Chair’s MessageThis year was highlighted by two outstanding facultyhires. Associate Professor Yugang Sun joinedChemistry in January. He is a world-renowned expertin the synthesis and characterization of novelmaterials potentially useful to a diverse range oftechnological applications ranging from electronics tocatalysis. He was named one of the World’s MostInfluential Scientific Minds – 2015 by ThomsonReuters. Chemical biologist Ross Wang, formerly ofScripps research Institute, joins us this summer.

With over 150 papers published in 2015, thedepartment’s world-class research benefits a highlytalented group of graduate students and postdoctoralassociates, as well as a significant number ofundergraduates. Working with our faculty, many ofthese chemistry majors culminate their researchexperiences with publications in prestigious journalsand continue their research at elite graduateinstitutions.

This newsletter also features the Grant R. KrowMemorial Symposium, which highlighted the manyteaching and research contributions Grant made toour department and the external scientific community.Finally, the department takes great satisfaction inproducing superbly qualified graduates who continueto find rewarding, career-advancing opportunitiesboth in the workplace and at world-renownedgraduate-level chemistry programs. Deeplyappreciative of the continuously increasing financialcontributions from alumni and friends, we are proudof our accomplishments and excited about our futuregrowth in teaching and research.

Sincerely,

Daniel Strongin, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry

Chemistry Dept. researchers investigatingnext generation of solar cells and LEDs Four Chemistry Department researchers are engaged in a collaborativeresearch project that has the potential to significantly enhance the efficienciesof both photovoltaic, dye-sensitized solar cells and optoelectronic, light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

The collaboration is bringing together the ultrafast photophysicalmeasurement and evaluation capabilities of the laboratories of Hai-Lung Dai,professor of physical chemistry, and Yi Rao, research associate professor ofphysical chemistry, with the materials synthesis expertise of Bradford B.Wayland, professor of inorganic chemistry, and Graham E. Dobereiner, assistant professor of organometallic chemistry.

The group is concentrating on the charge transfer mechanisms involvedwith 2D layered and 3D halide perovskite materials.

“Our initial focus has been onutilizing ultrafast photophysicaltechniques to gain a better,fundamental understanding of howthese energy conversions occur,” says Rao, the principal investigatoron the project. To do so, thetechniques the group is utilizinginclude transient absorptionmicroscopy, luminescence lifetimeand ultrafast interfacialspectroscopy—all of which build on the Dai group’s pioneering workon second harmonic generation(SHG) techniques.

Meanwhile, the Wayland andDobereiner groups have beenutilizingtheir materials expertise,which includes characterizingcomplex organic/ inorganic

substances and pursuing mechanistic understanding, including the kineticsand thermodynamics involved in electron transfers, to improve theperovskite materials.

“Our preliminary research has resulted in efficiency improvements of 14 percent,” says Rao, “and we believe there is a definite potential to enhancethat. Our goal is to develop the next generation of photovoltaic andoptoelectronic materials.”

The group’s research is currently being funded by a two-year targetedresearch grant from Temple University’s Office of the Vice Provost forResearch, which was granted last year. Based on their preliminary results, the researchers are seeking outside funding to further the research.

Assistant Professor Graham Dobereinerand graduate student Evan Samples

Temple chemistry at ACS. Page 4.

CHEMISTRYUPDATE SUMMER 2016

College of Science and Technology

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Kyle KnouseNext Stop: PhD program at Scripps Research Institute

As he heads west to pursue a doctorate in organic chemistryat the highly ranked Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla,California, Kyle Knouse, BS ’16 chemistry, already hasauthored a list of published, peer-reviewed papers that wouldbe the envy of many doctoral students.

He is the lead author, along with co-author William Wuest,an assistant professor and Knouse’s research advisor, of apaper published earlier this year in the Journal of Antibiotics.He also co-authored, with Wuest and other Templeresearchers, two papers published in the Journal of theAmerican Chemical Society; and one or two more future papers.In addition, his medicinal chemistry internship with TevaPharmaceutical Industries in West Chester, Pennsylvania,resulted in another submitted paper.

His Journal of Antibiotics paper, and the two Temple JACSpapers, focus on a potential new antibiotic, Promysalin, acompound produced by bacteria found in the root system of aSri Lankan rice plant. “To survive, the bacteria producecompounds like Promysalin to fight off and hinder the growthof other bacteria, a very specific, targeted activity that youoften don’t find in other antibiotics,” Knouse explains.

“Kyle has been in my lab for three years and he is anabsolute rock star,” says Wuest.

The New Oxford, Pennsylvania, native gravitated tochemistry his sophomore year when, he says, “I couldn’t getenough of organic chemistry, which everyone else wasstruggling with and hating.”

Once he started working in Wuest’s lab, he says, “I fell inlove with it and decided this is what I want to do for the restof my life.”

Of his acceptance to Scripps, Knouse says, “I am blownaway by the opportunity.” Whether his graduate work leadsto an academic or industrial career, Knouse adds, “I want topursue research that benefits human health.”

Graduate students host distinguished lecturers

Since the fall of 2013, the Graduate Student DistinguishedLectureship program has brought eminent speakers to the campusto conduct departmental interdisciplinary seminars. Each semesterthe students select, invite and correspond with one speaker fromamong a rotating list of chemistry sub-disciplines. Once thespeakers arrive, the bulk of their time is spent with the students.

“It is motivating to spend time with scientists of such esteem,”says the most recent student host, Colin Fitzpatrick, a doctoralstudent with Professor Robert J. Levis’ Center for AdvancedPhotonics Research. “You not only hear about the newest researchin the field, but get to see how passionate and engaging they areafter such long, successful careers.”

Under the program, a succession of notable chemists has cometo Temple, including Dick Zare of Stanford University (fall 2013),Harry Gray of Caltech (fall 2014), Gabor Somorjai of theUniversity of California, Berkeley (fall 2015) and George Schatz ofNorthwestern University this spring.

On Nov. 17 the fall speaker will be Caltech chemist Gregory Fu,whose lab focuses on nickel and copper transition-metal catalysis.On March 2, 2017, the speaker will be Edward Solomon, a StanfordUniversity bioinorganic chemist.

PSM in forensic chemistry degree program

The professional science master’s (PSM) in forensic chemistrydegree program prepares students for a wide range of positions inthe public and private sectors, including criminal investigationand prosecution, civil litigation, legal reform, homeland securityand the advancement of technology.

The two-year program, which can be completed on either afull- or part-time basis, includes: core requirements in currenttopics in forensic chemistry, applied biopharmaceutics, toxicologyand data analysis, as well as law, ethics and policy. Annualseminars, hands-on forensic chemistry laboratory training, anindependent research project and a forensic chemistry internshipare included.

To enable full-time working professionals to be enrolled in theprogram, most of the classes are offered in the evenings or onweekends—at either Temple University’s main campus, the FortWashington campus, or the Center for Forensic Science Researchand Education in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

A BS in chemistry or a closely related discipline is aprerequisite.

For more information, contact Professor SusanJansen Varnum, the degree program director andassociate dean for science education, atsusan.varnum@temple.edu or Eileen Weinberg,assistant director of graduate services, ateileen.wienberg@temple.edu.

PROFESSIONAL SCIENCE MASTER’S INFORENSIC CHEMISTRY DEGREE PROGRAM

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Hai-Lung Dai• Research Area 7.4 Reactive Chemical

Systems-Enhancing Interfacial ChargeCarrier Injection in SemiconductorNanostructures, US Army Medical ResearchAcquisition Activity

Graham Dobereiner• Incorporated Lewis-Acid Anion Co-Catalysts

into Homogenous Transition-Metal Systemsfor Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation, ACSPetroleum Research Fund

Michael L. Klein• Unveiling Allosteric Pathways in Ion

Channels, NSF

Robert Levis• Strong Field Chemistry Control Using the

Radical Cation Launch State, NSF• Local Control of Surface Chemistry, Defense

Advanced Research Project Administration• Nanomaterials by Design, Army Research

Laboratory• Polymer Interface Structure Advancement,

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Ronald M. Levy• HIV Interactions and Viral Evolution,

The Scripps Research Institute and NIH• Computer Cluster for Computational Biology

and Biophysics, NIH

Spiridoula Matsika• Quantum Chemical Methods for Studying

Photo-initiated and Electron-DrivenProcesses, NSF

Ann Valentine• Interactions of Biomolecules and Bacteria

with Titanium at the Mineral MicrobeFrontier, NSF

Vincent Voelz• Early Stages of Protein Folding Explored by

Experimental and ComputationalApproaches, NSF

Bradford B. Wayland • Tuning of Metal-Centered Radicals for

Substrate Activations and Catalysis, NSF

Katherine A. Willets• Understanding Plasmon-Enhanced

Electromagnetic Hot Spots for Surface-Enhanced Spectroscopies, NSF

• Probing the Location, Number and Functionof Surface-Bound Antibodies of PlasmonicNanoparticle Biosensors Using Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging, NSF

• Plasmon-Mediated ElectrochemicalReactions: The Influence of NanoparticleStructure, DOE

• MURI: Electrochemical Imaging andMechanistic Studies of the NanometerScale, AFOSR

William Wuest• Development of Amphiphillic Antibiofilm/

Antibacterial Agents, University City Science Center

• CAREER: The Bioorganic Investigation ofSpecies-Specific Biofilm Modulators, NSF

Michael Zdilla • Exploration of Energetic Manganese Metal-

nitrogen-oxygen Complexes and Clusters,Office of Naval Research

• Synthesis and Reactivity of MultimetalSystems Inspired by Biology, Camille andHenry Dreyfus Foundation

Michael Zdilla and Stephanie Wunder• Molecular Organic Frameworks for Solid

State Ion Channels with Exceedingly SimpleDesign Toward Barrierless Ion, NSF

Department of Chemistry Funded Research(partial listing)

NEW FACULTY HIRE

Yugang SunASSOCIATEPROFESSOR,CHEMISTRY

Yugang Sun comes toTemple from the Center forNanoscale Materials at theArgonne NationalLaboratory. In ThomsonReuters’ Highly Cited Researchers 2014 he islisted as both a materials scientist and achemist, and last year the same organizationnamed him one of the World’s Most InfluentialScientific Minds. His research focuses ondeveloping novel approaches for synthesis of arange of nanostructures including metalnanoparticles with well-controlledmorphologies and metal/semiconductornanocomposites with multiple functionalities.Sun has more than 100 publications inrespected journals such as the Journal of theAmerican Chemical Society.

Willets helps leaddepartment’s plasmonicsresearch

Associate ProfessorKatherine (Kallie) Willetsis one of several newfaculty members who areleading the department’srapid expansion in thefield of plasmonics.Plasmons occur whenincident light drivessurface conduction band

electrons in nanoscale noble metal structures tooscillate back and forth across thenanostructure surface, effectively focusing thelight to nanoscale dimensions while enhancingits intensity by many orders of magnitude. Formolecules sitting close to the surface of theseplasmonic materials, their spectroscopic signalscan be enhanced more than a million-fold.

This has important implications forbiological and chemical sensing. Plasmonicmaterials also can promote photocatalyticreactions at their surface, which makes thematerials promising candidates for energyresearch.

Willets uses ultra-sensitive fluorescence andRaman microscopy techniques to study howmolecules interact with plasmonic materials.Her National Science Foundation-funded workfocuses on understanding how these materialscan be optimized for sensing applications,while her DOE-funded research looks atunderstanding how plasmonic materials canlower energy barriers for electrochemicalreactions.

FACULTY NOTES• Protein Science published a special edition on Dec. 28, 2015, which honored the

career contributions of Ronald M. Levy, Laura H. Carnell Professor ofBiophysics and Computational Biology and professor of chemistry, physicsand biology.

• Professor C.N.R. Rao, FRS, one of the world’s most highly regarded chemists,has been appointed a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Temple.Rao, who twice visited CST in 2015-16, is honorary president of the JawaharlalNehru Centre (JNC) for Advanced Scientific Research, India, and director ofJNC’s International Centre for Materials Science.

• Mike Klein, CST dean and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Science, was elected a2015 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow.

• Professor Scott Sieburth was elected secretary of the Division of OrganicChemistry of the American Chemical Society.

• Andrew Price and Vladimira Wilent received the CST Dean’s DistinguishedTeaching Awards.

• Steven Fleming won the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award.

• Professor David Dalton is retiring effective July 1. His seminal contributions tothe department over the last five decades have contributed to the excellence ofboth our teaching and research mission. We wish him well.

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For all the latest news and information visit chem.cst.temple.edu

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Highlights• Assistant Professor Graham Dobereiner

organized an ACS-sanctioned CareerWorkshop titled “Preparing for Life AfterGraduate School” for graduate students.

• Several Temple chemistry students wonawards at the ACS Poster Session held at the Philadelphia University of theSciences in February 2016, includinggraduate students Andrew Steele andKayleigh Jones.

• Professor Stephanie Wunder hosted an on-campus “Thermal Analysis Research inthe Delaware Valley: a bio/nano/materialsinterface” symposium in April 2016.

• The Temple University Chemical Societyraised more than $5,000 throughOwlCrowd, Temple's online fundraisingtool. The funds were used for societymembers to attend the ACS nationalmeeting in San Diego. Approximately 40 donors made online gifts. Thank you for your support!

Symposium honors memory and career oforganic chemist Grant Krow

Eighty-one researchers,professors and studentsgathered on May 21 for theDr. Grant R. KrowSymposium to honor thememory and career of thelong-time chemistryprofessor who died lastyear at the age of 73.

Sponsored by theDepartment of Chemistryand CST, the symposiumfeatured presentations byprofessors from Temple,Yale University, theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison and Penn State-Abington.

A professor of organic chemistry at Temple for 42 years, Krow taught andmentored hundreds of students, authored more than 110 scientific papers andwon numerous awards.

“In his heart he was a physical organic chemist, and he made fundamentaland insightful contributions to our understanding of the chemistry of small,strained heterocyclic compounds,” says Seth Herzon, BS ’02, one of Krow’sstudents who earned his PhD from Harvard University in 2006 and has taughtat Yale University, where he is a professor of chemistry, since 2008. “His workhad important implications in terms of basic chemistry, synthetic methods, andour models of structure and bonding.”

Prior to the symposium, Herzon also spoke about how influential Krow wasin his eventual career path. “He was especially generous with his time whenworking with students and undergraduates,” Herzon says. “I spent hours in hisoffice discussing material I had questions about.

“That availability, which was really kind of special, coupled with hisintellectual capabilities, which were outstanding, made him a very effective andinfluential mentor.”

Associate Professor Rodrigo B. Andrade co-organized the conference withHerzon, who also gave the last of the symposium’s afternoon presentations atthe college’s Science Education and Research Center.

The Krow Symposium was made possible in part through support from establishedchemistry funds and from the generosity of donors to the department. If you areinterested in establishing your own fund to support chemistry, contact John R.Walker, associate vice dean, at 215-204-8176 or john.walker@temple.edu

Jessica Krow (left) and Associate Professor Rodrigo B.Andrade at the symposium honoring her late husband,Professor Grant R. Krow.

Chemistry at ACS PhillyPlan on attending our CHEMISTRYDEPARTMENT ALUMNI AND FRIENDSRECEPTION during the Fall AmericanChemical Society National Meeting inPhiladelphia. The reception will be held 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, at the Ritz-Carlton, 10 Avenue of the Arts.

To register, or for more information, pleasecontact Barbara Fles, CST’s director ofspecial events, at 215-204-5214 orbarbara.fles@temple.edu.

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