Professor Xue Appointed Associate Editor of Science China Chemistry

December 21, 2011 by newframe

Ben Xue, Professor of Chemistry was appointed Associate Editor of Science China Chemistry last year and recently edited the December issue on the International Year of Chemistry (IYC).

The December issue includes 29 papers from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, and the USA. It also features an interview of Professor Robert Grubbs and and a Comments by Professor Ada Yonath, two Nobel Laureates.

Dr. David Jenkins, Assistant Professor in Chemistry Department helped draft questions for the interview of Grubbs.

Another issue Xue helped organize is the November issue for the 80th birthday of Professor Ron Breslow of Columbia University. Xue wrote the prefaces for both issues.

Science China Chemistry is an academic journal co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and published by Science China Press. The journal publishes high-quality, original results in both basic and applied research.

Professor Kovac Publishes New Book

December 21, 2011 by newframe

Jeff Kovac, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and Michael Weisberg, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania published a new book on science history, Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry.

They gathered together chemist Roald Hoffmann’s most significant contributions to the field of philosophy and included in the book some unpublished lectures to increase the value of the collection.

Professor Kovac’s honors and awards include election to Phi Beta Kappa, the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  Kovac is the author of over 100 publications including four books.

Abstract from Book

Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann’s contributions to chemistry are well known. Less well known is that over a career that spans nearly fifty years, Hoffmann has thought and written extensively about a wide variety of other topics, such as chemistry’s relationship to philosophy, literature, and the arts, including the role of symbolism and writing in science, the nature of chemical reasoning, and the relationship between art and craft and science.

In Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry, Jeffrey Kovac and Michael Weisberg bring together twenty-eight of Hoffmann’s most important essays. Gathered here are Hoffmann’s most philosophically significant and interesting pieces, many of which are not easily found in print. In essays such as “Why Buy That Theory,” “Nearly Circular Reasoning,” “How Should Chemists Think,” “The Metaphor, Unchained,” “Art in Science,” and “Molecular Beauty,” we find the mature reflections of one of America’s leading scientists. Organized under the general headings of Chemical Reasoning and Explanation, Writing and Communicating, Art and Science, Education, and Ethics, these stimulating works provide invaluable insight into the practice of science. Hoffmann also has a reputation as a superb teacher of chemistry–one with a special talent for communicating complex ideas to novice students–and many of the essays here are of special interest to teachers of science in general, and chemistry in particular.

Insightful, thought-provoking, and filled with good humor, Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry will fascinate anyone interested in modern science or who enjoys engaging with an exceptional mind.

Darrell Lay Retires After 46 Years of Service

December 13, 2011 by newframe

A retirement party was hosted for Darrell Lay today in Buehler Hall 511 to honor his 46 years of service to the Department of Chemistry.

With food, flowers, gifts, laughters, tears, speeches, holiday spirit, and even a “money tree”, chemistry faculty, staff, and students joined each other to celebrate the coming holiday and Darrel Lay’s retirement.

“Darrel is an exemplary parachute packer.” Dr. George Schweitzer paused a little, then compared faculty members to parachuters. “All faculty members should remember, we could not do research just by ourselves. We depend on our graduate students and staff.” Dr. George Kabalka patted Darrell on his shoulder and said, “I probably could not have gotten that grant if it were not for him.”

Darrell joined the Department as a Storekeeper on Dec. 6, 1965. At the time, he was responsible to order supplies and dispensed items to labs, faculty, and graduate students, but on a much smaller scale than now. As the Department transformed over the years, Darrell’s job also went through the same process. Darrell joked that he had worked everywhere inside the Department except that he had never had to lecture.

In the past 46 years, Darrell has worked hard to earn everyone’s trust, love, and respect. “Darrell is the most honest person I have ever met.” Dr. William Bull, former Associate Department Head said while returning a key he has kept for years to Darrell. And that act stimulated a room of laughters.

Darrell now lives with his wife Mary Ruth, who just retired from from Oak Ridge National Lab as a Senior Staff Administrator with the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility after 39 years of service. They plan to “do a little travel” in Tennessee first and hope to have “a trip out West” in the near future. While taking care of his blueberries, apple trees, and fig trees are also part of the plan, Darrell said he would come back to visit the Department from time to time. “No one spends half of century working somewhere just because of the job,” Darrell said. “I stayed because of people here. I love all the faculty members, students, and staff I work with.”

Special thanks goes to staff members in the Business Office and Main Office who organized the party and came up with many brilliant ideas.

View Retirement Party Pictures

Congratulations 2011 Graduates!

December 9, 2011 by newframe

It’s again time of the year that we say congratulations and goodbye to some of our friends. Yesterday, 2011 UT Fall Graduate Hooding Ceremony was hosted in Thompson-Boling Assembly Center & Arena. While more are graduating, four Chemistry Ph.D students were able to attend and being hooded on the stage.

Please join us in congratulating 2011 graduates and wish them good luck with their future career and life! For those who just became alumni of this Department, we hope you could keep in touch with us, and come back to see us!

View more pictures of the hooding ceremony.

Alan Cramer Paper Accepted in JACS

December 6, 2011 by newframe

Alan Cramer, a third year graduate student in Dr. Jenkins’ group, published a paper about synthesis of Aziridines in Journal of American Chemical Society (JACS).

Co-authored with Professor Jenkins, Cramer is the first author of this paper Synthesis of Aziridines from Alkenes and Aryl Azides with a Reusable Macrocyclic Tetracarbene Iron Catalyst.

In this paper, the two researchers expanded upon previous examples of catalytic aziridination, which utilize the more atom economical azide funtional group as the nitrene transfer reagent.  They demonstrated that their catalyst could perform the first ever examples of catalytic aziridination with tri- and tetra-substituted alkenes, as well as, electron donating aryl azides. “Our new iron tetra-NHC catalyst can perform these reactions not only at very low catalyst loading, but it can also be easily separated and recycled up to an additional three times.” Cramer said. Since the aziridine functional group is found in natural products and also used in pharmaceuticals, broadening the scope of the aziridination reaction is significant.

Born and raised in Powder Springs, GA, Cramer always wanted to be a chemist. He received his Bachor of Science degree in Chemistry from Kennesaw State University in 2008 and joined Jenkins Group a year later.

Working towards Ph.D., Cramer’s rearch has been focusing on organometallic synthesis with a special interest in structure and bonding and how these characteristics can be tuned from a molecular orbital stand point.  His current research involves trying to stabilize high energy metal ligand multiple bonds and performing oxidative group transfer reactions from them with various substrates.

Founded in 1879, JACS is the flagship journal of the American Chemical Society and the preeminent journal in the field. This periodical is devoted to the publication of fundamental research papers in all areas of chemistry and publishes approximately 16,000 pages of Articles, Communications, Book Reviews, and Computer Software Reviews a year. Published weekly, JACS provides research essential to the field of chemistry and is the most cited journal in chemistry field as reported in the 2010 Journal Citation Report© Thomson Reuters.

Last year, Cramer also co-authored a paper 18-Atom-Ringed Macrocyclic Tetra-imidazoliums for Preparation of Monomeric Tetra-carbene Complexes that was published in Organometallics, another American Chemical Society publication with a high Impact Factor of 3.888, ranked in the top ten in citations, impact factor, articles published and immediacy index in both categories.

Kovac Appointed Director of College Scholars Program

October 25, 2011 by newframe

Dr. Jeff Kovac, Professor of Chemistry, was appointed the new Director of College Scholars Program in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Being a faculty member in the Chemistry Department since 1976, Kovac directs the department undergraduate programs, serves as the Director of the Tennessee Governor’s Schools for Science and Engineerigthe and also directed the Tennessee Science Olympiad State Tournament in 2009. He recently received Chancellor’s Honor for his excellent work in academic outreach.

The College Scholars Program is an interdisciplinary honors program in the College of Arts and Sciences. The program was founded to support highly motivated and academically talented students who have clear goals for their undergraduate education, and who cannot attain those goals within the traditional requirements structure of the College.

Once admitted to the program, a Scholar is exempt from all the course distribution requirements for undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences. Instead, each Scholar works with a faculty member who serves as a Mentor, with the Director of College Scholars, and with others to design a unique curriculum to meet the Scholar’s individual educational goals.  For more information, please visit CSP web site.

Xiaojun Wang Receives ACS Travel Award

October 11, 2011 by newframe

Chemistry graduate student Xiaojun Wang in Professor Mays Group is selected as one of two recipients of American Chemical Society (ACS) Graduate Travel Award to attend 2012 ACS National Meeting in San Diego.

This Travel Award is sponsored by the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry’s Membership Committee. Each year, the Committee provides funding for two polymer graduate students to travel to ACS National Meeting and present their research results.

Wang will be delivering a presentation entitled “Microstructure Effects on Self-assembly of Polystyrene-b-Sulfonated Poly(cyclohexadiene)” to address an unexplored issue regarding self-assembly behavior of strong electrolyte block copolymers derived from dienes.

Wang is very excited for receiving this award. “I felt very excited and honored,” he said. “That means recognition of my research among all the applicants. And I am very grateful to my advisor, Prof. Jimmy Mays, who has supervised my research, fully supported this travel award application and gave me a strong recommendation.”

Wang obtained his Bachelor of Engineering in Material Science and Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology and a Master degree in Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics at Fudan University. He joined Prof. Jimmy Mays’ group in 2007 to pursue his Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry.

Wang’s research mainly focuses on synthesis of well-defined linear and branched polymers by anionic polymerization, post-modification, morphological study of sulfonated and fluorinated polymers, and self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers in aqueous system.

With full devotion to his research, Wang had first-authored and co-authored multiple publications in Soft Matter, Biomacromolecules and European Polymer Journal. Currently, he is working on an invited review for Soft Matter, collaborating with researchers at Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences in Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Wang is also recently selected the Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium which will take place at the ACS Sandiego meeting starting on Sunday, March 25, 2012.

UT Celebrates National Chemistry Week

October 11, 2011 by newframe

Members of the American Chemical Society (ACS) nationwide will be celebrating National Chemistry Week (NCW) October 16-22.

During this week, ACS members will have the opportunity to present the positive aspects of chemistry, promote science education, and to heighten the public awareness of the contributions chemistry has made to society and to everyday life.

The NCW theme for this year is “Chemistry — Our Health, Our Future” Members will explore the positive impacts of chemistry as it relates to nutrition, hygiene, and medicine.

One of the activities that is planned by the East Tennessee Section of ACS is the 21st anniversary of Dr. Hazari’s “THE MAGIC OF CHEMISTRY SHOW.” The event will be held at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Dabney-Buehler in Room 555, on Tuesday, October 18, 7:00-8:00 pm. Kids ages 2-102 years are invited to attend this free admission show.

Since the NCW theme for this year is about Health, a donation of a bar of soap for East Tennessee area needy is requested. No show reservations are necessary and questions may be addressed to Dr. Al Hazari (ahazari@utk.edu ; 865-974-1065). Paid parking is available at the UT University Center Parking Garage.

Best Featured in Pregame Showcase

October 11, 2011 by newframe

KNOXVILLE – Michael Best, associate professor in the department of chemistry, will be speaking at this week’s Pregame Showcase on “Bioorganic Chemistry: Advancing the Frontiers of Medicine.”

The showcase will take place Saturday, October 15, before the Vols’ home game against Louisiana State University. The showcase will begin at 1:30 p.m., two hours before the game’s kickoff. Featuring a thirty-minute presentation followed by a fifteen-minute question-and-answer session, each showcase is free and open to the public and held in the Carolyn P. Brown Memorial University Center Room 213. Light refreshments are provided, and guests have a chance to win door prizes. Guests who complete a registration form receive a 10 percent discount coupon for game day purchases from the UT Bookstore.

The presentation will focus on bioorganic chemistry research performed in Best’s laboratory and cover the fundamentals of bioorganic chemistry by discussing how his lab goes about designing, creating, and applying organic molecules to study important biological processes, particularly those relevant to disease.

“Specifically, we will discuss recent efforts by my lab to develop inhibitors of the target protein autotaxin, which is of significant interest since this protein is overstimulated in many human cancers,” Best said. “My laboratory has also developed small molecule probes corresponding to an important family of lipids that has been implicated in diverse processes, including the onset of cancer and diabetes, as well as HIV-1 virus proliferation.”

Best teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in organic chemistry and is passionate about mentoring graduate, undergraduate, and pre-collegiate students. He leads the annual mentoring day on behalf of the Department of Chemistry, which brings local high school students to campus to learn about chemistry education and research.

Best has received more than $1.2 million in funding for his research, including the National Science Foundation Career Award in 2010. He has published his work in thirty research.

Department Hosted 2011 Board of Visitors Annual Meeting

October 1, 2011 by newframe

Department of Chemistry hosted 2011 Board of Visitors Annual Meeting on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Buehler Hall 511.

Eight BOV members participated in this year’s meeting and 19 students from all five divisions presented their posters during the Students Poster Competition. Heidi Bostic from Best group and Chris Bennett from Camden group won the poster awards with Nan Chen from Barnes group, Sneha Belapure from Campagna group, and Xiaojun Wang from Mays group as runner-ups.

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