ISOTOPICS
The Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society
Volume 85
Issue 5
May 2009
May Meeting Notice
On Deck:
September 2009
TBD
Awards Banquette
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Grand Ballroom, The Renaissance Cleveland Hotel
6:00 pm
7:00 pm
7:45 pm
Cleveland ACS Officers
Chair:
Dr. David Ball
Department of Chemistry
Cleveland State University
Phone: 216-687-2456
d.ball@csuohio.edu
Chair-Elect:
Dr. Mekki Bayachou
Department of Chemistry
Cleveland State University
Phone: 216-875-9716
m.bayachou@csuohio.edu
Treasurer:
Theresa Nawalaniec
University Library
Cleveland State University
Phone: 216-687-3504
t.nawalaniec@csuohio.edu
Secretary:
Dr. David Miller
Phone: 216-332-8405
Davegobe42@mindspring.com
Social Hour (cash bar)
Dinner
Presentations
Using Electronic Spectroscopy to Probe Reactive Chemical
Intermediates
Terry A. Miller, Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State University
Gas phase chemical reactions, such as occur in atmospheric chemistry, combustion,
plasma processing, etc. are of great importance to our economy and society. These
reactions are typically very complex involving up to 1000's of elementary steps with a
corresponding number of reactive chemical intermediates. Spectroscopic diagnostics,
based upon well analyzed and well understood spectra of the intermediates, are crucial
for monitoring such reactions and unraveling their mechanisms. These spectral
analyses often benefit from the guidance provided by quantum chemical calculations
of electronic structure and conversely the molecular parameters, experimentally
determined from the spectra, serve as "gold standards" for benchmarking such
calculations. Such standards are especially valuable for reactive intermediates whose
electronic or geometric structure is particularly complex because of electron-spin
interactions, Jahn-Teller effects or other vibronic interactions, hindered internal
motions, large molecular size and weight, etc. The organic alkoxy, RO·, and peroxy,
RO2·, (R=alkyl group) free radicals are excellent examples of reactive intermediates
involved in the oxidation of organic molecules. The talk will focus on our recent
spectroscopic characterization of these radicals. These experiments have been carried
out at room temperature obtaining sufficient resolution to distinguish among different
isomers, conformers, and isotopologues of the same chemical species. Higher
resolution, mostly rotationally resolved, electronic spectra have been observed for
radicals jet-cooled to between 1-20K. The techniques of laser induced fluorescence,
stimulated emission pumping, and cavity ringdown spectroscopy have been utilized.
Selected spectra, their analysis, and the molecular information resulting therefrom will
be discussed.
DINNER RESERVATIONS REQUIRED: Please RSVP by contacting
Cleveland Section Web Site:
http://www.csuohio.edu/sciences
/dept/cleveland_acs/
David Ball, by phone at 216-687-2456 or by e-mail at d.ball@csuohio.edu by 5 pm on
Friday, May 15. (For phone reservations, please clearly spell your last name and
leave a return phone number). Cost of the dinner is $60 for members & guests and
$25 for students. Checks made out to “Cleveland ACS” are greatly appreciated. The
social hour will include a cash bar, and dinner will be a served meal with a green
salad, balsamic chicken breast, seasonal vegetables, and cake for dessert. Because of
the cost of the banquet, people who make reservations are expected to pay for
dinner whether or not they attend.
Page 2
Isotopics May 2009
41st CENTRAL REGIONAL
MEETING OF THE ACS OPENS
MAY 20
Come join us for the 41st Central Regional
Meeting of the American Chemical Society!
Hosted by the Cleveland
Section ACS, the CERMACS will be bringing
chemists and other chemical professionals to the
downtown Renaissance Cleveland Hotel on
historic Public Square for three and a half days of
interactions, presentations, and social gatherings.
The Awards Banquet will be serving as the May
section meeting of the Cleveland Section. Not
only will we enjoy a great dinner prepared by the
hotel chefs, but we will be celebrating the
achievements of chemists in several areas:
outstanding high school teaching, outstanding
volunteer contributions to the profession, and
outstanding contributions to chemistry in the
northeast Ohio area – that is, our own Morley
Award!
The Renaissance Cleveland Hotel
The Renaissance Cleveland Hotel is located at 24
Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It is
attached to Tower City, so one option is to park in
the Tower City parking lots and walk over to the
hotel. Alternatively, the hotel is adjacent to
Superior Ave, which goes through Public Square.
A parking lot for the hotel can be accessed from
Superior Avenue just west of Public Square.
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
Speaker Bio
Dr. Miller holds an Ohio Eminent Scholar Chair at
The Ohio State University. He is also Director of
the Spectroscopy Institute and Chair of the
Chemical Physics Program there. Previously he
was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at
Bell Laboratories. He has held visiting faculty
appointments at Princeton University, Stanford
University, and the Institute for Molecular Science
in Japan. He received his undergraduate degree
from the University of Kansas and his Ph.D. from
Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall
Scholar,
Dr. Miller's research centers around the
spectroscopic identification, characterization and
monitoring of reactive chemical intermediates. He
has developed numerous spectroscopic techniques
spanning frequencies from the microwave to the
ultraviolet. Presently, his laboratory focuses upon
reactive intermediates, particularly alkoxy and
peroxy radicals, involved in the oxidation of
hydrocarbons. He is author of more than 325
scientific publications.
His research has been recognized with the
Meggars Award (Optical Society of America), the
Bomem-Michaelson Award (Coblentz Society),
the Bourke Medal (Royal Society of Chemistry),
and the Broida Prize and Plyler Prize (American
Physical Society). He has been granted the
recognition of Fellow by the American Physical
Society, Optical Society of America and American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
He served on the Council of the American
Chemical Society and as a member of the
Executive Committee of its Physical Chemistry
Division. He is Editor of the Journal of Molecular
Spectroscopy and Chair of the OSU International
Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy which
annually attracts approximately 500 conferees. He
serves on several other journal editorial boards and
conference program committees, including Chair
of the International Advisory Committee for the
Free Radicals Symposium.
Page 3
Isotopics May 2009
Archive Committee Searching for
Materials
By Helen Mayer
Do you have any documents, photos or awards
that are of historical significance to the Cleveland
Section of the American Chemical Society? If
they are just collecting dust in your attic or office,
consider donating them to the Archive
Committee. These items do not need to be “old;”
items that are current but may be of historical
significance in a few years will be accepted also.
The Archive Committee maintains the Cleveland
Section Archives as a part of the archives at John
Carroll University. Our collection goes back to
the early days of the Cleveland Chemistry Club,
and includes originals of the first charter. We also
maintain copies of Isotopics back to the original
issue.
We are especially interested in any awards that the
section has won over the years. Any photos
donated should be captioned (we have received
many requests for photos over the years and
occasionally actually have them). At this time,
we are not interested in any back issues of
Isotopics or any old Annual Reports.
Please contact Helen Mayer at 216-676-2372 or
helen.mayer@graftech.com to arrange pick up of
the materials or to view the Archives.
Congratulations to Kat Wollyung!
Cleveland Section ACS member Kathleen “Kat”
Wollyung is this year’s recipient of the E. Ann
Nalley Central Regional Award for Volunteer
Service to the American Chemical Society. The
Award will be presented at the Awards Banquet
of the Central Regional Meeting at the
Renaissance Cleveland Hotel on May 21. The
Award recognizes a person who has performed
extraordinary volunteer services in the name of
the ACS. Those of you who participate in
National Chemistry Week activities may recall
that Kat has been helping to plan and implement
the Cleveland Section’s NCW program of hands-
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
on experiments for children for many years. The
Cleveland Section has been the recipient of several
Phoenix and ChemLuminary awards for its NCW
programs, and there’s no doubt that Kat’s efforts
have contributed to that. Congratulations, Kat!
(Now get back to planning the 2009 NCW stuff!)
Chemists Celebrate Earth Day
April 22 was Earth Day, and local chemists took
part in various activities to celebrate.
At
Cleveland State University, the Student Affiliate
of the ACS arranged to plant a tree on campus as
part of Earth Day festivities. Here we see CSU
students ceremonially planting a forest pansy tree
(the grounds department will do the actual
planting!). One tree may not make a difference,
but it’s one more tree than the earth had before!
Page 4
Isotopics May 2009
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
June Historical Events in Chemistry
By Leopold May
The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
June 6, 1943
Richard E. Smalley, who was born on this date, does research in supersonic beam laser
spectroscopy and discovered fullerenes. In 1996, he shared the Nobel Prize with R. F.
Curl and H. W. Kroto for their discovery of fullerenes.
June 14, 1862
Johann Ulrich Nef, the Father of Physical Organic Chemistry; discovered the valence of
carbon and did research on free radicals and transition state in organic reactions. He was
born on this date.
June 20, 1899
W. R. Grace & Co. was incorporated on this date
June 25, 1911
William H. Stein, who was born on this date, was a researcher in enzyme chemistry. In
1972, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Stanford Moore for their contribution to
the understanding of the connection between chemical structure and catalytic activity of the
active centre of the ribonuclease molecule and with Christian B. Anfinsen for his work on
ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and
the biologically active conformation.
ISOTOPICS STAFF
Editor:
Daniel Tyson
Day-Glo Color Corporation
Phone: 216-391-7384
daniel_s_tyson@yahoo.com
Business and Advertising:
David Miller
Phone: 216-332-8405
david.f.miller@sherwin.com
Associate Editor
Dwight Chasar
dwight.chasar@yahoo.com
Associate Editor
Richard L. Middaugh
Phone: 440-785-0293
rlmiddaugh@ameritech.net
Associate Editor
Dr. Lily Ng
Cleveland State University
Phone: 216-687-2467
l.ng@csuohio.edu
Associate Editor
Daniel Scheiman
QSC/NASA GRC
Phone: 216-433-3223
daniel.a.scheiman@nasa.gov
Isotopics is looking to highlight local chemistry professionals, companies, teachers, research groups, students,
events, and more. If you have an idea for an Isotopics article, please contact the editor. Isotopics is also looking
for local members to join our staff. Time commitments for staff members are minimal (a few hours a year!) and
your contributions will be invaluable to our local section. If you are interested in joining Isotopics, please
contact the editor.