ACS Funding Supports New Student Research Opportunities in Chemistry

Dr. Louis Kuo, Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded a $70,000 Undergraduate Research Grant from the American Chemical Society’s Petroleum Research Fund (PRF).  This three-year project, entitled “Fundamental investigation of sulfide oxidation by new bisoxido molybdenum(VI) catalysts”, will provide the opportunity for six undergraduate student researchers to engage in cutting edge concepts in organic and coordination chemistry. While the overarching goal of this research is to arrive at a complete mechanism for how molybdenum oxides are activated for sulfide oxidation, the project covers a range of fundamental chemical topics ranging from synthesis, mechanism (organic and inorganic), multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, kinetics, and computational chemistry. This sulfide oxidation research will allow Dr. Kuo and his students to explore the homogeneous catalysis leading towards sulfide remediation chemistry in an all-organic media. In addition, the project will make use of the College’s benchtop single crystal X-ray diffractometer, which Dr. Kuo secured with a separate National Science Foundation TUES (Transforming Undergraduate Science Education) award—allowing the team, for the first time, to use X-ray crystallography to characterize materials made in Dr. Kuo’s research lab.

The American Chemical Society’s Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF) supports basic research related to petroleum or fossil fuels at nonprofit institutions. The Undergraduate Research Grant Program supports projects that develop advanced meaningful research activities for undergraduates. 

More information about Dr. Kuo’s research interests are available here.