Chemistry and Biochemistry

Courses

Core courses include Chemistry 141–142, Basic Principles of Chemistry; Chemistry 201–202, Organic Chemistry; Chemistry 311, Physical Chemistry; Chemistry 312, Advanced Inorganic Chemistry; and laboratory concepts–focused Chemistry 350, Physical and Analytical Techniques, and Chemistry 360, Synthesis. At least one advanced elective course is offered each semester, covering topics such as organic synthesis, nucleic acids, organometallics, nanotechnology, and biochemistry.

Recent Senior Projects in Chemistry and Biochemistry

• “Carbon-carbon bond formation: An investigation of [2+2] cycloadditions by visible light photoredox catalysis”
• “Evolution of extracellular DNA (eDNA) secretion in Bacillus subtilis”
• “Hybrid lithography in SU-8: A mask-based photolithography and direct laser writing technique”
• “Potential anticancer activity via inhibition of telomerase binding: Investigation of stabilization factors for G-quadruplex structures”

Faculty/Student Publications

Undergraduate students have the opportunity to work on research projects with members of the chemistry faculty. Recent publications that have featured student coauthors include the following:

• “Investigation of Liver Alcohol Dehydrogenase Catalysis Using an NADH Biomimetic and Comparison with a Synthetic Zinc Model Complex.” Polyhedron 114 (2016), 145–51
• “A Convenient Direct Laser Writing System for the Creation of Microfluidic Masters.” Microfluidics and Nanofluidics 19 (2015), 419–26
• “Regioselective Formation of Six-Membered and Five-Membered Cyclometalated Platinum Complexes.” Tetrahedron Letters 56, no. 46 (2015), 6352–55
• “Structural Insights Into the Interactions of xpt Riboswitch with Novel Guanine Analogues: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study.” Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics 33 (2015), 234–43

Facilities

Facilities at the Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation and the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Science Laboratories include teaching labs, individual research laboratories for faculty and their students, seminar rooms, and expanded space for student research posters. Students have the opportunity to work with modern instrumentation, including a Varian 400 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer; two Thermo Scientific Nicolet Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometers; a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer; liquid chromatograph–mass spectrometer; several ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometers; a polarimeter; two microwave reactors; a Dionex high-performance liquid chromatograph; two PTI fluorescence spectrometers; a CombiFlash® chromatography system; Isothermal Titration Calorimeter; Raman Spectrometer; Agilent ICP-Optical Emission Spectrometer; BASi Potentiostat; CHI Potentiostat; Ultrafast Ti:Sapphire Laser; Olympus laser scanning confocal microscope; field emission scanning electron microscope; BMG microplate reader; and, in collaboration with Vassar College, a state-of-the-art X-ray diffractometer.