Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Biography

2013-present

Research Professor, University of Notre Dame

2008-2013

Associate Research Professor, University of Notre Dame

2006-2008

Associate Specialist, University of California, Santa Cruz

2002-2006

Assistant Specialist, University of California, Berkeley

2000-2002

Postdoctoral Research Scholar, University of California, Berkeley

2000

Ph.D. in Chemistry, Waikato University, New Zealand

1994

M.S. in Chemistry, Waikato University, New Zealand

1993

B.S. in Chemistry, Waikato University, New Zealand

Research Interests

Crystallography is the study of crystals, their form and structure. In chemistry, we most commonly use crystallography to determine the composition and connectivity of the atoms that make up crystals. From this we can get the 3D molecular structure or the extended structure, which is useful to answer questions of coordination, connectivity, function, reactivity, biological activity, and more. Here at Notre Dame, we use crystallography to study models for the heme site in proteins, to study drug candidates, metal-organic frameworks, and the structure of carbohydrates, as well to study more basic questions of coordination chemistry.

The Molecular Structure Facility is a department resource providing single-crystal X-ray structure determinations for researchers both within the department and without. We perform hundreds of experiments each year, using three state of the art instruments. Most of the experiments are performed by students for their own research after coursework and individual training in crystallography.

Recent Publications

• Shaffer, C. C., Liu, W., Oliver, A. G., Smith, B. D. "Supramolecular Paradigm for Capture and Co-Precipitation of Gold(III) Coordination Complexes" 2021 Chemistry - A European Journal, 27 (2), pp. 751-757. DOI:10.1002/chem.202003680.
• Eckhardt, T., Goddard, R., Lehmann, C., Richter, A., Sahile, H., Liu, R., Tiwari, R., Oliver, A. G., Miller, M. J., Seidel, R. W., Imming, P. "Crystallographic evidence for unintended benzisothiazolinone 1-oxide formation from benzothiazinones through oxidation" 2020 Acta Crystallographica Section C: Structural Chemistry, 76 pp. 907-913. DOI:10.1107/S2053229620010931.
• Gilson, S. E., Fairley, M., Julien, P., Oliver, A. G., Hanna, S. L., Arntz, G., Farha, O. K., Laverne, J. A., Burns, P. C. "Unprecedented Radiation Resistant Thorium-Binaphthol Metal-Organic Framework" 2020 Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142 (31), pp. 13299-13304. DOI:10.1021/jacs.0c05272.
• Ndiaye, M., Diop, M. B., Samb, A., Diop, L., Oliver, A. G., Plasseraud, L. "Bromide hydrogen oxalate salts with the diprotonated 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane counterion" 2020 Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung - Section B Journal of Chemical Sciences, 75 (9-10), pp. 815-820. DOI:10.1515/znb-2020-0097.
• Vaz, W. F., Michelini, L. J., Oliveira, G. A. R., Lião, L. M., Perez, C. N., Oliver, A. G., Napolitano, H. B. "Structural comparison of five new halogenated dihydroquinoline-4(1H)-ones" 2020 Journal of Molecular Structure, 1219 DOI:10.1016/j.molstruc.2020.128559.
• Zhai, C., Schreiber, C. L., Padilla-Coley, S., Oliver, A. G., Smith, B. D. "Fluorescent Self-Threaded Peptide Probes for Biological Imaging" 2020 Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 59 (52), pp. 23740-23747. DOI:10.1002/anie.202009599.