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John B. Grutzner
Professor—Organic Chemistry
Email: grutzner@purdue.edu
Phone: 765-494-5247
Office: BRWN 4103E
For Professor Grutzner's individual Home Page click here.
My students and I enjoy asking chemical questions. We often use spectroscopy, especially NMR, to provide answers. Recently we have been fascinated by the new chemistry generated in the Continuously Rotated Cellular Reactor. We have formed steady-state ionic concentration gradients by solution electrolysis on a large scale without added stabilizers. Proteins have been isolated by isoelectric focusing on a large scale. We are learning how to optimize the band resolution. Theoretical implications and practical applications are being explored. We have uncovered such intriguing phenomena as the separation of KCl into HCl and KOH, the concentration of trace levels of ions, pH control of amino acid and protein diffusivity. Our challenge is to convert these observations into new knowledge and practical devices.
New methods for controlling the selectivity of diffusion controlled reactions and for detecting reactive intermediates are being studied. The reaction of bromine with cyclohexene can be tuned to give predominantly allylic substitution rather than addition in the CRCR.
We use NMR imaging and solid state NMR to study molecular dynamics in micelles, polymers and solids. We are designing molecules with properties to modify bulk material properties such as non-Newtonian fluid flows, and impact strength in polymers. We are also exploring combustion chemistry to reduce NOx and soot emissions.
Cellular pH Steps generated by electrolysis of 0.1mM LiCl in the CRCR visualized with Universal Indicator. Cell length 0.5 cm, column length 30 cm. Plot of individual ion concentrations versus column position expressed as boundary voltages.
Education
B.S., 1963, Ph. D., 1967, University of Melbourne; Postdoctoral Fellow, 1967-1968, University of California, Los Angeles; Postdoctoral Fellow, 1968-1969, California Institute of Technology.Recognitions
- Program Officer National Science Foundation., 1981-82
Selected Publications
- Grutzner, J. B., "NMR Basic Principles", Encyclopaedia of Analytical Science,(2nd edition). Academic Press 2005 , , .
- Grutzner J.B., Applications of NMR in Carbanion Chemistry. Encyclopedia of NMR 2002 , 9, 481-497.
- Tian F. F.;Chang, C. J.;Grutzner, J. B.;Nichols, D. E.;McLaughlin, J. L., Robinlin: A novel bioactive homo-monoterpene from Robinia pseudoacacia L. (Fabaceae) . Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2001 , 11 , 2603-2606.
- Grutzner J. B.;Stewart, K. W.;Wasylishen, R. E.;Lumsden, M. D.;Dybowski, C.;Beckmann, P. A., A new mechanism for spin-lattice relaxation of heavy nuclei in the solid state: Pb-207 relaxation in lead nitrate . J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001 , 123 , 7094-7100.