Chemistry Faculty

*Bjorklund, Jeffrey A. (Chair) (jabjorklund@noctrl.edu) 630-637-5195, Fax 630-637-5180
Professor of Chemistry. 1995. B.S., Saint John's University, 1983; Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1991; Post Doctoral Fellowship, University of Washington, 1991-1993; Research Associate, Aldrich Chemical Company 1993-1995.

Teaching Area: Organic Chemistry

Research Interests: Bio-organic chemistry; biosynthesis of natural products; stereochemistry of enzymatic reactions and design of biomimetic systems.

Recent Publications:

Hoye, T. R.; Bjorklund, J. A.; Koltun, D. O.; Renner, M. K., "N-Methylputrescine Oxidation during Cocaine Biosynthesis: Study of Prochiral Methylene Hydrogen Discrimination Using the Remote Isotope Method," Organic Letters 2000, 2, 3-5.

Bjorklund, J. A.; Frenzel, T.; Rueffer, M.; Kobayashi, M.; Mocek, U.; Fox, C.; Beale, J. M.; Gröger, S.; Zenk, M. H.; Floss, H. G., "Cryptic Stereochemistry of Berberine Alkaloid Biosynthesis," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 1533-1545.

Bjorklund, J. A., Book Review of: "The Alkaloids, Volume 40, Ed. Arnold Brossi," Academic Press, Inc., 1991, Appearing in: J. Nat. Prod. 1993, 56, 649.

Bjorklund, J. A.; Leete, E., "Biosynthesis of the Benzoyl Moiety of Cocaine from Cinnamic Acid via (R)-(+)-3-Hydroxy-3-phenylpropanoic Acid," Phytochemistry 1992, 31, 3883-3887.

Leete, E.; Bjorklund, J. A.; Reineccius, G. A.; Cheng, T.-B., "Biosynthesis of 3-Isopropyl-2-methoxypyrazine and other Alkylpyrazines -Widely Distributed Flavour Compounds," Bioformation of Flavours, ed. Patterson, R. L. S., Charlwood, B. V., MacLeod, G., and Williams, A. A., The Royal Society of Chemistry, 75-95 (1992).

Leete, E.; Bjorklund, J. A.; Couladis, M. M.; Kim, S. H., "Late Intermediates in the Biosynthesis of Cocaine: 4-(1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl)-3-oxobutanoate and Methyl Ecgonine," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 9286-9292.

Cheng, T.-B.; Reineccius, G. A.; Bjorklund, J. A.; Leete, E., "Biosynthesis of 2-Methoxy-3-Isopropylpyrazine in Pseudomonas perolens," J. Agri. Food Chem. 1991, 39, 1009-1014.

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Brandt, Paul F. (pfbrandt@noctrl.edu) 630-637-5194, Fax 630-637-5180
Associate Professor of Chemistry. 2001. B.S. Southwest State University, 1984; Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, 1990; Post Doctoral Fellowship, University of Illinois, 1990-1992.

Teaching Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Research Interests: Organometallic Chemistry

Recent Publications:

Brandt, P. F. "Formation of the Selenium-, Tellurium- and Polonium- Transition and Inner Transition Metal Bond", In Inorganic Reactions and Methods, A. D. Norman, Ed. VCH: New York, 1998; Vol. 6, p 1.

Brandt, P. F.; Rauchfuss, T. B. "Formation of the Group VIB (O, S, Se, Te, Po) - Group IB (Cu, Ag, Au) or IIB (Zn, Cd, Hg) Metal Bond From Sulfur Containing Anions (S2-, Sx2-, [HS-], [RS-])," In Inorganic Reactions and Methods, A. D. Norman, Ed. VCH: New York, 1998; Vol. 6.

Brandt, P. F.; Compton, D. L.; Rauchfuss, T. B. "Ansa-Ferrocenes with Both Trisulfide and Hydrocarbon Straps," Organometallics 1998, 17, 2702.

Johnston, E. R.; Brandt, P. F. "NMR Spectral Assignment and Determination of the Bridge Reversal Barrier in 3-n-Butyl-[3]-Trithiaferrocenophane," Organometallics 1998, 17, 1460.

Schubert, D. M.; Hackney, M. L. J.; Brandt, P. F.; Norman, A. D. "Silylphosphine - Alkene Reaction Routes to Acyclic and Cyclic Organophosphines," Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon 1997, 123, 141.

Hackney, M. L. J.; Schubert, D. M.; Brandt, P. F.; Haltiwanger, R. C.; Norman, A. D. "Trimethylsilylphosphine as a Versatile Reagent for Syntheses of New 4-Sila and 4-Phosphorinanes," Inorg. Chem. 1997, 36, 1867.

Schubert, D. M.; Brandt, P. F.; Norman, A. D. "Silylphosphide Reagents in Synthetic Routes to Cyclophosphines," Inorg. Chem. 1997, 36, 1728.

Brandt, P. F.; Lesch, D. A.; Stafford, P. R.; Rauchfuss, T. B. "Fe2S2(CO)6 and Fe3Te2(CO)9,10," In Inorganic Syntheses, A. H. Cowley, Ed., John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1997, Vol. 31, 112.

Schubert, D. M.; Brandt, P. F.; Norman, A. D. "Comparative Reactivity of the (Trimethlysilyl)phosphines (Me3Si)3-nPHn (n=1, 2) in Radical Reactions," Inorg. Chem. 1996, 35, 6204.

Compton, D. L.; Brandt, P. F.; Rauchfuss, T. B.; Rosenbaum, D. F.; Zukoski, C. F. "Organometallic Polymers Based on S-S and Se-Se Linked n-Butylferrocenes," Chem. Mater. 1995, 7, 2342.

Brandt, P. F. "The Formation of the Group VB (N, P, As, Sb, Bi) Element-Group IA (Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr) or IIA (Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra) Metal Bond," In Inorganic Reactions and Methods, A. D. Norman, Ed., VCH: New York, 1995, Vol. 8, 1.

Brandt, P. F.; Rauchfuss, T. B. "Polyferrocenylene Persulfides," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 1926.

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Horner, David A. (dahorner@noctrl.edu) 630-637-5192, Fax 630-637-5180
Harold & Eva White Distinguished Professor in the Liberal Arts, Professor of Chemistry and Physics. 1983. B.A. Otterbein College, 1977; M.S., 1979, Ph.D., 1984, University of California at Berkeley.

Teaching Area: Physical Chemistry

Research Interests: My research can be classified as computational materials science. Computational quantum chemistry methods are used to investigate the thermochemistry of chemical reactions that take place in molecular materials. I'm currently involved in two projects: the growth of ultrananocrystalline diamond from dicarbon (C2), and the selective catalytic reduction of NOx by zeolites. This work is carried out in the Molecular Materials Group at Argonne National Laboratory. Calculations are done on workstations at Argonne and on Cray supercomputers at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. Students interested in summer research should apply to one of the student research participation programs at Argonne.

Recent Publications:

Horner, D. A.; Connick, R. E., "Kinetics of Oxygen Exchange between the Two Isomers of Bisulfite Ion, Disulfite Ion (S2O52-), and Water As Studied by Oxygen-17 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy," Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 1884 - 1894.

Dieter M. Gruen, Paul C. Redfern, David A. Horner, Peter Zapol, and Larry A. Curtiss, “Theoretical Studies on Nanocrystalline Diamond: Nucleation by Dicarbon and Electronic Structure of Planar Defects”, Journal of Physical Chemistry B 1999, 103, 5459.

Benjamin A. DeGraff and David A. Horner, "Luminescence Decay and Flash Photolysis Experiments Using an Inexpensive, Laser-Based Apparatus," Journal of Chemical Education 1996, 73, 279.

Paul C. Redfern, David A. Horner, Larry A. Curtiss, and Dieter M. Gruen, "Theoretical Studies of Growth of Diamond (110) from Dicarbon," Journal of Physical Chemistry 1996, 100, 11654.

David A. Horner, Larry A. Curtiss, and Dieter M. Gruen, "A Theoretical Study of the Energetics of Insertion of Dicarbon (C2) and Vinylidene into Methane C-H Bonds," Chemical Physics Letters 1995, 233, 243.

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Jankowski, Jeffrey A. (jajankowski@noctrl.edu) 630-637-5191, Fax 630-637-5180
Assistant Professor of Chemistry. 2003. B.S., Benedictine University; 1988; Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1993; NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, University of Illinois, 1993-1995.

Teaching Area: Analytical Chemistry

Research Interests:

Recent Publications:

Jankowski, J. A.; Tobison, C. T. "Starch/Cationic Polymer Combinations as Coagulants for the Mining Industry" US Patent 6,042,732: 2000.

Jankowski, J. A.; Tracht, S. E.; Sweedler, J. V. "Assaying Single Cells with Capillary Electrophoresis" Trends in Anal. Chem. 1995, 14, 170-176.

Arbault, S.; Pantano, P.; Jankowski, J. A.; Vuillaume, M.; Amatore, C. "Monitoring an Oxidative Stress Mechanism at a Single Human Fibroblast" Anal. Chem. 1995, 67, 3382-3390.

Sweedler, J. V.; Timpermen, A.; Oldenburg, K.; Cruz, L.; Shippy, S. A.; Jankowski, J. A. "Charge-Coupled Device Based Fluorescence Detection in Capillary Electrophoresis" Anal. Spectrosc. Libr. 1995, 6, 385-398.

Shippy, S. A.; Jankowski, J. A.; Sweedler, J. V. "Analysis of Trace Level Peptides Using Capillary Electrophoresis with UV Laser-Induced Fluorescence" Anal. Chim. Acta 1995, 307, 163-171.

Jankowski, J. A.; Finnegan, J. M.; Wightman, R. M. "Extracellular Ionic Composition Alters Kinetics of Vesicular Release and Quantal Size During Exocytosis" J. Neurochem. 1994, 63, 1739-1747.

Schroeder, T. J.; Jankowski, J. A.; Senyshyn, J.; Holz, R. W.; Wightman, R. M. "Zones of Exocytotic Release on Bovine Adrenal Medullary Cells in Culture" J. Biol. Chem. 1994, 269, 17215-17220.

Jankowski, J. A.; Schroeder, T. J.; Ciolkowski, E. L.; Wightman, R. M. "Temporal Characteristics of Quantal Secretion of Catecholamines from Adrenal Medullary Cells" J. Biol. Chem. 1993, 268, 14694-14700.

Schroeder, T. J.; Jankowski, J. A.; Kawagoe, K. T.; Wightman, R. M.; Lefrou, C.; Amatore, C. "Analysis of Diffusional Broadening of Vesicular Packets of Catecholamines Released from Biological Cells During Exocytosis" Anal. Chem. 1992, 64, 3077-3083.

Jankowski, J. A.; Schroeder, T. J.; Holz, R. W.; Wightman, R. M. "Quantal Secretion of Catecholamines Measured from Individual Bovine Adrenal Medullary Cells Permeabilized with Digitonin" J. Biol. Chem. 1992, 267, 18329-18335.

Ciolkowski, E. L.; Cooper, B. R.; Jankowski, J. A.; Jorgenson, J. W.; Wightman, R. M. "Direct Observation of Epinephrine and Norepinephrine Cosecretion from Individual Adrenal Medullary Chromaffin Cells" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 2815-2821.

Cooper, B. R.; Jankowski, J. A.; Leszczyszyn, D. J.; Wightman, R. M.; Jorgenson, J. W. "Quantitative Determination of Catecholamiines in Individual Bovine Adrenomedullary Cells by Reversed-Phase Microcolumn Liquid Chromatography with Electrochemical Detection" Anal. Chem. 1992, 64, 691-694.

Wightman, R. M.; Jankowski, J. A.; Kennedy, R. T.; Kawagoe, K. T.; Schroeder, T. J.; Leszczyszyn, D. J.; Near, J. A.; Diliberto, E. J.; Viveros, O. H. "Temporally Resolved Catecholamine Spikes Correspond to Single Vesicle Release from Individual Chromaffin Cells" Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 1991, 88, 10754-10758.

Kawagoe, K. T.; Jankowski, J. A.; Wightman, R. M. "Etched Carbon-Fiber Electrodes as Amperometric Detectors of Catecholamine Secretion from Isolated Biological Cells" Anal. Chem. 1991, 63, 1589-1594.

Leszczyszyn, D. J.; Jankowski, J. A.; Viveros, O. H.; Diliberto, E. J.; Near, J. A.; Wightman, R. M. "Secretion of Catecholamines from Individual Adrenal Medullary Chromaffin Cells" J. Neurochem. 1991, 56, 1855-1863.

Leszczyszyn, D. J.; Jankowski, J. A.; Viveros, O. H.; Diliberto, E. J.; Near, J. A.; Wightman, R. M. "Nicotinic Receptor-Mediated Catecholamine Secretion from Individual Chromaffin Cells" J. Biol. Chem. 1990, 265, 14736-14737.

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Peterson, Nancy L. (nlpeterson@noctrl.edu) 630-637-5184, Fax 630-637-5180
Professor of Biochemistry. 1994. B.A., Concordia College, 1986; M.S., 1989, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1992; Post Doctoral Fellowship, Baylor College of Medicine, 1992-1994.

Teaching Areas: Biochemistry, Nutrition

Research Interests: Neuroscience; pharmacology; bioactivity and purification of naturally occurring neurotoxins.

Recent Publications:

Hamning, Valerie K.; Yanites, Heather L.; Peterson, Nancy L., "Characterization of Adhesive and Neurotoxic Components in Skin Granular Gland Secretions of Ambystoma tigrinum," Copeia 2000, 856-859.

Peterson, N. L.; Kroona, H. B.; Johnson, R. L.; Koerner, J. F., "Activity of the Conformationally Rigid 2-Amino-4-phosphonobutanoic Acid (AP4) Analogue (RS)-1-Amino-3-(phosphonomethylene) cyclobutane-1-carboxylic Acid (Cyclobutylene AP5) on Evoked Responses in the Perforant Pathway of Rat Hippocampus," Brain Research 1992, 577, 162-164.

Peterson, N. L.; Thoreson, W. B.; Johnson, R. L.; Koerner, J. F.; Miller, R. F., "Characterization of Retinal and Hippocampal L-AP4 Receptors Using Conformationally Constrained AP4 Analogues," Brain Research 1991, 568, 15-23.

Kroona, H. B.; Peterson, N. L.; Koerner, J. F.; Johnson, R. L., "Synthesis of the 2-Amino-4-phosphonobutanoic Acid Analogues (E)- and (Z)-2-Amino-2,3-methano-4-phosphonobutanoic Acid and Their Evaluation as Inhibitors of Hippocampal Excitatory Neurotransmission,"J. Med. Chem. 1991, 34, 1692-1699.

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Rodriguez Motta, Adalie (arodriguezmotta@noctrl.edu) 630-637-5187, Fax 630-637-5180
Assistant Professor of Chemistry.  2008. B.S., University of Puerto Rico, 2000, Ph.D., Northern Illinois University, 2005, Research Scientist, deCode Chemistry/ Protez Pharmaceuticals, 2005-2007.

Teaching Area: Organic Chemistry

Research Interests: Organometallics, Catalyst Development

Recent Publications:

Cunico, R. F.; Motta, A. R., "Structural and Electronic Effects on the Reactivity of Carbamoylsilanes towards Acrylonitrile Addition," J. Organometallic Chem. 2006, 691, 3109-3112.

Cunico, R. F.; Pandey, R. K.; Chen, J.; Motta, A. R., "Copper(II) Trifluoromethanesulfonate Catalyzed Addition of a Carbamoylsilane to Aldehyde Imines," Synlett 2005, 20, 3157-3159.

Cunico, R. F.; Motta, A. R., "Addition of Carbamoylsilanes to Electrophilically-Substituted Alkenes.  Preparation of b-Functionalized Tertiary Amides," Organic Letters 2005, 7, 771-774.

Yao, Q.; Motta, A. R., "Immobilization of Grubbs Second Generation Ru Carbene Complexes on Poly(ethylene glycol): A Highly Reactive, Recyclable and Reusable Catalyst for Ring Closing and Cross Metathesis," Tetrahedron Letters 2004, 45, 2447-2451.

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Gierek, Christopher (cgierek@noctrl.edu ) 630-637-5194, Fax 630-637-5180
Laboratory Manager and Chemical Hygiene Officer.  2006. B.S. , Benedictine University, 1989.

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Sherren, Anne T. (atsherren@noctrl.edu) Fax 630-637-5180
Professor of Chemistry Emerita. 1966. B.A., Agnes Scott College, 1957; Ph.D., University of Florida, 1961.

Dr. Sherren's Webpage

Research Interests: Chemical education; design of laboratory experiments which use "real life" or everyday chemicals.

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This webpage was last updated on January 22, 2009
Comments about the content of this page should be sent to: Jeff Bjorklund