Welcome to the
DWJ Lab


News and Upcoming Events

February 2024:
Congratulations Dr. Jacob Mayhugh on successfully defending his Ph.D! Dr. Mayhugh will be moving to Austin, TX to post-doc in the Anslyn lab. 

June 2023:
Welcome second year students Andrew, Megan, Sam, and Nathan! 

August 2022:
Congrats to our newest doctors! Grace, Thaís, and Hannah are defending their Ph. D.!

Dr. Kuhl has successfully defended and will be headed to the University of Minnesota to post-doc in the Pierre lab. Good luck!

July 2022:
Incoming students Nathan and Victor join the lab as rotation students! Welcome! Nathan will be rotating on the Cyclophanes Project and Victor will be rotating on the Inorganic Cluster Project

February 2022:
Check out the new NRT website! https://blogs.uoregon.edu/uonrt/

September 2021:
Returning master's student Doug joins the anion sensing project as a permanent member! Welcome back!

June 2021:
First-year students Willow, Luca, Kyra, and Alex join the lab as permanent members! Welcome to the team! Willow and Luca join the cyclophanes project, Kyra joins the ChemFETs project, and Alex joins the materials project.

March 2021:
Henry Trubenstein was awarded an honorable mention from the NSF-GRFP. Congrats Henry!

July 2020:
Incoming students Olivia and Willow join the lab as rotation students! Welcome! Olivia will be rotating on the anion sensing project and Willow is working on the cyclophanes project. 

May 2020:
First-year students Jacob, Henry, and Nolan join the lab as permanent members! Welcome to the lab! Jacob and Henry will be working on the cyclophanes project and Nolan is working on the phosphaquinolinone (PN) project jointly with the Haley lab.

June 2019: 
First-year students Hannah and Grace join the lab as permanent members! Welcome Hannah and Grace! Hannah will be working on the anion sensors project and Grace will be on the sensors project. 

Meredith's paper is published in Chem. Mater. Congratulations Meredith! Read "Chemical Transformations during Direct-Write Electron Beam Processes" here: DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b01440

May 2019: 
Chun-Lin and Jeremy's paper is accepted into J. Org. Chem. Congratulations team! Read "Naphtho[2,1-e]-1,2-azaphosphorine 2-Oxide Derivatives: Synthesis, Optoelectronic Properties, and Self-Dimerization Phenomena" here: DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.9b00994 

Meredith defended her PhD. Congratulations Dr. Sharps! Meredith will be a post-doc fellow at The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Good luck on your next venture! 

Lisa defended her PhD. Congratulations Dr. Lisa Eytel! Lisa will be joining the faculty at Boise State University as a Clinical Asst. Professor to teach organic chemistry. 

Lisa is awarded two Universty of Oregon top awards: the Graduate Student Service Award and the John R. Moore Scholarship. Congrats Lisa! 

Chris is awarded a Centurion award at the UO top awards ceremony. Congrats Chris! 

April 2019: 
Lisa and Hazel's Feature Article is published in Chem. Commun. Congrats! Read "The road to aryl CH⋯anion binding was paved with good intentions: fundamental studies, host design, and historical perspectives in CH hydrogen bonding" here: DOI: 10.1039/C9CC01460H 

Brandon and Meredith's paper is accepted into Chem. Mater. Congrats! Read "Influence of Nanocrystal Size on the Optoelectronic Properties of Thin, Solution-Cast Sn-Doped In2O3 Films" here: DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b00538

Rotation students Hannah Bates, Allison VanCleve, and Grace Kuhl join the lab. All three will be working on the anion sensing project. Welcome! 

Our Projects

Supramolecular Main Group Chemistry
Inorganic Clusters
Anion Binding

About the Lab

Research in the group explores problems in coordination chemistry and organic synthesis using the relatively new field of supramolecular chemistry as a tool. Research projects include developing specific metal chelators for a variety of toxic and environmentally hazardous metals; using organic reactions to mediate inorganic cluster formation; designing efficient syntheses of nanoscale organic cage structures through supramolecular intermediates; and using multiple weak interactions within small molecule receptors to target environmentally and biologically relevant substrates. The research in the group spans a diverse range of disciplines: organic synthesis of ligands and receptors; inorganic chemistry of supramolecular coordination complexes and inorganic clusters; computer modeling and ligand design; analytical chemistry of metal extractants; solution thermodynamics of host-guest and metal-ligand complexes; and materials science of supramolecular assemblies. The characterization of these nanoscale molecules requires investigation by X-ray crystallography, calorimetry, multidimensional NMR techniques and other spectroscopic methods.

Applications of DWJ-Lab Research

While fundamental science is the basis of and fuels our research program, the DWJ-Lab also actively pursues applications stemming from our research. Most students in the lab perform internships at national labs, startup companies, and/or industry to pursue applied science. In addition, we work with both the CSMC and UO's Materials Science Institute to participate in a "Lens of the Market (LoM)" professional development program. LoM is administered by ecosVC and provides professional development in innovation and entrepreneurship to graduate students to translate research into commercial innovations. As one specific example, former DWJ and Haley Lab graduate student Calden Carrol launched SupraSensor Technologies out of the NSF Innovation Corps program. This was highlighted in the Science Nation video below.
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