Chemistry McGill University

Overview

Members of the Chemistry Department at McGill University are organized into various research themes. Some of the current research interests are listed below, and are presented in much more detail on the Departmental website.

Analytical/Environmental

The Analytical/Environmental Thematic Research Group at McGill is involved in a wide range of exciting fundamental and applied research with focus on: state-of-the-art instrumental development in spectroscopy; imaging; chemometric and analytical bio-spectroscopy; artificial intelligence; ultra trace sampling; thermochemical, box, and cloud modelling; and state-of-the-art atmospheric kinetics and photochemistry; as well as the development and application of state-of-the-art numerical models of the chemistry of the regional and global atmosphere. Our collective research has direct implications in fields such as materials, environmental, and biomedical chemistry.

Among the themes that unite the research being performed in this group is the attempt to learn new chemistry and physics from biological systems.

We have projects relating to pharmaceutically relevant enzymes such as those involved in drug metabolism and antibiotic resistance; development of therapeutic agents in the control of inflammation, cancer and viral infections; the chemical biology of NO; quantification of bioenergetic markers of metabolism; self-assembly mechanisms of the HIV-1 virion capsid; liposome microarray systems to address membrane protein dynamics and recognition; studies on reactive oxygen species translocation across the aqueous/lipid membrane interface; RNAi/antisense technologies; dynamic combinatorial chemistry; protein dynamics and function; mechanistic aspects involved in cellular adhesion and transport in membrane and zeolite channels; and cutting-edge microscopes used to examine transport, motility, and reactivity in cells.

Chemical Physics

The research interests of the members of the Chemical Physics Thematic Research Group are diverse, with groups focusing on high-end laser and NMR spectroscopies, kinetics and modelling of atmospheric chemical reactions, experimental and theoretical biophysical chemistry, polymers at interfaces, and statistical and quantum mechanics. In the field of biophysical chemistry, single molecule spectroscopy is being used to probe enzyme function as well as DNA recombination and repair. Our recent advances in image correlation spectroscopic techniques now allow researchers to precisely follow the macromolecular dynamics in living cells. In a similar vein, breakthrough ultra-fast electron diffraction experiments have opened the window to real-time observation of the making and breaking of chemical bonds. State-of-the-art multi-pulse femtosecond spectroscopy experiments are being applied to interesting and technologically important new materials such as photonic crystals and quantum dot superlattices. A molecular-level picture of polymer dynamics and structure at surfaces and interfaces is being developed through theoretical modelling, high-field solids NMR spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and other surface characterization methods. In the area of atmospheric chemistry, the chemical transformation of the atmosphere is being modelled both experimentally and theoretically to understand how these processes are currently affecting and driving climate change. Finally, we have basic theory projects relating to the experimental work just described, as well as in transport and structure in complex colloidal or zeolite systems, protein dynamics, and fundamental issues in quantum and statistical mechanics.