Courses I teach: General Chemistry I and II + Labs (CHEM 105 , 105L and 205, 205L)

                                Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences (BCMB 307)

                                Physical Chemistry I  and II + Labs (CHEM 309, 310)

                                Organic Chemistry I Laboratory CHEM106L (Organic I lab)

                                Common Intellectual Experience 2 (CIE 2)

                                CHEM350W - Special Topics in Chemistry: Metals in Biology

                               

Other teaching interests:

                              Special Topics in Chemistry: Chemistry of Art

 

 

 

Research

Research Students

Research Projects and Interests

• Our research is centered on the use of spectroscopic techniques to gain insight into the electronic structure and magnetic properties of iron compounds with biological relevance.  The principal techniques we use are Mössbauer (Click here to see a Hamiltonian used in Mössbauer) and ESR spectroscopy.   With funding obtained from the National Science Foundation (NSF-MRI), I have established a Mössbauer spectroscopy laboratory at Ursinus, in which students work during the academic year and summers (as part of the Summer Fellows program).

• Presently, we are interested in metallo-proteins spectroscopy and in particular in the electronic structure of model compounds for Fe-containing active sites in Fe and Ni-Fe hydrogenases and CO dehydrogenases.

• In collaboration with Prof. Marcetta Darensbourg (Texas A&M) we are pursuing spectroscopic studies of model complexes for the Fe-Fe and Fe - hydrogenases.   Our goal is to elucidate the electronic structure of the hydrogenase active sites.  The theoretical understanding of these models is critical both for the understanding of the enzymatic mechanism and for designing artificial catalysts for hydrogenogenesis.

• In collaborations with Prof.  Charles Riordan (U Delaware), . we are studying iron complexes with novel structures inspired from biological active sites.  Thus, we have recently uncovered the Mössbauer and EPR properties of the first high-spin Fe-S organoiron complex and the first mononuclear low-spin Fe(I) complex.