Subdisciplines of chemistry

Please view this brief list of the subdisciplines of chemistry that are currently being investigated. Also, see the research group members.

Analytical Chemistry

  • Carbon nanotube based transdermal drug delivery systems
  • Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography – development and applications
  • Development and applications of Solid-Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) technology for in vitro and in vivo analysis
  • Clinical and pharmaceutical applications of SPME
  • In-vivo fish monitoring by SPME to environmental contaminants
  • Advances in multidimensional chromatography
  • Advanced separations techniques in the analysis of environmental pollutants
  • Passive air sampling in environmental analysis
  • DNA-aptamer based biosensors for detection in biological fluids
  • Electroanalytical chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry and in vitro toxicology assays
  • Micro- and nano-samples by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) atomic emission and ICP-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)
  • Green chromatography

Biological Chemistry or Biochemistry

  • Particle-displayed DNA for aptamer selection and aptamer-based detection
  • Structure and function investigations of nitric oxide synthase and calmodulin
  • Mechanisms of protein aggregation
  • Protein engineering and design
  • Developing novel methods for combinatorial selection of aptamers
  • Design, synthesis and enzymology of novel enzyme inhibitors
  • Study of enzymes important in microorganisms and potential for drug design
  • Protein structure and function
  • Bionanotechnology-application of proteins and enzymes to nanotechnology
  • Structure and function of membrane-damaging toxins and antibiotics
  • Nucleic acid structure and function
  • Biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy
  • RNA as drug and drug target

Inorganic Chemistry

  • Solid state chemistry of energy storage materials: synthesis and properties
  • Intermetallics for Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell catalysis
  • Solid state nitrites
  • Supercapacitors and pseudocapacitor materials
  • Solid state chemistry of lithium ion batteries
  • Heavy atom radicals as multifunctional magnetic and conductive materials
  • Solid state chemistry: advanced thermoelectric materials
  • Solid state chemistry: nonconventional polyselenides and polytellurides
  • Synthetic bioinorganic chemistry
  • Nitrogenase-inspired iron cluster chemistry
  • Reactivity studies of divalent titanium
  • Synthesis and self-assembly of organometallic monomers

Nanotechnology

  • Nanofluidics in carbon nanotubes
  • Designing carbon nanotubes to overcome bio-barriers
  • Hybrid nanostructured materials: correlation of structure, transport and electrochemical properties of alkali transition metal phosphates
  • Designing carbon nanotubes and mesoporous carbons for energy storage
  • DNA directed assembly of soft and hard nanomaterials for sensing and drug delivery
  • Synthesis and assembly of nano-materials
  • Integrative chemistry for nanomaterials
  • Complex inorganic nanostructures
  • Nanomaterials and nanodevices for diology and medicine
  • Health and environmental effects of engineered nanomaterials
  • Cell-nanomaterial interaction based devices and electronic sensors
  • Ion based self-assembly of nanoparticles and devices
  • Design and synthesis of supramolecular functional nanomaterials

Organic Chemistry

  • Asymmetric conjugate additions to Meldrum's acid alkylidenes
  • Synthesis and evaluation of b-lactamase inhibitors
  • New methods for sulfation of steroids and carbohydrates
  • Physical organic chemistry
  • Development of new methods for asymmetric synthesis
  • Stereocontrolled synthesis of biologically-relevant molecules
  • Ligand-catalyzed asymmetric transformations
  • Design of organometallic reagents for asymmetric carbon-carbon bond forming process

Physical Chemistry

  • Nanofluidics in carbon nanotubes
  • Multifunctional complex oxide nano structures
  • Supercapacitors and pseudocapacitor materials
  • Solid state electrochemistry of energy storage and conversion materials
  • High resolution magic angle spinning NMR of polymer-supported peptides
  • NMR studies of prionlike peptide structures
  • Biological metal sites as studied by solid-state NMR spectroscopy
  • Solid-state implementations for Quantum Information Processing (QIP)

Polymer Chemistry

  • Synthesis of branched polymers using click chemistry
  • Characterization of "(AspxPhey)n" polypeptide aggregates and their potential for drug delivery applications
  • Polymer-stabilized metallic nanoparticle catalysts
  • Arborescent polymers based on amino acids
  • Microencapsulation by amphiphilic polymers for drug delivery
  • Physical characterization of branched polymers (rheology, solution viscosity, light scattering, etc.)
  • Synthesis and characterization of ionomers
  • Organometallic polymer synthesis and self-assembly

Theoretical Chemistry

  • Internally contracted multireference coupled cluster method and  normal-order-based automatic code generator  
  • Advances in the density matrix renormalization group method for use in quantum chemistry (spin adaptation, two-body density matrix evaluation, orbital optimization)
  • Development and application of improved models for intermolecular potential energy functions
  • Dynamical studies of Van der Waals cluster solvation and their spectroscopic signatures
  • Path integral simulations of quantum fluids
  • Simulations of doped helium nano-droplets