C H E M I S T RYA L U M N I N E W S L E T T E R

AT U N C - C H A P E L H I L L

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UNC Leads in Energy ResearchIf professor Thomas Meyer’s plan works, we will not need trees. More precisely, we will not need to rely on trees for what is known in scientific circles as “solar fuel production from biomass.” A fancy term describing the age-old method humans have used for their energy supply since pre-historic times: burning wood.

“If you think about it that way, humankind has been harnessing the power of the sun for millennia,” says Meyer, Arey Distin-guished Professor of Chemistry. “Sunlight helps grow trees. People burn wood, a form of fuel, to generate energy. For eons, firewood has been the only option we have had for being able to store solar energy un-til we need to use it. But now it’s time to take the middle man, the plants, out of the solar fuel equation.”

Finding ways to create solar fuels is one of the focuses of the new UNC-based En-ergy Frontier Research Center, one of 46 such centers recently established by the Continued on page 4

Joseph M. DeSimone, Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chem-istry in our depart-ment, and William R. Kenan, Jr. Distin-guished Professor of Chemical Engineer-ing at North Caro-lina State University, is a creative and prolific scientist, inven-tor, entrepreneur and teacher with more than 240 peer-reviewed scientific articles, 115 issued patents, and over 120 patents pending. He has received numerous major awards and recognitions over the course of his eighteen-year career at UNC and NCSU, including the 2008 Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention and Innovation, dubbed the “Os-car for Inventors.” He is also among the youngest individuals ever elected to the National Academy of Engineering. In the last year, he has been honored with three additional prestigious awards: the 2008 Tar Heel of the Year given by the Raleigh News & Observer, the 2009 National Insti-tutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award, and the 2009 North Carolina Award.

In December 2008, DeSimone was named the Tar Heel of the Year by the Raleigh News & Observer, an honor bestowed once a year to an individual who has made a positive, life-changing impact on the lives of North Carolina residents. In October 2009, he was awarded the North Carolina Award, the highest civilian honor the state bestows. This award recognizes signifi-cant contributions to the state and nation. DeSimone joins five other Carolina chem-ists who also have received this distinction, Oscar Rice, Ernest Eliel, Robert Parr, Royce Murray, and Maurice Brookhart.

Both the Tar Heel of the Year and the North Carolina Award were given for DeSimone’s ground-breaking work in science, his abil-ity to apply complex science to solve ev-eryday problems, and his contributions to the state of North Carolina. His work has resulted in revolutionary breakthroughs in the use of nanotechnology in medicine, al-ternative energy, and materials with wide-ranging, life-changing applications. He and his research group have been particularly focused on using nanotechnology to re-package cancer therapeutics to improve patient response and decrease deleterious side effects.

Joseph DeSimone

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Carolina Chemists Unravel HIV Genome StructureFeatured as the cover story of the journal Nature, a team lead by UNC chemists reports a model for the structure of an entire HIV genome. Single-stranded, ribbon-like, RNA genomes, like that in HIV, fold back on themselves to make molecular ob-jects, which often have critical regu-latory roles.

Kevin Weeks’ laboratory focuses on the chemical and structural biology of RNA. Dr. Weeks thought that tech-nologies created in his lab could help the HIV research community and led the study to solve the structure of an entire HIV-1 genome. The lab collab-orated with the National Cancer Insti-tute and UNC virologists.

The new results show that the HIV RNA genome contains numerous RNA structures that influence how HIV proteins are made and how the virus es-capes detection by the human host. HIV genome structure appears to be so extensive as to constitute another level of the genetic code. Insights gleaned from this work also hold substantial promise for developing new antiviral therapeutics.

U.S. Department of Energy with funding that includes Ameri-can Recovery and Re-investment Act sup-port.

Headed by professor Meyer, the $17.5 mil-lion, five-year initia-tive includes a multi-campus coalition of researchers who form what he describes as a critical mass of scientists collaborating on energy-related research.

“The main problem with current solar pow-er technology is that if the sun is not shin-ing, you are out of luck,” Meyer says. “So-lar fuels give us the ability to collect and stockpile that energy.”

Meyer is referring to a still-budding area of solar energy research called “artificial pho-tosynthesis,” a process that uses sunlight

From the ChairI am delighted to greet you from the Chair’s Office in Ke-nan Laboratories on a beau-tiful fall day in Chapel Hill. As Mike Crimmins became Senior Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, I assumed the role of De-

partment Chair in July, and I am thrilled to serve in this new position. Since I started my career as an Assistant Professor in the Biological Division ten years ago, the Chemistry Department has been a wonderful place to develop my scientific program and be a part of educating the next generation of researchers and thinkers.

The Department of Chemistry enters an important new phase in coming years. As a “New Venable” hall rises from the location of the original Venable building, we prepare to occupy laboratories in that building in the fall of 2010. The on-going construc-tion of the new Genome Sciences Building adja-cent to Kenan Stadium will provide laboratories in 2012 for Chemistry researchers with interests in Chemical Biology and Biochemistry. Thus, we soon will have faculty located from Chapman Hall near Physics and Computer Science through the Genome Science Building next to UNC Hospitals. With this wonderful opportunity to expand comes the challenge of keeping an intellectual “center of mass” associated with the Chemistry Department.

I am excited to face that challenge with my col-leagues because it indicates how departmental interdisciplinary science has grown in conjunction with our continued strength in the core areas of chemistry. As highlighted in this newsletter, Caro-lina chemists are international leaders in the fields of material science, nanotechnology, energy and the biomedical sciences related to cancer and infectious disease. Our physical breadth across campus mirrors our intellectual connections to re-searchers in physics, mathematics, biology, phar-macy, medicine and public health.

I look forward to updating you in the coming years on the science and technology breakthroughs made by our faculty. And, as always, I would love to host visits and tours through our laboratories in Chapman, Caudill and the new replacement to Venable Hall. While we strive to achieve our capital development goals, I am confident that Carolina Chemistry will continue to excel in its mission of ushering forward terrific new science, and terrific new scientists.

With best regards,

Matthew RedinboProfessor and Department Chair

Carolina Chemistry Professor R. Mark Wightman, has been selected by the Biophysical Society’s Exocytosis & Endocytosis Subgroup to re-ceive the prestigious “Sir Bernard Katz Award.” He is being honored for the development of cyclic voltametry and amperometry to detect single granule exocytosis. His approach has revolutionized the study of the fusion event, giving an unprecedented view of dynamic chemical com-munication in the brain reward system. His studies have uncovered previously unrecognized, subsecond signaling by dopamine that accompanies seeking of both natural- and drug-based rewards. Importantly, Professor Wightman has freely shared his techniques with others, resulting in rapid deployment of his technique to the community of biophysicists, enabling a wide range of discovery.

Wightman Receives Katz Award

The American Chemical Society selected Senior Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Mary Ann Smith Professor of Chemistry in our department, Michael T. Crimmins, as the recipient of the 2010 Ernest Guenther Award for outstanding achievement in chemistry of natural products. The purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage outstanding achievements in the analysis, structure elucidation, and chemical synthesis of natural products. In selecting the nominee, special consideration is given to independence of thought and originality.

Crimmins Wins ACS Ernest Guenther Award

The National Science Foundation has awarded Carolina Chemistry Assistant Professor Garegin Papoian its prestigious CAREER Award, in the amount of $600,000 over five years. The award recognizes his groundbreaking work in theoretical techniques to study physical-chemical processes in the cell. Papoian’s group will develop detailed computational models of the way eukaryotic cells move around and sense their environment, focusing in particular on mechanochemical interactions between signal transduction and cell motility processes.

Papoian Earns NSF CAREER Award

Associate Professor Jeff Johnson has been selected by the American Chemical Society to receive an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award in rec-ognition of excellence in Organic Chemistry. The award consists of $5,000, a certificate, and a $40,000 unrestricted research grant. Professor Johnson focuses on the general area of chemical syn-thesis, and is particularly interested in the discovery of new organic transformations and their application to the total synthesis of architec-turally challenging and biologically important natural products.

Johnson Wins ACS Cope Scholar Award

The National Science Foundation has awarded Carolina Chemistry Assistant Professor Muhammad Yousaf its prestigious CAREER Award, in the amount of $600,000 over five years. The award recog-nizes his well-known pioneering work in applying surface chemistry to cell biology for studies of cell adhesion, polarization and migration. Yousaf’s group will develop and integrate new surface chemistries, live cell high resolution fluorescence microscopy techniques and mi-crofluidic lithography based approaches to generate new cell based microarrays and a class of dynamic surfaces to study the internal and external cues that are critical for cell polarization and directed cell migration.

Yousaf Earns NSF CAREER Award

Carolina Chemist and John P. Barker Distinguished Professor Michael Rubinstein, has been awarded the 2010 Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society. The prize recognizes out-standing contributions in polymer physics research, specifically pro-fessor Rubinstein’s leadership in the field of structure and dynamics of polymer liquids, interfaces and gels.

Rubinstein Awarded Polymer Physics Prize

Why I Give to Chemistry at CarolinaMartha Guy ’42, A.B., Chemistry, of Newland, NC, may be retired from full-time banking after 62 years, but she maintains a busy schedule of community service and works a few hours each week from her “camper office” across the street from the bank’s main building on Estatoa Street. Her gift of a $1 million charitable remainder trust to the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences will fund the Martha Guy Laboratories on the ground floor of the new W. Lowry and Susan S. Caudill Labora-tories.

Guy was president of the Avery County Bank for decades, giving up graduate school at Carolina and a career as a research chemist in 1943 to work at the bank her father found-ed in 1913. When Guy’s brother left Newland to serve in World War II, their father asked Martha to return home. For decades, she led the bank that was named one of the nation’s top community banks in 1998. In 2003, the Avery County Bank was sold to First Citizens Bank. We spoke with Martha Guy about her time at Carolina, her career and her gift.

How are you spending your “retirement?”

“Well, I officially retired after 62 years in 2003 when we sold the bank, but I still come to the office to pay bills. My community work also keeps me busy, with committee responsibili-ties for the Avery County Historical Museum, Newland Presbyterian Church, and other local groups.” When was the last time you were in Chapel Hill and what was the occasion?

“I was there on October 12, 2008, to see another Carolina chemistry graduate, Holden

Thorp, be inaugurated as Chancellor. It was a beautiful day, and I thoroughly enjoyed being there. I don’t get to campus as much as I’d like to.”

What are some of the major businesses in Avery County and how is the economy af-fecting them?

“Christmas tree growing is our biggest indus-try. This year doesn’t look good. I’m hearing from growers that wholesalers have reduced their orders dramatically.”

What brought you to Carolina when many other North Carolina women were attending UNC-G, then known as “Women’s College” in Greensboro, St. Mary’s or other female colleges?

“It was my lifelong dream to come to Carolina. My brother and uncle are Carolina alumni. Daddy promised that when I was able to enroll in Carolina, I could go. I went to Montreat High School, an all-girls school, then to Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk for two years. So, I entered Carolina in 1940 as a junior.”

Why did you decide to major in chemistry?

“I did better in science all through school and was just more interested in it than anything else. I liked the exactness of it and that things have to be right.”

It was unusual for women to major in the sciences in the 1940s. Were you treated any differently than your male classmates? What memories do you have of working in the chemistry labs at Carolina?

“I was not treated any differently. But I do remem-ber saying in class that the first person who finished an or-ganic chemistry exercise should get a prize. If I had known that I was going to finish first, I never would have suggested the prize. The professor, Dr. Nye, bought me an ice cream cone as the prize. I was very embarrassed!”

You’re supporting the Department of Chemistry with a generous planned gift, the Martha Guy Laboratories, and have support-ed the University with unrestricted support. Why do you feel it is important for you to make such contributions to the department, home of your major?

“Carolina did so much for me. I think that ev-eryone should give back something. I believe in giving at least a 10th. You should give a 10th to where you went to school so it can benefit other people. I don’t think we can ever fully repay our blessings—but we can try.” You’ve had an exceptionally successful professional career as a businesswoman over the course of decades, through all sorts of economic cycles. What advice can you provide to Carolina students starting out in today’s job market?

“Never borrow more than you can pay back.”

Please go to www.chem.unc.edu/alumni/ for more information

Carolina Chemistry History in the Making

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We all remember Venable Hall. We say that we could never forget Venable Hall, but the fact is that this old landmark on the Carolina campus is now gone, and a “New Venable” is rapidly emerging in its place. Opened in 1923, Venable Hall connected Carolina chem-ists for the past eight decades. And for a limited amount of time, you have the opportunity to support our department and claim a tangible connection to Venable Hall that will last forever: a com-memorative brick or slice from that grand old building that can be a unique and meaningful gift or a special personal memento.

Your support is essential - Thank You!

Harvesting Energy Organic Photovolitaics

Harvesting energy directly from the sun via photovoltaic (PV) technologies is increasingly being recognized as one of the most promising long-term solutions to meet and surpass the predicted 30 terawatt challenge by 2050. However, there are two major is-sues currently preventing widespread adoption of solar energy to replace fossil fuels: efficiency and cost. The mainstream silicon-based solar cells are relatively efficient, 12 ~ 15% in PV modules. Unfortunately, the high cost of both materials and manufacturing has hindered the widespread utilization of this technology.

Assistant Professor Wei You and his group are actively pursuing an alternative approach. They are employing organic materials to harvest sunlight, i.e. organic photovoltaics, which have a num-ber of advantages such as low material and fabrication cost, light weight, and mechanical flexibility. Particularly, a dramatic cost reduction is anticipated if high efficiency solar panels could be reliably produced using a cost-effective, high-paced reel-to-reel manufacturing process. Tremendous research efforts have been devoted to this young but vibrant research field; however, new materials with better PV device performance have been discov-ered rather serendipitously, following vaguely defined design ra-tionale. The central challenge still remains - how to rationally de-sign ideal polymers to reach 10% efficiency and beyond?

To tackle this challenge, Professor You and his group have re-cently made significant progress in understanding the relation-ship between the structure of polymers and the efficiency of PV devices, fabricated from these polymers. Upon a series of studies published in ACS journals, they summarized the design criteria for “ideal” polymers to further improve the efficiency of polymer PV devices. More importantly, a design motif emerged from their systematic study of a number of structurally related polymers. And this design motif – first ever – worked beautifully: a few new polymers based on this design motif were synthesized and dem-onstrated around 5% efficiency in PV devices in initial trials. There are only few other polymers that can achieve similar or slightly higher efficiency, up to 6.6%. Upon further device optimization and fine tuning the structure of these new polymers, Professor You and his group are confident to approach the benchmark of 10% efficiency in the near future.

Much alike engineering plastics - synthetic polymers - revolution-ized our daily life in the 20th century; the UNC researchers believe that “plastic power” - polymer solar cells - will play a significant role in generating clean and renewable energy in the new millen-nium.

The You group also works on the forefront of molecular electronics and organic spintronics. They are investigating new approaches to fabricate molecular electronic and spintronic devices via non-destructive methods such as nano-transfer printing (nTP), with ul-timate goal to integrate molecules based devices into large scale, functional circuit. Published in JACS very recently, the You Group has developed a methodology to form metal-molecule-metal junc-tions by employing low surface energy perfluoropolyether (PFPE) stamps in nTP, a soft lithographic process. They show that by us-ing PFPE, thin films of Au, Ni, and Co can be transferred in tightly compact nanoarray junctions onto thiol terminated self assembled monolayers (SAMs) formed on a variety of metal thin film elec-trodes. The junctions formed are reproducible for commercial ap-plications, boasting promising electrical characteristics.

The You Group

to create potential fuel sources, such as oxygen and hydrogen from wastewater, or even hydrocarbons like methane from wa-ter and carbon dioxide. If artificial photosynthesis works, it would help solve the biggest obstacle preventing solar power from play-ing a major role in meeting the United States’, and the world’s, energy needs: storing it away for later use.

“This is going to solidify North Carolina’s role in the energy sci-ences,” says Meyer. “As a team, the center’s members will lever-age off each other’s strengths. NC State brings its chemistry and materials science expertise to the table; Duke has great analytical resources; UNC boasts fantastic basic science capabilities.”

And it is advances in basic science, the nuts-and-bolts research at the heart of all discoveries, that will really underpin what takes solar power to the next level and beyond, says John Papanikolas, associate professor of chemistry and Deputy Director of the new center. “Basic science is the key,” says Papanikolas. “In terms of the technology currently available, many people think that if we all put solar panels on our roofs, we will be fine. But that is very far from the truth. We really need technology that we have not even thought of yet.” That is where solar fuels come in, as well as another focus of the center’s work, developing next-generation photovoltaics, a technology and research field related to convert-ing sunlight directly into electricity, using devices such as solar panels and solar cells.

Photovoltaics is an area brimming with potential, a polite way of saying the current technology, processes and materials are still bulky, inefficient and expensive. For example, Papanikolas esti-mates that generating enough solar power to meet the equivalent of the U.S.’s electricity needs would require a solar panel 10,000 square miles in size, only slightly larger than Vermont, and cost-ing $10 trillion.

So the UNC team and their colleagues are exploring avenues that could result in the creation of inexpensive “solar shingles” on roofs and other such applications. Either way, energy research is an area that the University and the larger world cannot escape, Mey-er says. “The energy future will be driven by a shift to new energy sources which minimize environmental impacts.”

The center will support a mix of about 30 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, and provide opportunities for undergradu-ates to try their hand at cutting-edge research. And, Papanikolas notes, it is the latter who may well play a role in changing the en-ergy landscape of the future. “The students entering college today are probably going to be the generation of scientists who actually solve these problems.”

To learn more, visit UNC - EFRC’s website:

www.efrc.unc.edu

Energy Research continued from page 1

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For almost eighty years, Venable Hall was an ever-sprawl-ing building that seemingly never could decide on its final shape. As it aggregated, metamorphosed and conglomer-ated, finding your way in its increasingly maze-like inte-rior became more and more difficult. For eight decades, through hot summers and cold winters, with leaking roofs and endless corridors, it was home to the Department of Chemistry. If you read this, you are probably one of thou-sands of alumni who have both fond and perhaps curious memories associated with Venable Hall.

Then one cold January morning in 2008, a dinosaur-like bulldozer took its first bite out of Venable Hall, and the demolition of a campus landmark began in earnest. Only a couple of months later, the structure had been com-pletely disassembled and replaced by a gigantic hole in the ground. Already at the end of March, preparations for the new Science Complex building were under way.

We who work in the department have since witnessed the new buildings emerge from their foundation with remark-able speed. One could almost see changes on a daily basis. Suddenly the construction crane is gone, the new build-ing is physically connected to existing Caudill Laboratories, and appears almost ready for occupancy. But there is still a lot of interior work to be done. However, the scheduled completion date, September 17, 2010, for the Physical Sci-ence Building is now less than a year away.

As one views the construction site via our webcam or by peeking through the chain-link fence when on-campus, the visual clues that the project is on time are many. The build-ing’s outer skin, masonry, roof, and windows, is 90% com-plete and will be finished as you read this newsletter. The characteristic chimneys where the hood ductwork vents to the outdoors are now enclosed in brick. The 15-story con-struction crane was dismantled and hauled away in early October, and the framework for the rooftop greenhouse is now visible.

Activity inside the building is equally impressive. In early November the Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning systems will be activated. Once the interior environment is controlled, the wooden furniture and casework will be installed. One set of student carrels have already arrived and are kept safely in Kenan Labs until their new home is ready. The finish is a much lighter shade of oak than is present in Caudill Labs or Chapman Hall and is very hand-some.

As we go to press, sheet rock is being installed on the third floor. Since the building is literally being finished from the

Carolina Science Complex An Emerging “New Venable”ground up, this means that the ground, first and second floors already have drywall in place. Ceiling grids are going in on the second floor and bathrooms on the ground floor are complete.

The preliminary Mechanical Electrical Plumbing work in the large lecture hall was completed in October. Target date for construction completion of this and the other classrooms is July 15, 2010. That date will provide sufficient time for the University’s AV Classrooms team to install the projectors and audio, video, and computer control equipment before classes begin August 24, 2010.

We are proud of our new facilities, and want to thank all of you who have supported Chemistry in this and previ-ous projects. We also encourage your future support. From having worked in one of the oldest and most de-crepit buildings on campus, Carolina Chemistry now enjoys world-class, state-of-the art facilities for future teaching, research and discoveries.

To support UNC Chemistry - please go to:

www.chem.unc.edu/alumni/

Joseph DeSimone continued from page 1

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in September, 2009, DeSimone was also awarded the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award. This Award Program is a unique aspect of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, a high-risk research initiative of Research Teams of the Future. Pioneer Awards are designed to support individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pio-neering and potentially transformative approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research.

DeSimone and his research group will use the award to develop new methodologies for the delivery of promising biologi-cal therapeutics—peptides, proteins, antibodies, antibody fragments, and nucleic acids (siRNA, miRNA, shRNA replicons, DNA plasmids), to the desired location in the body in a safe and effective fashion. Delivery of fragile biologics is one of the key challenges in modern medicine. Many different disease states are now being targeted for treatment with biologi-cal therapeutics, including oncology, autoimmune, inflammatory, metabolic, cardiovascular, ophthalmology, and numer-ous infectious diseases. It is anticipated that many of the new developments in the treatment of neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, will be based on biological therapies, as will the treatment of pain.

William F. “Bill” Little, a member of the University of North Car-olina at Chapel Hill faculty for more than 40 years, a former vice president of the UNC system and a visionary leader who helped guide the development of the state’s Research Triangle Park and the Research Triangle Institute, died Friday, February 27th, 2009, at home in Chapel Hill. He was 79.

A native of Hickory, N.C., and one of nine children, Little was born in 1929 and received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, biology and mathematics from Lenoir-Rhyne College in 1950. He came to Chapel Hill that year as a member of the first class of Morehead scholars, earning his master’s degree in physical

chemistry in 1952 and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1954. He then took a year to explore London as part of his postdoctoral studies with renowned organic chemist Sir Christopher Ingold at University College London.

Little began his teaching career at Reed College in 1955 but returned to Chapel Hill the fol-lowing year as an instructor in the department of chemistry in UNC’s College of Arts and Sci-ences, and rose rapidly through the professorial ranks; he became chairman of the chemistry department at age 35. He was appointed University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in 1977, a position he held until his retirement in 1996. Little also served in a variety of important administrative roles at Carolina. These include associate dean for research administration in the Graduate School, 1959-61; chairman of the chemistry department, 1965-1970; chairman of the division of the natural sciences, 1972-73; vice chancellor for research, development and public service, 1973-78; and interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, 1991-92.

His involvement with the Research Triangle Park and the Research Triangle Institute, now known as RTI International, coincided with the beginning of those two enterprises and con-tinued until his death. In 1957, he was appointed by then Gov. Luther Hodges to serve on the Research Institute Committee, charged with evaluating the possibility of creating a scientific center in the Triangle area. Little led a nationwide effort to spread the word about the creation of the RTP and, through his work at Carolina, had a hand in recruiting some of RTI’s first chemists. In addition to his direct impact on RTP and RTI, Little inspired and guided thou-sands of chemistry students at Carolina. It was during his tenure as chemistry chair that the department grew dramatically in both faculty numbers and national stature, enhancing the Triangle’s reputation as a center for scientific excellence.

“The role that Bill played in the birth of the Research Triangle is hard to overstate and his contributions and dedication to the growth and strength of the sciences and economic devel-opment in our region will long be felt,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp, who studied under Little in the 1980s and has considered him a dear friend since. “But Bill’s greatest love was our chemistry department and especially its young faculty. He created a culture where the coins of the realm were wisdom and encouragement. He was a giant.”

To honor his numerous contributions to RTI and its chemistry program, the institute dedicated the William F. Little Medicinal Chemistry Building in 2003. His 50-plus year commitment to RTI and the RTP was highlighted yet again when he spoke at the State of RTP breakfast on February 26th, challenging and inspiring a gathering of business leaders about the promise and possibilities that lie ahead during the next 50 years.

Professor Little’s research area was organometallic chemistry, located at the intersection of classical organic and inorganic fields. Joe Templeton, Venable Professor of Chemistry and former Chair of the Faculty, is still active in this field of chemistry. “Bill was a rich source of creative ideas, profound wisdom, political insights and elbow grease for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,” Templeton said. “I never seriously told Bill how much he meant to me. I never needed to.”

Professor Little was honored at this year’s University Day Celebrations, on October 12th, by posthumously being recognized with a Distinguished Alumnus Award. The award was pre-sented to the Little family in a private ceremony by Chancellor Holden Thorp.

In Memoriam - William F. “Bill” LittleCarolina Chemistry major Katie Deigan is one of 14 students nationwide to win a Winston Churchill Scholarship for graduate work at the University of Cambridge in England. Katie was one of ninety-nine applicants for the scholarship, which is valued at $42,000 to $50,000. Candidates are evaluated on academics, examination scores, character, demonstrated concern for critical problems of society, and other factors.

Katie plans to pursue a master’s degree in pathology at Cambridge and later a doctorate in pathology or biochemistry. Her work in the Weeks lab, where she co-invented a method for predicting the structures of large RNA molecules, was published in PNAS. This is the second year in a row that a Carolina Chemistry major has received this award, and Katie is the 14th scholarship recipient from Carolina since the awards were first given in 1963.

Churchill Scholarship

Chemistry undergraduate students Ann Liu and Varun Puvanesarajah have been recognized with Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships. Established by Congress in 1986 to foster and encourage excellence in science and mathematics, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation awards scholarships to students in mathematics or the sciences who display intellectual curiosity and intensity, and possess potential for significant future contribu-tions in their chosen field.

Ann Liu graduated from the NC School of Science and Mathematics in June 2007. With a grade-point average of 3.911, she is on track to graduate in May 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and business. Liu first began research work in the Gagné lab in June 2007 and has continued her work as an undergraduate, on the develop-ment of gold catalysts. Besides research, Liu founded and is currently the chemistry editor for Carolina Scientific, a student organization dedi-cated to publishing a magazine on undergradu-ate research. She is also a resident advisor, NC Fellow, and high school tutor.

Varun Puvanesarajah graduated from East Chapel Hill High School in June 2007. With a 3.948 GPA, he will graduate in May 2011 with a Bach-elor of Science degree in chemistry and mathemat-ics. Apart from undergraduate research, Varun is involved in a variety of intramural sports and the red cross club. He plans to undertake pharma-ceutical research as a career, and is considering becoming a clinician as well.

Goldwater Scholarships

Michael Crimmins, the Mary Ann Smith Professor and Chair of Chemistry, is now the new Senior Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences at the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences.

Crimmins served as Chair of our department since 2007. He also serves as Professor of Medicinal Chemistry-Natural Products in the School of Pharmacy. He previously served as Vice Chair of Graduate Studies and Vice Chair of Facilities for the Chemistry Department. Crimmins is also an award-winning teacher and scholar. His research has focused on synthetic organic chemistry: develop-ment of new synthetic methods, novel synthetic strategies and total synthesis of biologi-cally active and structurally interesting natural products.

All of his fellow faculty members, staff, and students at the department of chemistry will miss Mike’s daily presence, his wit, patience, and leadership skills. We all wish him the very best in his new duties.

Crimmins Senior Associate Dean for Natural Sciences

Ruth Hyde, the administrative manager for the Chemistry Department, won the 2009 Award in Management, given by the College of Arts and Sciences for “outstanding accomplishments in leadership and manage-ment.” Ruth coordinates all of the administrative needs of our complex department, which has 50 faculty, approximately 50 staff members, 75 postdoctoral associates, 250 graduate students and some 7,000 stu-dents registered for chemistry courses each year.

Commenting on Ruth’s contributions to the department, then Chair Michael Crimmins said, “Ruth handles a constantly heavy workload with courtesy and professionalism. She recognizes that the human resources are the most important in our unit. Ruth is extremely well respected by staff, faculty and students who all consider her an invalu-able resource for everything imaginable: human resource issues, student services, budgets, event planning, hiring, et cetera.” Crimmins concluded in saying, “Ruth is a truly remarkable department administrator. I cannot imagine doing my job without her.” Congratulations, Ruth, for a well-deserved recognition!

Ruth Hyde Awarded for Outstanding Service

A disagreement between Carolina Chemistry faculty members Nancy Allbritton and David Lawrence over which cancer - breast or prostate - should be the higher priority in their partnership resulted in two successful NIH grant proposals. Lawrence is taking the lead on a prostate cancer grant while Allbritton leads a breast cancer grant – totaling almost $5 million over the next five years.

Allbritton moved to UNC from the University of California at Irvine, and Lawrence from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. They decided to come to UNC for similar reasons – a top-notch chemistry department that meshed well with their in-terests, an outstanding medical school, and a first-rate cancer center. Both of them are mem-bers of UNC Lineberger Compre-hensive Cancer Center in addi-tion to their appointment in the College of Arts and Sciences and both were looking for research partners.

Soon after their arrival, they realized that their research interests overlapped. “We have very similar interests but bring to the table different tools to attack the biological prob-lems that interest us,” says David. “Nancy really knows how to manipulate and design analytical chemistry technology in a way that goes beyond the frontiers of science. I do the same thing, but at the molecular level.” Allbritton asked Lawrence to discuss a pos-sible collaboration over lunch, which he accepted, joking, “How could I say no when she was paying?” For her part, Allbritton is happy that a simple lunch ‘bribed’ Lawrence to participate in a scientific collaboration that is now paying huge dividends, thanks to an investment by the University Cancer Research Fund (UCRF).

Winning Research Partnership

Postdoctoral associates Liqing Ma from the Lin Group, and Conggang Li from the Pielak Group have been selected by UNC’s Postdoctoral Awards for Research Excellence Committee, to receive the Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence for the 2009-2010 academic year.

The Award Notification recognizes each recipient for his “impressive re-search accomplishments and potential to become an outstanding researcher and scholar” in their fields. An award in the amount of $1000 will be provided to each recipient in support of their research training and devel-opment. The department congratulates Liqing and Conggang for their achievements.

Postdoctoral Excellence

Nabil Kleinhenz, a rising senior majoring in chemis-try, working in the You Lab, has received the inaugural Ernest Eliel Undergraduate Scholarship awarded by the North Carolina Section of the ACS. The award of $4000 will be used to support Nabil’s research on novel polymers for photovoltaic applications, and to pay for research related costs.

Ernest L. Eliel, one of Carolina Chemistry’s most notable and loved faculty members passed away on September 18th, 2008. Ernest Eliel had a far-reaching impact on chemistry, science, science policy, and people. He was one of those rare individuals who cared deeply about all aspects of what he did and was able to quietly influence all those things in a positive way. He served as President of the American Chemical Society, and received its highest recognition, the Priestley Medal, in 1995.

Eliel Scholarship

Liqing Ma

Conggang Li

Darren Zhu, a graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathemat-ics, has been selected as a 2009 Davidson Fellow. Darren earned this very prestigious recognition for research he conducted with the You Group during the summer of 2008. Mentored by Jeremy Niskala, a graduate student in the You Group, Darren worked to develop more efficient data storage technologies by ex-ploring nanofabrication methods for spintronics.

Davidson Fellow

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRYThe University of North Carolina at Chapel HillCB 3290 - Caudill and Kenan LaboratoriesChapel Hill, NC 27599-3290

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CHAPEL HILL, NC

Photos: Dan Sears, Lars Sahl

North Carolina, it seems, was always in David Nicewicz’s future, although not im-mediately apparent from his origins. Da-vid was born and raised in the suburbia of central New Jersey, somewhere between exits 8A and 9 of the Turnpike. Perhaps partly for a change of scenery and dis-taste of New Jersey driving, David decid-ed to pursue his undergraduate studies at University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

While at Charlotte, he had the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity and pas-sion for synthetic chemistry by taking a position in the laboratory of Profes-sor Craig Ogle, researching asymmetric organocuprate conjugate addition reactions and developing a keen interest in organic reaction method de-velopment. Craig was a driving force in David’s academic aspirations, and a force that motivated him to complete his B.S., 2000, and M.S., 2001, in chemistry and continue on to graduate school.

Though Nicewicz had opportunities to attend graduate school outside of North Carolina, he was drawn to the unique combination of cutting-edge research and collegiality found in the Department of Chemistry at UNC Chapel Hill. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the laboratory of a new enthusiastic assistant professor, Jeffrey Johnson, who himself was be-ginning his first year at UNC. David recalls the palpable excitement in John-son’s lab, an excitement that compelled him to join this group and which

boosted him throughout his graduate research. While in Johnson’s lab, Da-vid developed new catalytic enantioselective reaction methods focused on silicon atom-based rearrangements and embarked on a total synthesis of the squalene-synthase inhibitor, zaragozic acid C.

After completing his Ph.D. at UNC in 2006, Nicewicz secured a postdoctoral position in Professor David MacMillan’s lab at CalTech in sunny Pasadena, California. Before he began in MacMillan’s lab, however, David came to learn that his trek west would not happen. MacMillan had accepted a faculty position at Princeton University. Despite this somewhat climatically disap-pointing detour, Nicewicz joined MacMillan’s lab as a Ruth L. Kirschstein NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton. He truly enjoyed the freedom to explore the nascent area of organocatalysis that MacMillan’s lab had pio-neered and David’s research efforts resulted in a publication in the journal Science.

When the opportunity arose, David enthusiastically elected to return to UNC and join the faculty in the summer of 2009. He plans to stick close to his formal training as he begins his independent research career, focusing on the general areas of asymmetric catalysis and natural product synthesis. David is particularly intrigued about exploring the possibility of employing sunlight as a source of energy to drive organic transformations. Though sunlight-driven organic reactions have been studied for over a century now, David argues that many opportunities to harness the power of light still ex-ist. Fortunately for David, there is no better place to rely on sunlight for research than under Carolina Blue skies!

David Nicewicz Back to the Future

CHEMISTRYFALL 2009 ALUMNI NEWSLETTER

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