Current Research

General summary of projects

1. Fundamental experimental and computational research on the chemical properties of various reaction intermediates, including organic polyradicals, oxenium cations, carbyne anions and reaction intermediates formed upon burning of rocket fuels, in order to gain the knowledge needed to generate reaction intermediates with tailored properties for specific applications
2. Development of automated methodology for the rapid identification of drug metabolites and impurities in mixtures via diagnostic gas-phase ion-molecule reactions in HPLC/multistage high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/HRMSⁿ) experiments coupled to machine learning
3. Energy crisis: development of HPLC/(API) HRMSⁿ and GCxGC/(EI,CI) HRMS methods for the characterization of crude oil, its conversion products, and marine and aviation fuels
4. Energy crisis: development of HPLC/(API) HRMSⁿ and GCxGC/(EI,CI) HRMS methods to facilitate the development of diesel, aviation and rocket fuels from renewable resources, such as waste biomass, waste plastics, waste fats and industrial wastes

Computational reasearch

Nanomaterials

Pharmaceuticals

Polyradicals

Carbyne anions

Crude oil and base oil analysis in collaboration with petroleum companies

Chlorine-containing compounds in waste cooling oils

Laser-induced acoustic desorption experiments (LIAD)

Organic synthesis

Research on the development of biofuels

Determination of the proportions of the different lignin monomeric units in poplar

Determination of the formation of char upon fast pyrolysis of biomass

Life-time determination for polyurethane foams in submarines

Research on aviation fuels

Financial support for our research is gratefully acknowledged from the following sources:

• National Science Foundation (NSF)
• ConocoPhillips
• Department of Energy
• AstraZeneca
• Navy
• Merck
• Neste Oil
• Pioneer Oil
• NASA
• NIH
• Army

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