Self assembly of nanoscopic structures from diblock copolymers; and synthesis and crosslinking of biologically relevent polymers for wound healing, control of solubility and hydrogels.

Theoretical Studies of the Electronic Coupling Element for Electron Transfer Reactions.
We will use electronic structure theory to calculate wavefunctions characterizing the adiabatic states correlating with the initial and final states in ground-state and excited-state electron transfer reactions. These wavefunctions will allow us to extract the electronic coupling element, which is the quantity primarily responsible for the distance and orientation dependence of the rate of electron transfer. The specific systems studied are relevant to recent experimental studies of electron transfer in biology and nanoelectronics.

The synthesis of disubstituted lactams is readily accomplished via the amide acetal Claisen rearrangement of allylic alcohols and appropriately substituted amide acetals.

Biochemistry of protein-nucleic acid interactions: Investigating the role of chromatin structure in DNA repair

Intramolecular catalytic asymmetric hydroamination of aminoallenes
My research involves the design and synthesis of amino alcohol ligands with tunable steric and electronic properties in order to develop better organometallic catalysts for interesting organic transformations.

Fluorescence Characterization of Ternary Phase Diagrams of Aqueous Catanionic Systems. Determination of the Binary Phase Diagram of Alkyl Glucosides and Water.
A joint project of Professor Van Hecke and Professor Karukstis.

Biomimetic cyclizations in organic chemistry: syntheses of spasmolytic and anti-inflammatory natural products; and, Developing new experiments for the organic chemistry laboratory.