Penny Kahn’s Honors Thesis work on the chemical composition the mating gifts produced by harvestmen (also known as daddy long-legs), was recently published in Ecology and Evolution! This work was the result of a spontaneous collaboration with Prof. Sarah Boyer in the Macalester Biology Department.
Our work describing cationic pyromellitic diimides with modified redox activity has been published in ACS Omega! Congrats to Andrew, Kofi, Qifan, and Mohammed, and many thanks to our collaborator Prof. Janzen for crystallography expertise!
Eman successfully defended her thesis today. She worked for 1.5 years and made great progress on the synthesis of a monomer and its assembled cage. Congrats Eman!
Another piece of the saga of lock-arm supramolecular ordering-based organic ferroelectric crystals from Dennis’ ongoing graduate and postdoctoral project has been published in JACS. This time, the observation of two dimensions of polarization is presented alongside strong evidence for non-centrosymmetry.
Once again this summer we have a busy group. This year we welcome four fresh faces as part of an HHMI-funded Young Researchers program. Stella, Fernando, Nhu, and Hiywot will be with us for 10 weeks, studying organic chemistry and synthesizing aromatic compounds. Welcome!
Penny successfully defended her thesis today! Her interdisciplinary Honors project relied on her chemistry skills to determine the content of secretions made by harvestmen, better known as daddy long-legs. Penny’s findings have provided significant insight into the evolution of mating behavior. Congrats Penny!
Kellie Stellmach is a first-year who is joining the lab. She will be investigating the co-crystallization of complementary hydrogen-bonding partners, welcome Kellie!
The Mindlin Foundation selected Eman for their 2017 Undergraduate Mentored Research Program. The award provides funds for Eman to continue her research into molecular cages all the way through the end of 2017. Congratulations Eman!
The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund has generously funded our proposal on the synthesis of novel aromatic imide compounds for the next few years!
Dennis’ PhD advisor, Fraser Stoddart, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on molecular machines and switches. Dennis is grateful to have played a part in the Stoddart group, and hopes that his work was at least 0.0001% responsible for the Prize. Congratulations Fraser!!!