U CHEM
A
Chemistry Department News
The Department of Chemistry
The University of Akron
May 2009
May 2009
A monthly newsletter
for our faculty,
graduate students,
undergraduates,
alumni, and friends
Points of Interest
• 2009 Crano Lecture
• 2009 Project SEED
• Department Picnic
• Spring Graduates
• Silver based Antibacterials Show Promise
Inside This Issue
Spring Picnic
Faculty and Staff 4
Service Awards
Meetings and Pres- 4
entations
Grants, Contracts, 5
and Patents
Faculty News
Dr. Matthew Platz Presents 2009 Crano Lecture
As this year’s Crano Award
Lecturer, Dr. Mathew Platz of
Ohio State University presented “Ultrafast Time Resolved Studies of Reactive
Intermediates” to the department April 16. He also offered an evening talk, entitled
“Development of a Photochemical Technology to Reduce Pathogens in Platelet
Transfusions,” at Walsh University in North Canton.
reactive species in organic
chemistry. His talk centered
on the formation and reactivity
of carbenes and nitrenes generated from electronically excited state molecules. He
discussed how the products of
the reactions of the carbenes
and nitrenes were determined
by the electronically excited
state from which the intermediates were generated by
bond cleavage.
Currently Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry
and Dean of the College of
Biological, Mathematical and
Physical Sciences at OSU,
Platz had served as Dr. David
Modarelli’s post-doctoral
advisor.
The Crano lectures memorialize Dr. John Crano, a chemist
at PPG who had been instrumental in developing the
Platz is well known for his use
of ultrafast laser spectroscopy
to study the structure and
reactivity of intermediate carbenes, nitrenes, and other
5
photochromic materials for
PPG's polycarbonate eye
glass lenses. Such materials
became the basis of Transitions® eyeglasses. Crano
was an active member of the
Akron Section for many years.
The lectureship is funded by
PPG Inc., and the local section of the ACS is currently
working to establish an endowment for future lectures.
Details on how to contribute
can be found on the Akron
Section ACS website,
http://www.akronacs.org/.now
Left, right:
Drs. Mathew
Platz and
David Modarelli
2
Spring Graduates 3
Volume 1, Issue 2
Chemistry Department Hosts Project SEED Students
The department will again
host several local high school
students this summer as part
of the ACS Project SEED
Program. ACS fully funded
the application —- to the tune
of $31,000 —- through the
Akron Section-ACS, which
will support six returning students and four first-year students in the program.
Project SEED students work
on research projects with
faculty and graduate students
in chemistry, polymer science, and chemical engineering.
Several of the department's
industrial partners support
Project SEED. Goodyear and
Lubrizol give students tours of
their research facilities, and
the Omnova Solutions Foundation continues its financial
support for the program. Several members of the department are officers and committee chairs of Akron-ACS, in-
cluding Dr. David Perry
(Section Chair), Dr. Chris
Ziegler (Treasurer), Adessa
Butler (Alternate Councilor &
Chemical Education Committee. Chair), and Dr. Bill
Donovan (Project SEED Coordinator).
Volume 1, Issue 2
Spring Picnic Pleases Students
Our annual Chemistry Department Spring Picnic commenced on the grassy knoll
adjacent to Knight Chemical
Laboratory on the afternoon
of May 4. And, in spite of
the initial threat of rain and
rather cool weather, Dr.
Chris Ziegler eventually got
those hot dogs and burgers
cooking. With plenty of
chips, pop, and potato salad
as accompaniments, everyone from the department
happily met to eat, laugh,
recap spring semester, and
talk and make trash. As always, Sarah Robenstein’s
grandmother’s cookies were
delicious and very much
appreciated.
Page 2
Page 3
Volume 1, Issue 2
Seven Undergraduate, Three Graduate Students Earn Degrees Spring ’09
Even though the B.S. in Biochemistry program is only two
years old this spring, the first
undergraduate to receive its
degree walked across the
stage at E. J. Thomas Hall
May 9. All in all, the six undergraduates who received chemistry degrees this semester
have ambitious plans, and the
department is pleased to welcome each to its alumni fold.
Joey Harp He earned a B.S.
in Chemistry with Honors and
will attend graduate school at
Case Western Reserve University to pursue a Master’s in
Anesthesiology.
Mara Bryan The first to earn
a B.S. in Biochemistry, she is
also receiving a B.S. in Biology and plans to attend graduate school after graduation.
________________________
Joseph Scavuzzo He
earned a B.S. in Chemistry
and plans to attend graduate
school at the Department of
Polymer Science at the University of Akron.
Aaron Johnson He earned
a B.S. in Chemistry and plans
to attend graduate school at
the University of Washington,
his father’s alma mater.
Michelle Brown She received a B.A. in Chemistry and
begins work at EnviroCoatings
this summer.
Tae Yoon He earned a B.A.
in Chemistry and is interviewing for a position in industry.
Ivan Dolog Ph. D., “A Study
of Charge Transport Phenomena and Nanoscale Investigation of the Modified CdS Surface.” Ivan will continue working for the UA Department of
Physics.
LaTroya L. Cox She received a B.A. in Chemistry.
Three graduate students received degrees Spring 2009,
and the department wishes
them well in their future endeavors. We are pleased to
report that all have jobs underway.
Saida Garcia Ph. D., “A
Characterization of CdS/
Polymer Interactions by Solid
State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.”
Wilhelm Malasi Ph. D.,
“Synthesis and Complexation
of Functionalized Mixed ThiaAza-Macrocyclic and Medium
Sized Ligands“. Wilhelm will
return to Tanzania to begin a
teaching position.
Above, from left to right: Michelle Brown, Mara Bryan, Joseph Harp.
Top left: Aaron Johnson,
Top right: Tae Yoon
Left: Joe Scavuzzo
Right: Dr. Wilhelm Malasi
Page 4
Volume 1, Issue 2
Faculty and Staff Service Awards 2009
Nine department members
were recognized for their
years of service to the university at a special reception held
at the Quaker Square Station
Ballroom April 22. Added
together, their service to UA
totals 135 years.
Simon Stakleff were recognized for 10 years of service,
Dr. Ed Lim and Dr. Chrys
Wesdemiotis reached the 20
years of service milestone,
and Dr. Helen Richter and
Dr. Kim Calvo have been at
the university for 25 years.
Dr. Weiping Zheng was recognized for 5 years of service,
Dr. Venkat Dudipala, Dr. Jun
Hu, Dr. Todd Wagler and
Each received a certificate
and the 20 and 25 year members were given a gift of their
choice.
Four Chemistry Department Service Awardees
Left to right: Drs. Venkat Dudipala, Todd Wagler,
Chrys Wesdemiotis, Helen Richter.
Faculty, Students Give Research at National, Regional Meetings
Spring and summer are prime seasons for national and regional professional meetings, and since March,
Department of Chemistry faculty and
students have given more than 20
papers at scientific meetings. The
following lists professional meetings;
authors and presenters (underlined);
and presentation titles.
American Physical Society Meeting, Pittsburgh, March 16-20
Ram Bhatta and David Perry — “Ab
initio Torsion-Wag Surface For the
Ethyl Radical”
Sylvestre Twagirayezu and David
Perry — “Vibrational Coupling Pathways in the ν3 CH Stretch Fundamental Region of Methanol as Revealed
by Coherence-Detected FTMW-IR
Spectroscopy”
Spring 237th ACS National Meeting
in Salt Lake City, March 22-22
David E Dabney and Chrys Wesdemiotis — “ Anionic synthesis of chainend and in-chain, cyanofunctionalized polystyrenes by hydrosilation of allyl cyanide with silyl
hydride-functionalized polystyrenes”
Gerald F. Koser — “The Chemistry of
[Hydroxy(tosyloxy)iodo]benzene”
Wiley J Youngs — “Silver-loaded shell
crosslinked nanoparticles for antimicrobial
applications”
The Central Regional Meeting of the
ACS, Cleveland, May 20-23
Weiping Zheng — “N(epsilon)Thioacetyllysine as a Multifaceted Chemical Probe for Protein DeacetylaseCatalyzed Reactions”
Nuttara Jamonnak, Brett M. Hirsch, Yi
Pang and Weiping Zheng — “SIRT1 Processing of N(epsilon)-Acetyllysine Analogs”
Shayna J. Robinson, Brett M. Hirsch,
Nuttara Jamonnak and Weiping Zheng —
“N(epsilon)-Thioacetyllysine-Containing
Human SIRT2 Enzyme Inhibitors: a Structure-Activity Study”
Caroline A. Gallo, Brett M. Hirsch and
Weiping Zheng — “N(epsilon)Thioacetyllysine-Containing Human SIRT1
Enzyme Inhibitors: a Structure-Activity
Study”
Anna M. Pischera, John O'Brien and Matthew P. Espe — “Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of Alumina Nanofibers”
Bimala Lama,Matthew Espe —
“Characterization of Conjugated PolymerSemiconductor Nanoparticles Composites”
Cody Anderson and J. K. Hardy —
“Permeation Sampling of Gasoline in Water”
David Modarelli — "Photophysical Properties of N-Confused Porphyrins"
Lek Wongwitwichote — "Syntheses and
Characterizations of a Self-Assembled
Oligo(phenyleneethynylene)"
Rashid Altimimi — "Synthesis of Free
Base Porphyrin Dendrimers Containing
Poly(Glutamic Acid)"
Jojo Joseph — "Photoinduced Electron
Transfer Studies in Fullerene DyadsTetrads"
Linlin Li, Peter L. Rinaldi, Nikki Robishaw
and Wiley J. Youngs — “NMR Characterization of Poly(lactide-co-glycolide)-bpolyethylene
glycol)-folate (PLGA-PEG-FOL)”
Liladhar Paudel, Faith J. Wyzgoski, Sara E.
Whitson, Peter L. Rinaldi, M. Monica Giusti,
Nuryati Pangestu, and Chrys Wesdemiotis
- ”Characterization of Anthocyanins In Elderberry (Sambucus Peruviana) Extracts”
Xiaohong Li, Peter L. Rinaldi, Elizabeth F.
McCord, Silapong Baiagern, Peter A. Fox,
Sangrama Sahoo, and Jon Howell “Multidimensional NMR Studies of Models
for Krytox® Fluoropolymers”
Page 5
Volume 1, Issue 2
Continued from page 4
Jun Jack Hu and Tejal Deodhar — "2,4,9Trithiaadamantane Achored DNA and RNA
On Au Film and Nanoparticle Surfaces"
David S. Perry — "The Adiabatic Approximation as a Diagnostic Tool for TorsionVibration Dynamics"
Zin-Min Tun, Matthew J. Panzner, Doug
Medvetz, Wiley J. Youngs and Claire A.
Tessier — “Chlorophosphazenes,
Their Lewis and Bronsted Acid-Base
Chemistry and Potential Involvement of
Superacids in the Problems Relating
Their Syntheses and Storage”
Joanna Beres, Alyison M. Leigh, Chrys
Wesdimiotis and Clair Tessier — “Use
of Group 6 Carbonyl Reagents to Stabilize Siliconium Cations”
Grants, Contracts, and Patents News
The faculty continue to receive
research support from national
funding agencies.
Wiley Youngs: DOE as a subgrant from ASU — $49,000
In the patent area, Intellectual
Ventures LLC and the University
of Akron Research Foundation
(UARF) recently entered into an
exclusive license agreement
which granted rights to four
older under-utilized patents. In
exchange for the grant of license,
UARF will receive an upfront
payment of $135,000 and 10% of
all future profits generated. Two
of these patents were granted to
Dr. Dan Smith.
Faculty News
Youngs’ Compounds Show Promise as Anti-bacterials
Research on a new antibiotic treatment option for pulmonary infections including pneumonia and
cystic fibrosis, developed at The
University of Akron and Washington University School of Medicine,
has potential for significantly increasing survival among patients
with lung infections.
The nanoparticle antibiotic treatment is composed of encapsulated
silver carbene complexes, or SCCs
(a novel class of silver-based antimicrobials), developed by Dr.
Wiley Youngs, UA Distinguished
Professor of Chemistry, with collaborators Dr. Yang Yun, UA assistant professor of biomedical
engineering who developed the
nanoparticle delivery system, and
Dr. Carolyn Cannon, co-director
of the Cystic Fibrosis Center,
Washington University School of
Medicine in St. Louis. The research team presented notable,
treatment-related increases in survival in a mouse pneumonia model
at the American Thoracic Society
2009 International Conference in
San Diego on May 19.
The concentrated nanoparticles
are administered once daily. Although all of the untreated animals
died, treatment with aerosolized,
nano-sized, silver-based antibiotics
allowed survival of 100 percent of
mice inoculated with Pseudomona
aeroginosa, a common bacteria
that infects the respiratory tract in
humans, especially those who are
In his lab, Dr. Wiley Youngs works on the design
of silver based antibacterials.
immunocompromised, on mechanical ventilatory support or afflicted
with cystic fibrosis. Treatment with
the SCC-loaded nanoparticles also
minimized weight loss and the bacteria burden in the lung and reduced the spread of bacteria from
the lung through the blood stream
to the spleen.
The team’s collaboration began in
2004 when Cannon approached
Youngs with an inquiry about testing SCCs for their effectiveness in
treating a resistant Burkholderia
strain that had infected several