Chemistry

Home » Archives for Kayla Benson » Page 14
Author: Kayla Benson

Jenkins Published in Highly-Profiled Journal Angewandte Chemie

by

David Jenkins and coworkers published a communication demonstrating the first five‑coordinate imide complexes on iron in Angewandte Chemie.

An imide is a nitrogen-metal multiple bond ligand that is associated with catalytic oxidation reactions where a nitrene (NR group) is transferred to an organic substrate.

Jenkins is interested in iron imides due to his studies on aziridination.  An aziridine is a three-membered ring with two carbon atoms and one nitrogen atom that are useful in pharmaceutical syntheses. These five‑coordinate iron imides are postulated to be key intermediates in catalytic aziridination so their isolation may lend insight into this catalytic reaction. Notably in this study, changing the carbon group bound to the nitrogen changed the spin state at the iron center. Thus, these metal complexes required careful structural characterization at the department’s new X-ray facility, spectroscopic measurements (at UT and Harvard University), and theoretical calculations by Kostas Vogiatzis. 

Click here to learn more

Buehler Hall Wins Volunteers First Impression Contest

by

While the campus has invested tremendously in new projects in recent years, most employees and students are working and learning in existing spaces.

As part of facilities services Volunteer First Impressions contest: faculty, staff, and students were encouraged to submit an idea for renovating public spaces on campus. Typical suggestions include new carpeting, painting, deep cleaning, adding plants or landscaping, and updating signage.

“This is a way to emphasize that all parts of the university are important and all programs are vital to its mission,” said Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor of Facilities Services. “A lot of people look out at a landscape that hasn’t changed in some time.”

Facilities Services selected 10 entries to receive $10,000 in Facilities Services credit. Work on the projects will begin later in the spring.

“The winners can use the credit not only for labor, but in a wide variety of ways, including interior and exterior furnishings, materials, and landscaping,” Irvin said. “It will be exciting to see the great ideas of our students and employees become reality.”

Buehler Hall Courtyard was the fourth entry selected. The suggestion was submitted by Johnny Jones, The Department of Chemistry’s Technical Director. Johnny recommended the space because the area is “barren.” The courtyard is located just outside of room 300 Buehler, which is a large lecture hall, and it could be utilized as a waiting space for students. 

Vogiatzis Group Published in Chemical Reviews

by

The Vogiatzis Group published their work “Computational Approach to Molecular Catalysis by 3d Transition Metals: Challenges and Opportunities” in Chemical Reviews.

Their work discusses the challenges and capabilities of modern electronic structure methods for studying the reaction mechanisms promoted by 3d transition metal molecular catalysts. Particular focus is placed on the ways of addressing the multiconfigurational problem in electronic structure calculations and the role of expert bias in the practical utilization of the available methods.

The development of density functionals designed to address transition metals is also discussed. Special emphasis is placed on the methods that account for solvation effects and the multicomponent nature of practical catalytic systems. This is followed by an overview of recent computational studies addressing the mechanistic complexity of catalytic processes by molecular catalysts based on 3d metals.

Conventionally, computational studies on catalytic mechanisms are heavily dependent on the chemical intuition and expert input of the researcher. Recent developments in advanced automated methods for reaction path analysis hold promise for eliminating such human-bias from computational catalysis studies.

Oxford University Press Releases Kovac’s Book

by

Jeff KovacOxford University Press has just released the second edition of Jeffery Kovac’s book, The Ethical Chemist. It provides a detailed discussion of professional ethics for chemists based on the view that the specific codes of conduct derive from a three part moral ideal. It also contains a large collection of specific ethical problems that exemplify important ethical issues that are ideal for use in courses or workshops for students or working chemists.

This book has 18 new cases on ethical problems that were not covered in the first edition. Kovac “tried to make the book more useful to industrial chemists by adding more cases raising issues they face in their work. In addition, I have revised many of the original cases to clarify situations that were vague and to enliven the prose to make them more interesting.”

As a Professor of Chemistry and Director of College Scholars, Kovac is the author of over 100 publications including six previous books.

 

Learn More

 

Sharma Group Research Highlighted in Spectroscopy Newsletter

by

Research in the Sharma lab was recently highlighted in an online Spectroscopy newsletter for using SERS and SESORS to detect neurotransmitters and probe subsurface layers through the skull. She describes the advantages of these techniques and how they are used in biological applications.

Sharma explains, “SERS is advantageous in that it provides very rapid sample analysis time versus other techniques including HPLC, mass spectrometry (MS), and fluorescence. SERS also involves little to no sample preparation, no necessary labeling, and results in a “molecular fingerprint” for each analyte even for analytes with very similar chemical structures, making identification more straightforward.”

The research goal is to “establish limits of detection for various neurotransmitters that are commonly known to be involved in specific neurological diseases and then to detect these neurotransmitters in the brain.”

 

Learn More

Dai Receives Two Prestigious Awards

by

The Department of Chemistry would like to extend congratulations to Sheng Dai for recently receiving two prestigious awards for his work. He was recently named the recipient of the highly sought-after 2019 ACS Award in Separations Science & Technology AND The International Mesoporous Society’s 2018 IMMA Award. He was bestowed these honors for his significant and sustained contributions to our current knowledge of porous materials and ionic liquids for energy-related separation.

His research has significantly impacted both the synthesis and characterization of these unique materials for a number of separation processes and energy storage. He is an internationally recognized expert in the synthesis and characterization of porous materials and ionic liquids for separation chemistry and was included in the 2015 Thompson-Reuters list of the world’s most influential chemists. His work includes publishing more than 600 peer-review papers, 28 patents, and according to the h index of 94 based on Web of Science (as of Sept. 16, 2018), his papers have been cited more than 36,000 times.

 

Learn More

Roy and Lebeis Receive NSF CAREER Awards

by

The College of Arts and Sciences is excited to add Sharani Roy and Sarah Lebeis to a particularly exclusive group of honorees. They join the ranks of those having been selected to receive a coveted National Science Foundation CAREER award. This esteemed early-career honor is bestowed upon promising young faculty who show exceptional potential in their field and are devoted to higher education. This award also provides a 5 year grant to help fund their research. With the addition of Roy and Lebeis, the department will have accrued 11 of these high honors.

“NSF CAREER awards are designed to prepare tenure-track faculty for a lifetime of outstanding research and education service,” said Drew Haswell, research coordinator for the college.

Sharani Roy is an assistant professor of chemistry that specializes in surface chemistry. Her research attempts to develop newer, more accurate methods of studying surface chemistry that extend beyond previous concepts of molecular dynamics simulations. In addition to developing courses on computational chemistry, surface chemistry, and scientific computing, she has partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to organize a symposium on surface chemistry.

Of the almost 800 applicants in her category, Roy was one of about 170 chosen for funding. In Lebeis’s category of approximately 400, fewer than 50 were selected.

Learn More

Xue Group Research Published in Nature Communications Journal

by

Xue group research article “Spin–phonon couplings in transition metal complexes with slow magnetic relaxation” is now published in Nature Communications, a highly reputable journal. Papers published by the journal aim to represent important advances of significance to specialists within each field. Their innovative research spectroscopically reveals and quantitates the spin–phonon couplings in typical transition metal complexes and sheds light on the origin of the spin–phonon entanglement.

Xue group research is centered on three areas: (1) Spectroscopic studies of molecular magnetism; (2) Synthesis and characterization of transition metal complexes; (3) Development of new chemical analyses. Both fundamental chemistry and applications are studied. For this open-access article, Duncan Moseley and Shelby Stavretis in their group conducted research.

Learn More

Barnes Wins Fulbright to Conduct Research in Czech Republic

by

When Carolyn Barnes started college, she had her heart set on attending medical school. As she progressed through courses in biology and chemistry, however, she discovered a different career path.

“I realized my interest in medicine was more focused towards understanding the cellular and molecular processes that cause humans to have diseases and illness rather than just treating those diseases,” says Barnes, a senior in chemistry and member of the Chancellor’s Honors Program.

Barnes was first introduced to the field of lipid and membrane chemistry during her junior year. In 2017, she studied at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. In 2018, she has the opportunity to study in the Czech Republic thanks to a Fulbright Award.

“I am excited to experience the Czech Republic and be immersed in the culture while also pursuing research I find really interesting,” says Barnes, who will study the dynamics of pancreatic cells involved in insulin release.

Insulin is the hormone that controls blood-sugar levels in the body. When a person loses control of releasing insulin it affects the body’s ability to control blood-sugar level, which in turn, causes diabetes. Barnes became interested in this line of research when she learned about a friend’s experience being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.

“Type II diabetes accounts for 90 percent of diabetes cases worldwide, but the molecular mechanisms of this are very poorly understood,” Barnes says. “We hope this research will allow us to differentiate the effects of several different types of fat on insulin secretion from pancreatic cells.”

Barnes, who is from Knoxville, started working in labs at UT as a senior in high school. Since her arrival at UT, she has worked in several labs and learned different aspects of research and collaboration. She fell in love with the lab atmosphere and the research she conducts when she began working with Michael Best, professor of chemistry.

“The field of lipid chemistry is diverse and has a lot of applications that have only begun to be investigated,” Barnes says. “I enjoy the atmosphere in a lab where those who surround you have the same thirst for knowledge and the desire to discover something that might change the world.”