Chemistry at Earlham

Recent Department Publications, Presentations, Grants, Instrument Purchases, and News.

December 2007: Kudos to emeritus professor Paul Ogren who is an article co-author on “Comparison of Ordinary, Weighted and Generalized Least-Squares Straight-Line Calibrations for LC/MS/MS, GC/MS, HPLC, GC and Enzymatic Assay” accepted for the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.

November 2007: Congratulations to Lori Watson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, who was part of a group of inorganic chemistry faculty from seven schools to be awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation: “IONiC: A Cyber-Enabled Community of Practice for Improving Inorganic Chemical Education.”

October 2007: Congratulations to Michael Deibel, associate professor of chemistry, who presented a talk at the October Earlham Forum: “Monitoring Local Watersheds,” a report on the W. M. Keck Foundation grant to research and develop curriculum modules investigating metal contamination in local watersheds.

October 2007: During mid-term break, Corinne Deibel, Olen Stephens, Mark Stocksdale and Lori Watson accompanied ten chemistry and biochemistry students to the Undergraduate ACS poster Session at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis. The students presented the research carried out last summer in the Chemistry Department. Here is a listing of topics and presenters:

• Progress Toward the Total Synthesis of Avenic Acid and Related Analogs, Alexander W. Cogbill, Whitney E. England and Mark G. Stocksdale.
• Further Studies of Tungsten Oxo-Imido Complexes with N-heterocyclic Carbene Ligands, David R. Cabrera, Carly Z. Smith and Lori A. Watson.
• Development of a New Environmental Chemistry Module for the General Chemistry Laboratory, Razan E. Issed, Kyle B. Edwards and Corinne C. Deibel.
• Analysis of Trace Metal Concentrations in Water and Sediment Core Samples from Springwood Lake, Martin K. Gachoro, Kate Skog, and Michael A. Deibel.
• Ethnobotany: A Brief Study of Historical Herbal Remedies and Medicines in the Mid-West, Sharif Qaddomi and Mark G. Stocksdale.
• Beta3-Peptides That Form 14-Helices by Incorporation of Cation-Pi; Interactions, Damian Almiron, Janny Concha Urday Zaa, John Klyce and Olen Stephens.
• Regulation of the Forkhead transcription Factor Foxo3a by Protein Phosphotase 2A, Shaden Khalaf, Amrik Singh and Roya Khosravi-Far.
• Pharmaceuticals, Then and Now: a Living History of Medicines and Drugs, Lindsey V. Howlett, Manuel Myers and Mark G. Stocksdale.

September 2007: Congratulations to Associate Professor of Chemistry Mark Stocksdale who has received a $99,998 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Funding for this competitive grant proposal, Uptake Specificity of Synthetic Phytosiderophore Analogs by Graminaceous Plants, is the first Earlham has received from the USDA.

September 2007: Congratulations to Assistant Professor of Chemistry Lori Watson who has recently published two articles: “Operationally Unsaturated Pincer/Rhenium Complexes Form Metal Carbenes from Cycloalkenes and Metal Carbynes from Alkanes.” Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2007, 129(18), 6003-6016 and “Bis(methylidene) Complex of Tantalum Supported by a PNP Ligand." Organometallics, 2007, 26(20), 4866-4868.

August 2007: Congratulations to Mark Stocksdale, associate professor of chemistry, and Margaret (Midge) Padgitt '07 who were coauthors on a recently published paper: “(S)-(2,2-Dimethyl-5-oxo-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)acetic acid,” Acta Crystallographica, 2007, E63, o3767-o3768. This article is Midge's first peer-reviewed publication; if you know Midge, send her congratulations!

April 2007: Corinne and Mike Deibel, Mark Stocksdale, Lori Watson and Paul Ogren accompanied nine chemistry and biochemistry students to the National Meeting of the ACS in Chicago. The students presented the research carried out last summer in the chemistry department. Here is a listing of topics and presenters:

• Synthesis of Fluorescent-Labeled Phytosiderophore Analogs, Alan C. O’Conner, Matthew S. Peoples, Robert J. Kinne, Douglas A. Hardesty and Mark G. Stocksdale
• Toward the synthesis of rhenium imido complexes using 1, 3-diaminobenzene, Paul Durand, Logan Giles, Lori Watson
• Progress toward the synthesis of tungsten, rhenium, and molybdenum bisamido complexes using 1,4-di-tert-butyl-1,4-diazabuta-1,3-diene (DAD), Gaya Hettiarachchi, Janny Concha Urday Zaa, Lori Watson
• Rhenium and tungsten oxo and imido complexes with N-heterocyclic carbenes, Felicia Gray, Elizabeth Yoder, Lori Watson
• Nonlinear Fitting to TLC Fluorescence Data: Quantitative Analysis of Vitamin E components in Commercial Supplements, Xiao Jiang and Paul J. Ogren
• GC/MS/MS analysis of atrazine and three metabolites using chemical ionization and multiple reaction monitoring, Alex Graham, Rachel Stacy and Corinne C. Deibel
• Antioxidant activity in herbal extracts and isolated fractions, Justin Colanese, Chiaki Nakata and Michael A. Deibel

February 2007: Kudos to Mike and Corinne Deibel and Lori Watson, of the Earlham Chemistry Department, for their role in obtaining a $360,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation along with colleagues in Biology, Geosciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science for undergraduate interdisciplinary research.

January 2007: Kudos to Mark Stocksdale, Associate Professor of Chemistry, who was published this month as co-author of “Synthesis and Evaluation of Antitumor Activity of Novel N-Acyllavendamycin Analogues and Quinoline-5, 8-diones,” in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry (2007, 15, 495-510).

October 2006: Earlham College and the Chemistry Department were the proud hosts of the 7th Annual Indiana Local Section American Chemical Society Poster Session on October 10, 2006. Approximately 125 undergraduates, faculty members, industrial chemists, and other chemistry aficionados from ten regional colleges/universities and three chemical corporations attended the event. Representing Earlham College were:

• Student Justin Colanese and faculty member Michael Deibel presenting "Antioxidant Activity In Herbal Extracts And Isolated Fractions"
• Students Rachel Stacy and Alex Graham with faculty member Corinne Deibel presenting "GC/MS/MS Analysis Of Atrazine And Three Metabolites Using Chemical Ionization And Multiple Reaction Monitoring"
• Student Gaya Hettiarachchi and faculty member Lori Watson presenting "Progress Toward The Syntehsis of Tugsten, Rhenium, and Molybedenum Bisimido Complexes Using 1,4-Di-Tert-Butyl-1,4-Diazabuta-1,3-Diene (DAD)"
• Students Felicia Gray and Liz Yoder with faculty member Lori Watson presenting "Rhenium And Tugsten Oxo And Imido Complexes With N-Heterocyclic Carbenes"
• Students Logan Giles and Paul Durand with faculty member Lori Watson presenting "Toward The Synthesis of Rhenium Imido Complexes Using 1,3-Diaminobenzene"
• Students Alan O'Connor, Rob Kinne, and Matt Peoples with faculty member Mark Stocksdale presenting "Synthesis of Labeled Phytosiderophore Analogs"
• Student Matt Peoples presenting his research "Purification and Characterization of Recombinant Aequeorea coerulescens Green Fluorescent Protein from Escherichia coli"
• Student Kushboo Goel presenting her research "Tagging of Photosstem 1 With Green Fluorescent Protein For Its Identification In Mammaliam Cell Membranes", performed at Oak Ridge National Lab during a semester-long research experience.

July 2006: The Chemistry Department warmly welcomes Olen Stephens, our newest Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Olen graduated Earlham in 1998 with dual majors in Chemistry and Biology; he went on to the University of Utah for his Ph.D. in Chemistry. Most recently, he has been a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University in the laboratory of A. Schepartz. Olen will teach courses and labs in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry.

June 2006: We received our new PerkinElmer AAnalyst 800 series Atomic Absorption Spectrometer! Read more and see pictures.

May 2006: We, the faculty and students of the Chemistry Department, would like to honor Paul J. Ogren for his 27 years of service to Earlham College and our department. Paul graduated Earlham College in 1963, received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1969, and returned to teach at Earlham in 1979. Since then, he has taught countless students in courses such as General Chemistry, Equilibrium and Analysis, Thermodynamics and Kinetics, and Quantum Chemistry. Although Earlham professors focus foremost on undergraduate education, Paul has found time to publish many peer-reviewed articles in national journals of chemistry and chemical education. Over the years, Paul has taught glassblowing, one of his personal hobbies, to small groups of students. He also keeps many of the department instruments in working order, and we hope he shares that expertise before embarking on a well-deserved vacation! Happy retirement, Paul!

Paul’s position in the Chemistry Department will be filled by Lori Watson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Lori’s research interests are in inorganic chemistry, catalyst chemistry, and computational chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Indiana University in 2004.

April 2006: Kudos to Paul Ogren, as well as all of the Chemistry faculty, for hosting a successful and fun Spring Picnic at the Ogren's. Approximately 25 Chemistry and Biochemistry majors / prospective majors from across all four class years attended. Thanks, professors, for making our department the best (and best-fed) on campus! - EC students

January 2006: Kudos to Mark Stocksdale, Associate Professor of Chemistry, who was co-author of the recently published paper "Novel Lavendamycin Analogues as Antitumor Agents: Synthesis, in Vitro Cytotoxicity, Structure-Metabolism, and Computational Molecular Modeling Studies with NAD(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductase 1," in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2005, 48, 7733-7749.

October 2005: Eight students and four faculty members ventured to Dow Agrosciences in Indianapolis, Indiana, to present their research at the 6th Annual Indiana Local Section of the American Chemical Society Poster Session. Congratuations to all students (indicated by an asterisk) and faculty!

• Kate M. Skog*, Lori A. Watson: Progress towards the synthesis of rhenium 1,2-di(di-tert-butylsilylamine) benzene trichloride and the synthesis of rhenium trans-1,2-diamino cyclohexane trichloride.
• Phoebe Richgels*, Corinne C. Deibel, and Paul J. Ogren: Investigation of tadpoles exposure to atrazine and its metabolites.
• Janee' A. Bryant*, Lori A. Watson: Toward the synthesis of a constrained geometry bissilyl imide ligand.
• Nathaniel Bass*, Lori A. Watson: Using density functional theory to predict competitive activation of N-C and C-H bonds of a PNP framework by monovalent rhodium.
• Robert J. Kinne*, Matthew S. Peoples*, Douglas A. Hardesty*, and Mark G. Stocksdale: Progress towards novel phytosiderophore analogs.
• Pachi A. Rogriguez*, Kari A. Wilder-Romans*, and Paul J. Ogren: Analysis of environmental mercury with an improved gold trap - fast release - cold vapor fluorescense method.

September 2005: The Chemistry Department has purchased a new Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer! This instrument purchase was made possible by a grant awarded from the Borman Family Foundation. (Stocksdale, M. G., Deibel, M. A., Deibel, C., Ogren P. J., Watson, L. A., "Acquisition of a Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer for Use in Undergraduate Research and Teaching Laboratories.") The Varian 2200 series GC/MS has recently arrived and been installed in the department. See installation pictures.

July 2005: The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has awarded Assistant Professor of Chemistry Lori Watson a $30,000 grant for her proposal entitled "Reactivity of unsaturated bisimido, phosphinoimido, and phosphineoxoimido transition metal complexes toward alkene metathesis, hydrogenation and C-X bond activation." This money will go towards stipends for undergraduate summer researchers, chemical supplies, and travel expenses for faculty-student presentations at national meetings. Read the Earlham College Press Release.

Summer 2005: The Chemistry Department has purchased an MBraun Unilab inert-atmosphere glovebox! This new equipment will be of great use in dealing with highly reactive compounds. See installation pictures.

April 2005: Kudos to Mike Deibel, on sabbatical this semester, who was co-author of "Quantitative Thin-Layer Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Caffeine Using a Surface Sampling Probe Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry System," accepted for publication this month in Analytical Chemistry.

April 2005: Kudos to Lori Watson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, who was co-author of "Four-Coordinate Titanium Alkylidene Complexes: Synthesis, Reactivity, and Kinetic Studies Involving the Terminal Neopentylidene Functionality," published in this month's Organometallics (24, 1886).

March 2005: Professors Mark Stocksdale and Lori Watson accompanied students Adair Lindsay ('06), Rachel Stacy ('07), and Doug Hardesty ('07) to the 229th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego, California. There, Rachel presented her research entitled "Polymer-Bound Ph3P in Mitsunobu Reactions Involving Cyclic beta-Hydroxy Tertiary Amines," while Adair and Doug presented their organic synthesis research entitled "Synthetic Efforts Toward Novel Phytosiderophore Conjugates."

March 2005: Kudos to Mike Deibel, on sabbatical at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who was co-author of "Thin-Layer Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry Coupled Using Desorption Electrospray Ionization," published in this month's Analytical Chemistry (77, 1207).

January 2005: Kudos to Lori Watson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, who was co-author of "Decarbonylation of Acetone and Carbonate at a Pincer-Ligated Ru Center," published this month in Organometallics (24, 186).