Mail: Chemistry & Chemical Biology, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854

 

Education

  • B.S. 1967, M.S. 1969, American University (Beirut)
  • Ph.D. 1973, Stanford

Awards & Honors

  • National Institutes of Health Career Development Award 1980-85
  • Henry and Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award 1981-86

Research Summary

My research is concerned with inorganic and bioinorganic reactions. Some of the projects currently under investigation in my group include intramolecular electron transfer across synthetic polypeptides and modified electron-transfer proteins. Model synthetic peptides derivatized with different donors and acceptors, as well as modified electron-transfer proteins, where an acceptor or donor is covalently attached to the protein, are being studied in order to understand rates and mechanisms of electron transfer in biological systems.

Another project under investigation is the synthesis of polypeptides with kinetically inert transition-metal-ion protecting groups, particularly Co(III) complexes. A third project is concerned with the study of high-valent oxidation states of metal ions in constrained environments in order to promote oxygen evolution from coordinated aquo ions. Such a process is achieved by plants using "Photosystem II", an electron-transfer chain culminating in a manganese-bound electron transfer protein.