In this dissertation, the structural properties, thermodynamics and defect behavior of amorphous metal oxides and polyoxometalates are studied. Amorphous metal oxides have many applications, most notably as a semiconducting material used as the active matrix of thin film transistors. Alas, the amorphous nature of these materials makes studying them rather...
In this dissertation, the spectroscopic properties and thermodynamic stability of a class of materials known as metal oxo and hydroxo clusters are studied. In aqueous solutions, many metals can aggregate into discrete clusters of metals bridged by oxo or hydroxo ligands. These clusters are of particular interest to us for...
Put generally, the work I have conducted in my time at Oregon State University has been to answer two questions. The first of these is “Why do I get this particular product from this particular chemical reaction?” and the second is “How do the reagents in this chemical reaction lead...
My work has focused on using density functional theory to elucidate mechanisms of organocatalytic and transition metal catalyzed reactions by considering competing mechanisms. In each of the three presented studies computational investigation complemented experimental work by predicting stereoselectivity or revealing origins of stereo, regio, or chemoselectivity.
A study on the...
In this report, two studies are presented that utilize computations to predict and elucidate the reaction mechanisms of two different copper catalyzed reactions. Each study provides insight into the various chemical transformations, as well as the how and why behind regioselectivity and isotopic selectivity. The importance of this research is...
My work has focused on streamlining the study of organic compound structure, properties, and reactions by 1) understanding and using available computational software, 2) developing software packages to facilitate data manipulation as well as augment public programs, and 3) applying public and in-house developed software to further the understanding of...
Automation of computational chemistry, while only an engineering feat, has the potential to accelerating computational research be removing all by the science. The work in this thesis mainly discusses fundamental understanding of complex chemical systems. What is not obvious are the numerous tasks necessary for this fundamental understanding. Under the...
In this Dissertation, the mechanism and stereomechanics of complex organocatalysis and reaction processes are disclosed. The technologies and protocols currently being developed and utilized to efficiently investigate these systems using theory are highlighted.
A detailed computational study of peptide-catalyzed acylations is disclosed. In particular, the magnitude of all possible non-bonding...
My work on computing complex catalyzed organic transformations reveals that only a few subtle chemical factors, e.g. non-classical hydrogen bonding, (hyper)conjugation and steric effects, common across different catalyst manifolds are critical for catalysis and selectivity. Rational manipulation and exploitation of these factors has led to improved catalyst designs, which has...