Research Program(s) Summary

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH AREA:

  • Behavior of coatings and  molecular monolayers.  We are studying self-assembled coatings (multi and monolayers) on solid substrates and films on water as model membranes.  We do vibrational spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM),  and contact angle measurements on these films.

  • Testing of potential anti-rhinovirals, which were identified by theoretical computations.  This work involves cell culture and propagation of cold virus.

COMPUTATIONAL RESEARCH AREA:

  • Ab initio calculations of molecular properties and interactions.

  • Contributions to the Jmol molecular visualization package: 1) development of the export to web function for automatic generation of interactive molecular visualization web pages/tutorials using Jmol; 2) debugging the GAMESS file reader; 3) development of GUI for slicing objects in Jmol. 

  • Development of extensions to the SymPy symbolic mathematics package to facilitate its use in science and math, especially for education.

  • Development of the Jupyter Physical Science Lab open source project. This project provides an electronic laboratory notebook capable of real-time data collection directly from sensors and instruments. The data can be analyzed and plotted within the notebook. Symbolic manipulations of mathematical expressions and rich text annotations of the work can also be included. Additionally, it is possible for instructors to build structured worksheets that can be used in class to collect and analyze data.

EQUIPMENT USED:

IR spectrometer, Langmuir Trough, AFM, Quartz Crystal Microbalances, XRF, SEM, Microscope, Computers and Beowulf Computer Clusters.

MINIMUM REQUIRED STUDENT EXPERIENCE:

General chemistry

PREFERRED STUDENT EXPERIENCE:

Analytical chemistry 1, Organic chemistry 1

CURRENT EXPERIMENTAL PROJECTS:

  • ANTIVIRALS

    • Testing of some candidate anti-viral compounds for inhibition of rhinovirus infectivity. This work involves cell culture and propagation of cold virus.

  • SOLID SURFACES

    • Growing hydroxyapatite (primarily calcium phosphate, like tooth enamal) layers.  Presently optimizing conditions, using QCM to measure the mass deposited, XRF to check for deposition and atomic ratios, plus SEM to learn about the morphology of the layers.

    • Using the apatite layers as a binding layer between the surface and organic monolayer coatings, primarily species with phosphonic acid head groups.

    • Synthesis of phosphonic acid species to use for monolayer coatings.  In particular, we are focusing on phosphonic acids with large multichain alkane tails.

    • Infrared microscopy of some of these monolayers to investigate homogeneity.

  • LIQUID SURFACES

    • Studies of the behavior of the phosphonic acids as monolayers on the surface of water,  using a Langmuir trough.

    • Reflection infrared spectroscopy of monolayers on the surface of water to investigate intermolecular interactions.

CURRENT ab initio PROJECTS:

  • Computation of vertical ionization potentials of medium size molecules of interest as drugs and drug degradation products.

  • Computation of protein ligand binding energetics and geometries.

CURRENTLY MOST ACTIVE CODING PROJECTS

PAST FUNDING:

These projects have been supported by the National Science Foundation (CHE-0136844), the American Chemical Society Petroluem Research Fund (36594-B5), Research Corporation, the UW Oshkosh Faculty Development Program, the UW Oshkosh Student-Faculty Collaborative Program, the PFG scholars program, the Agilent Technologies ACT-UR program, and the WiSys Foundation.

 

STUDENT COLLABORATORS:

Currently, Taeyeon Kim is studying single and double tailed phosphonic acids at the air/water interface using a Langmuir trough.

Other students who have done research in my lab are: Travis Stelson, Nolan Comparin, Travis Stelson, Blake Schroeder, Abigail Koby, Josh Kraemer, Sarah Ropson, Brandon Brummeyer, Miguel Baldomero, Marissa Buzzanca, Gorman Stock, Ty Hetherinton, Demetria Dickinson, Liem Nguyen, Matt Farkas, Jessica Seefeldt, Brooke Koshel, Scott Vander Wielan, Nicole Kitzerow, Brendon Thompkins, Kim Hopsfensperger, Chris Potratz, Patrick Roach, Allan Stockinger, Katie Jensen, Jenny Dahl, Dustyn Sawall, Scott Zirngible, Brian Koeck, Jeremy Leveille, Mike Faley, Margaret Nguyen, Michael Phillips, Julie Wieland and Robert Kleisner.

SOME PUBLICATIONS:

(* indicates undergraduate co-authors)

 

  1. Marissa Buzzanca*, Brandon Brummeyer*, and Jonathan H. Gutow “Improving convergence of experimental and computed vertical ionization energies using the ionization potential equation‐of‐motion coupled‐cluster with singles and doubles method” International Journal of Quantum Chemistry 102(18), 2020, e26261. https://doi.org/10.1002/qua.26261
  2. B. L. Kedrowski, J. H. Gutow, G. Stock*, M. Smith, C. Jordan, and D. S. Masterson, ”Glutathione reductase activity with an oxidized methylated glutathione analog”. J. Enz. Inh. Med. Chem. Online June 2013.
  3. R. J. Kleisner*, B. H. Koeck*, M. R. Phillips*, J. A. Wieland*, J. H. Gutow, V. Boiadjiev and W. T. Tysoe. "A System Based on Metal Alkyl Species that Forms Chemically Bound Organic Overlayers on Hydroxylated Planar Surfaces." Thin Solid Films 381(1), 10 (2001)
  4. V. Boiadjiev, A. Blumenfeld, J. Gutow and W. T. Tysoe. "Infrared and NMR Spectroscopic Studies of n-Alkanethiols Chemically Grafted on Dimethylzinc-Modified Silica Surfaces." Chem. Mater. 12(9), 2604 (2000).