Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) has emerged as a powerful analytical technique in the biological -omics over the last two decades, due to advantages in speed and separation capabilities. Despite its now widespread utility, the resolving power of many commercial IM platforms (~40-60) is often insufficient for resolution of structurally similar compounds such as stereoisomers. This presents a critical need for us to develop higher resolution techniques to continue to push the boundaries of molecular discovery.

Recent innovations in speed, accuracy and sensitivity have established mass spectrometry (MS) based methods as a key technology for the analysis of complex mixtures. MS techniques are emerging as the analytical gold standard for the identification and characterization of molecular components with wide applications in forensic, environmental, and biomedical research.  My research group focuses on the development of emerging technologies for characterization and structural elucidation.

Over the past century, the rapidly rising rates of antibiotics resistance coupled with decreased new antibiotics on the markets has led to a global health crisis. In the United States alone, antibiotics resistant infections occur over 2.5 million times each year resulting in over 35,000 deaths.¹ One bacterium of interest is Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) which is a gram-positive bacterium and one of the global leaders in antibiotic resistant infections and death. While S.

Chemical Vapor Transport (CVT) is a useful synthetic method for low-dimensional nanomaterials. This seminar will discuss how we’ve used it to achieve high-quality 1-D and 2-D material synthesis at high yields and larger scales than previously reported for transition metal chalcogenides and transition metal chalcohalides, and how CVT has been used for the controlled growth of several uranium and thorium chalcogenides.

Creating and curating new data appends the way we approach materials science. In additive manufacturing (AM), the fabrication of parts and objects with high complexity and high performance is advantageous over other methods. Using nanocomposites enables highly improved properties even with “commodity polymers” that do not need to undergo high-temperature processes or extensive reformulation. With artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), optimizing the formulation and manufacturing methods is possible.

Increasing CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere have led to global warming and other climate issues. One way to combat this is through the photocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction. In this reaction, CO₂ and water are used as reactants to produce value-added products such as CO, CH₄, CH₃OH, and C₂H₅OH. TiO₂ is one of the most common photocatalysts due to its relatively high efficiency, low cost, and availability.

Photoelimination of ligands in transition metal complexes can create reactive species that can act as catalysts and reagents for several useful reactions. To better understand the dynamics of this process, the photoelimination of the ligands in the tricarbonylnitrosylcobalt complex was studied as a model for the elimination of nitrosyl ligands from mixed-ligand species.

The Nacsa Group uses electron transfer techniques to address challenges in organic synthesis. Our lab works in two main areas. The first uses electrochemistry to develop new approaches for dehydration reactions, such as the synthesis of amides and esters from carboxylic acids, with an emphasis on catalysis. Dehydrative transformations are workhorse operations in pharmaceutical R&D, but owing to the wasteful reagents overwhelmingly used to accomplish them, industry has long called for methods that avoid these reagents.