry textbook that is also used in advanced-placement courses in high schools, and Chemistry: Connections to our Changing World, a high-school text.

Selected PublicationsChemistry: The Central Science1. , 9th ed., Theodore L. Brown, H. Eugene LeMay, Jr., Bruce E. Bursten, and Julia R. Burdge (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2003).Chemistry: Connections to Our Changing World,2. H. Eugene LeMay, Jr., Herbert Beall, Karen M. Rob-blee, and Douglas C. Brower (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1996).“Solid-phase thermal isomerization of 3. dicarbonyldichlorobis(tertiary phosphine)ruthenium and carbonyldichlorotris(tertiary phosphine)ruthenium complexes,” Krassowski, D.W.; Reimer, K.; LeMay, H.E., Jr.; Nelson, J.H. Inorg. Chem. 1988, 27, 4307-9.

JOHN H. NELSON Professor Emeritus Inorganic ChemistryE-mail: jhnelson@unr.eduB.S. (1964), Ph.D. (1968), University of Utah (R.O. Ragsdale); Postdoc-

toral (1968-70), Tulane University (H.B. Jonassen).

Research interests include the synthesis, physical properties, structure, reactions and catalytic properties of coordination and organometallic compounds. We have been pursuing four avenues of research: (1) Struc-ture, dynamics, and bonding in Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes. (2) Reactions of coordinated ligands, particularly phosphines and arsines. (3) Solid state NMR spectroscopy. (4) Asym-metric homogeneous catalysis.

Selected Publications“Phosphaallyl complexes of Ru(II) derived from 1. dicyclohexylvinylphosphine (DCVP),” Duraczyn-ska, D.; Nelson, J.H. Dalton Trans. 2005, 92-103. “Reactions of ruthenium(II) tris(pyrazolyl)borate 2.

35 - Lecturers, Distinguished, and Emeritus Faculty

and tris(pyrazolyl)methane complexes with diphenylvinylphosphine and 3,4-dimethyl-1-phenylphosphole,” Wilson, D.C.; Nelson, J.H. J. Organomet. Chem. 2003, 682, 272-289.

HYUNG K. SHIN Professor EmeritusTheoretical Chemistry; Chemical PhysicsE-mail: shin@unr.nevada.eduB.S. (1959), Ph. D. (1961), University

of Utah (J.C. Giddings); Postdoctoral (1963-64), Cornell University (B. Widom, P. Debye).

Research activities center around the theory of molecular collisions. Principal topics of current research include the dynamics of gas-surface reactions, collision-induced intramo-lecular energy flow and bond dissociation in large molecules, and vibrational relaxation of matrix-isolated guest molecules.

Selected Publications“Host-assisted intramolecular vibrational relax-1. ation at low temperatures: OH in an argon cage,” Shin, H.K. J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 125, 024501, pp. 1-10. “Collision-induced dissociation of transition 2. metal-oxide ions: Dyanmics of VO+ collision with Xe,” Ree, J.; Kim, Y.H.; Shin, H.K. J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 124, 074307, pp. 1-12. “Threshold collision-induced dissociation of di-3. atomic molecules: A case study of the energet-ics and dynamics of O

2- collisions with Ar and Xe,”

Akin, F.A.; Ree, J.; Ervin, K.M.; Shin, H.K. J. Chem. Phys. 2005, 123, art. no. 064308, pp. 1-12.

36

University of Nevada, Reno

Department of Chemistry University of Nevada, Reno 1664 North Virginia Street

Reno, NV 89557-0216775-784-6041

www.chem.unr.edu