I am an experienced PhD candidate with 4+ years R&D experience in the development and design of novel homogeneous organoaluminum catalysts for conversion of biomass-derived sugars into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in ionic liquids and organic solvent media. I have a strong understanding and experience in inert atmosphere synthesis using standard Schlenk line and glove box techniques.
I have extensive experience in mechanistic and kinetic studies of glucose isomerization and dehydration reactions catalyzed by organoaluminum catalysts. Furthermore, I have developed a method for probing the binding of aluminum Lewis acid catalysts on monosaccharides.
I am an expert in using analytical instruments for materials characterization and separation and quantitation methods. These include multinuclear nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR, 1D, 2D, variable temperature), X-ray crystallography, HPLC/HPLC-MS, GC/GC-MS, MSn, ART-FTIR, UV-Vis, Raman spectroscopy, BET, XRD, XPS, SEM, and XPS. In fact, I served in an 8-month appointment as a graduate assistant in charge of the Chemistry Department’s NMR facility, maintaining four high-field magnets by doing cryogen fills, user training and regular spectrometers repairs and troubleshooting.
