Faculty Research

Dr. Mohammad Al-Masum

The great development of our understanding of transition metal catalysis in organic chemistry has opened a major avenue for invention of new processes and improvement of existing ones. Palladium enjoys two stable oxidation states, the +2 state and the Zerovalent state and it is the facile redox interchange between these oxidation states which is responsible for the rich reaction chemistry that palladium complexes display. More recently, it is found that potassium organotrifluoroborates show very high reactivity in palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Potassium organotrifluoroborate is very reactive, non-toxic, environmentally labile and water soluble organic species. In modern chemistry, it is novel and it has tremendous aspect in organic transformations and this field will be explored.

Dr. William Boadi

Heavy metals (e.g. Hg+2, cd+2, ni+2) which are components of tobacco smoke and pollutants from other sources (such as industrial wastes, burning of fossil fuel, etc.) May contribute to the incidence of many diseases in humans, including cancer.  Little information is known about how heavy metals react or modify the genome.  Studies on the effect of these metals and how they modify dna will contribute information on the mutagenic burden of the cell.

Other areas of research will involve the identification of new products formed from endogenous oxidation of deoxyribose (e.g. Abstraction of hydrogen from 5' of ribose and how these products affect the genome.  This will involve method development protocols (such as the use of hplc, gc-ms, nmr, etc.) To characterize the products formed.  Molecular biology techniques will be employed to map out the mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of these products.

Dr. Daniel S. Domin

Primarily, Dr. Domin is interested in how the instructional science laboratory affects student learning. Dr. Domin’s research attempts to ascertain which aspects of science laboratory instruction are significant in affecting a myriad of student outcomes.  This includes, but is not limited to

• utilizing higher-order cognition
• developing conceptual understanding
• students’ perceptions of the nature of science
• utilizing scientific reasoning
• problem solving

Currently, he is investigating the capability of the general chemistry laboratory to alter students’ views on the nature of science.

Other research involves understanding the dynamics of chemistry departments at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in order to ascertain the critical features that make some departments more successful than others at increasing their general chemistry enrolment and graduating students with either a B.S. or B.A. in chemistry.

Through a grant from the Department of Education’s Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP) Dr. Domin will, in the fall of 2004, be visiting a number of HBCUs to survey both students and faculty regarding their perceptions of the department as a whole and their impressions of the students participating in chemistry education.

Dr. Theodore Duello

Dr. Duello”s research interests are in Analytical Environmental Contaminants and Environmental Methods.

Presently, work with Gas-Chromatography utilizing Electron Capture Detection for the pollutant,  Pentachlorophenol in various matrices including biological materials is of most interest.  

Dr. Sujata Guha

The primary focus of Dr. Guha’s research is the use of theoretical methods to investigate the structures, spectroscopy, energies, and kinetics of complexes and transition states involved in novel catalytic reactions occurring between free radicals and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere. Free radicals play important roles in various oxidation processes, and it is critical to determine their reaction mechanisms. Of particular importance are the radicals that are produced by photodecomposition during catalytic cycles involving hydrogen, halogen, oxygen, sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen families, as they affect the presence of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. Information regarding the reactivity of radicals is important for determining the pathways by which multi-step atmospheric reactions occur. Dr. Guha is interested in analyzing the photochemistry of small molecules in order to understand the reaction mechanisms of upper atmospheric species that have not yet been addressed. The information gained from such studies can be used in developing predictive models of the gas-phase reactivity of atmospheric species.

Dr. Guha’s areas of interest (major themes) are: (A) Complex formation in atmospheric reactions, (B) Kinetics of atmospheric reactions, and (C) Excited state photochemistry of atmospheric species. Progress in each of these areas is essential to understanding the occurrence of chemical processes in the atmosphere and their implications. Such studies are performed by using computational programs such as GAUSSIAN and MOLPRO and applying state-of-the-art ab initio molecular orbital computational methods, such as Moeller-Plesset, coupled-cluster, and quadratic configuration quantum mechanical methods in conjunction with sophisticated basis sets, depending upon the size and complexity of the processes.

The application of high-level computational techniques to study gas-phase reactions represents a novel approach that provides new insights into the fundamental details of reactivity of atmospheric species. Through these studies, the chemistry of atmospheric oxidation processes can be probed into, and their influence on the existence of life on Earth assessed. The results of Dr. Guha’s work prove to be invaluable in aiding experimental analysis and can be used as input into chemical models to address critical issues such as global warming and ozone depletion.

Dr. Mohammad R. Karim

• Use of intramolecular ene reaction in the synthesis of indole and carbazole analogs
• Development of chemo- and stereoselective oxidizing agents
• Synthesis of Nojirimycin and Mannojirimycin analogs using the intramolecular ene reaction
• Synthesis of natural products such as: Slaframine, Castanospermine, Swainsonine, etc. via the intramolecular ene reaction.
•  Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Study of Schiff's Bases and Their Metal Complexes

Dr. Jon Mensah

Natural product-derived bioactive molecules; novel cancer chemotherapeutic agents; bioorganic chemistry focused on the application of traditional organic synthesis and standard molecular biology techniques to the study of cellular and physiological function of proteins and of protein-small organic molecule interactions; interdisciplinary blend of organic chemistry, genomic, proteomic and metabolic studies concentrated on providing a better understanding of cancer cell biology.

Dr. Joshua Moore

Dr. Moore’s research interests lie in the areas of synthetic inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry, and nanomaterials. The research efforts in Dr Moore’s laboratory center on the synthesis of novel inorganic materials at both the macro- and nano-scales. A fundamental theme present in this research effort is the use of chemically “soft” methods (i.e. solution-based, room temperature, or low temperature routes) for material preparation. Several specific areas are of interest:

Ceramic Nanocomposite Materials

Sol-gel chemistry is a facile, solution-based method for the preparation of metal oxide materials, and composite materials thereof. Research in this area focuses on the covalent incorporation of nanocrystal precursors into a ceramic, sol-gel matrix. Thermal treatment of these intermediate precursor/ceramic composites yields nanocomposites consisting of nanocrystals of a desired material widely dispersed throughout a ceramic matrix.

Optical Materials (Rare-Earth Molybdates and Rare-Earth Oxides)

Materials having the basic formula Re₂(MoO₄)₃, where Re = rare earth (lanthanide) ion, have interesting optical properties. These materials are luminescent and may also possess non-linear optical properties (second harmonic generation). Enhancement of the optical properties of these materials may be achieved by restricting the Re₂(MoO₄)₃ materials to the nano size regime. Preparation of these nanomaterials will be prepared using water-in-oil microemulsions (aqueous “nano-reactors”) to facilitate the production of Re₂(MoO₄)₃ nanoparticles. 

Metal Sulfides

Metal sulfides are a technologically important class of materials with applications ranging from light harvesting components in solar cells to catalysis to solid-state lubrication. Research in this area will probe new methods for the room temperature or low temperature preparation of various metal sulfides, including pH dependant decomposition of molecular precursors and “thio” sol-gel reactions.

Dr. Cosmas Okoro

 Fluororganic Synthesis – The primary objective is the design and synthesis of life science compounds using fluorinated building blocks.  The high lipophilicity of a trifluoromethyl group confers better bioavailability to molecules containing it.  Our research group have established the synthesis of fluorinated cyclic s-trans vinylogous acids and amides (see Tetrahedron Letters 47 (2006) 7451-7454).  These versatile intermediates are being used as trifluoromethyl building blocks for the synthesis of complex heterocyles of medicinal importance.