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Chemistry Research at Wesleyan
High-quality contemporary research is the focus of
the Wesleyan graduate program in chemistry. To facilitate the
selection of a faculty research advisor at the end of the first semester,
each student engages in the research activities of three faculty members in
one-month rotations. The student then selects a research advisor,
becomes part of a research group, and decides on a thesis topic.
Research in synthetic organic and inorganic
chemistry is focused on the discovery of new synthetic reactions and the use
of mechanistic and physical organic chemistry to understand the fundamental
basis of these reactions. The inorganic chemistry of transition
organometallic complexes is being studied in order to develop new synthetic
methods for organometallic and to use these and physical organic chemistry
as well as in classical organic methodology for the elucidation of
stereochemistry and other mechanistic details.
The fundamental chemistry of biological processes
has an active interdisciplinary following. Bioorganic approaches are
being used to address the question of sequence and structure specificity in
binding of proteins to RNA. Bacterial enzymes that catalyze reactions
of beta-lactam antibiotics, the penicillins and cephalosporins are being
investigated in order to understand their mode of action and to pave the way
for future drug development. Bioinorganic studies center on
paramagnetic transition metal complexes and their use as contrast agents in
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Investigators in the molecular
biophysics program employ nuclear magnetic resonance and fluoresences
spectroscopies as well as theoretical and computational approaches to
examine the structure, dynamics, and interactions of nucleic acids and
proteins.
Physical chemistry at Wesleyan is concerned with
problems in molecular structure, dynamics and energetics. Quantum and
statistical mechanics calculations; laser techniques; microwave, infrared,
visible, and ulraviolet spectroscopy; nuclear magnetic resonance and
electron spin resonance; and molecular beam and mass spectrometric methods
are incorporated into the research programs. Among the main areas of
interest are studies of condenses phases, energy transfer, collision induced
spectra, the nature of long range interactions, radiationless relaxation,
the properties of molecular complexes, the nature of electron lone-pairs,
and the development of new quantum chemical methods.
Major research instrumentation includes four high
resolution Varian nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers (Inova 500, Unity
Plus 400, VXR 400, and Mercury 300), a Bruker ESP300 electron paramagnetic
resonance spectrometer, two Perkin-Elmer spectrofluorometers, several gas
chromatographs/mass spectrometers, two Fourier transform far-infrared
spectrometers, a Jaso circular dichroism spectrometer, a TI
spectrofluorometer with stop-flow capabilities, a Storm imaging system,
several UV-VIS spectrometers, a pulse-amplified picosecond dye laser sysem,
low-temperature (1.5 K) equipment, and a stop-flow reaction system. A
departmental computer network is dedicated to use by graduate and
undergraduate students. This consists of Unix workstations and Linux
clusters, and complements the Windows and Apple computers available in
computer labs provided by the university. Large-scale parallel
computing is also available at Wesleyan.
Faculty Research
Graduate Program Details |
