Bile acids (BA) are synthesized in the liver from cholesterol and utilized by the body through primary taurine and glycine (de)conjugation, while secondary BA salts undergo de-hydroxylation, dehydration, and epimerization of the cholesterol backbone. They have been linked to several well understood and unknown disease states in systems biology. Structural characterization of bile acid derivatives continues to be a challenge in metabolomic studies.

Performance enhancing drug (PED) use is a historic issue at the highest levels of professional competition, driving use in young amateurs and compromising the healthfulness of sport. Legal criteria for detecting PED use in athlete’s urine and blood have been in continuous development for 40 years. Illicit use of endogenous substances such as testosterone cannot be established by their presence in fluids.

The UGA Department of Chemistry will add three new lecturers to the teaching faculty in Fall 2022. Two of the lecturers are familiar faces, having taught General Chemistry at UGA for several years, while the third is a newcomer to Athens.

Increasing numbers of students are using electronic flashcard engine to study for basic chemistry content like names and symbols of the elements, names and formulas of polyatomic ions, and one-step transformations. We used a survey to compare two electronic flashcard engines–Quizlet and Anki–and determined which engine the research team should use to create electronic flashcard decks for students to utilize. The survey results shows that more students have used Quizlet compared to Anki, but those who used both preferred Anki.

Automated transiton state (TS) structure computations for a recently reported Pd-catalysed conjugated addition of arylboronic acids to 2-substituted chromones (Chem Sci, 2020, 11, 4602) reveal unexpected conformations of the key stereodifferentiating benzyl group on the pyridine-dihydroisoquinoline (PyDHIQ) ligand.

The American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Division of Organic Chemistry recently named UGA Chemistry major Jessica Budwitz as an ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Outstanding Senior Organic Chemistry Student. This award is intended to recognize senior students who have displayed a significant aptitude for organic chemistry as evidenced by their formal coursework as well as their research accomplishments during the course of their undergraduate studies, and recognizes the student’s desire to pursue a career in chemistry.  

Congratulations to UGA Chemistry major Alexander Deltchev, who was recently selected as one of the top 100 UGA student employees and will be honored at the Career Center’s awards luncheon on April 13.  Alex has been working as the lead Peer Learning Assistant (PLA) for CHEM 1212 classes for the past three years where he is responsible for managing the efforts of approximately 50-60 PLAs, coordinating their office hours, monitoring

On Friday, April 15, the Department of Chemistry will host its annual Alumni Event, which had been on hiatus since 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns. The event begin with the Alumni Lecture at 4:00 p.m. in Room 400 of the Chemistry building, with Prof. Jason Locklin of the UGA New Materials Institute as the featured speaker.