American Chemical Society Awards Research Grant to Chemistry Professor Chip Nataro

Chip Nataro, assistant professor of chemistry, has received a grant from the Petroleum Research Fund administered by the American Chemical Society to continue his research on catalytic compounds.

It is the second PRF grant Nataro has received for his catalytic research, and like the first, it will support research opportunities for Lafayette students.

Since he joined the Lafayette faculty in 1999, Nataro and his corps of 13 student researchers have produced more than 50 compounds. He notes that literature he has read shows these compounds are being studied by scientists primarily for applications in organic synthesis by the pharmaceutical industry.

He says that his student collaborators – many of whom have published their research in scientific journals — deserve much of the credit for the new compounds that have come out of the Lafayette lab.

“They are critical to my success. I have been very fortunate to have some really good students working with me, and I would consider this latest grant to be attributable to the students who have worked with me in the past,” he explains.

Nataro will mentor four students with his current research: first-year students Sarah Martinak (Endicott, N.Y.), Aman Seth (Short Hills, N.J.), and Lauren Sites (West Chester, Pa.), and biochemistry major Fawn Blanco (Riegelsville, Pa.).

Martinak will look at previous research, investigating possible applications and trying to make predictions about catalytic effectiveness. Seth will analyze compounds that have been produced by a colleague of Nataro’s. Blanco and Sites will follow up on previous research to fill in gaps in background information in regard to catalytic ability.

Nataro plans to have the students present their research at an academic conference, all part of an experience that he hopes will make them better scientists and researchers.

“I have brought students to conferences before; it’s an invaluable part of the research project. It’s important to show students that research isn’t just working in the lab, but also going to talk to others in the field,” he says.

It’s a more effective catalyst that Nataro is after; his research is focused on creating new compounds and testing their stability.

“A more effective catalyst can make creating molecules more time efficient, cost efficient, and energy efficient,” he says. “They make getting from point A to B shorter, so it has tremendous benefit to industry.

“You might have a super catalyst, but if it only lasts a day, it’s not going to be economically viable. We will use a technique called electrochemistry, in particular cyclic voltammetry, which will give us an idea of how stable our compounds are and what conditions [the catalyst] can tolerate without falling apart or decomposing. Because nothing is going to last forever, a catalyst is going to break down. These techniques give us an idea of how stable our compounds are. The more stable they are, the more benefit they have.”

In March, Nataro led a group of six Lafayette students and three professors who presented their research at the 229th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in San Diego, a bi-annual conference attended by over 14,000 scientists from around the world. The students also attended presentations about various advances in chemistry research. Their presentations were part of the main program at the ACS meeting and not in the specific undergraduate section.

The group included two chemistry majors who shared findings from research conducted with Nataro. Kevin Barry ’05 (North Haven, Conn.) detailed the electrochemistry of coordination compounds of gold (III) that have anti-tumor activity in cancers that show resistance to other chemotherapy agents. This work was part of a collaboration with Allyn Ontko of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Wyoming. (Barry also helped Nataro create a new chemical compound in the summer after his first year at Lafayette.) Brenna Ghent ’05 (Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea) detailed the electrochemistry of chiral ferrocenylphosphines.

Nataro’s other recent student research partners have included:

• Biochemistry major Annalese Maddox ’07 (Carrollton, Ga.), who conducted experiments aimed at improving on a chemical compound used in catalysts;
• Biology major Sarah Kolb ’07 (Berkley Heights, N.J.), who did similar research, modifying a chemical compound used to force chemical reactions to learn how those changes affect the compound’s behavior;
• Chemistry major and Marquis Scholar Laura Hagopian ’06 (Chelmsford, Mass.), who created new compounds at Lafayette and collaborated with scientists from the University of California, San Diego;
• Biochemistry major and Trustee Scholar Alison Campbell ’04, who learned more about the electrochemistry of an organometallic compound and researched the effects of environmental conditions on its electrochemical reactivity;
• Biochemistry major Michelle Ferguson ’04 (Wallingford, Conn.), who examined the structure of compounds to determine what affects their quality as catalysts;
• Biochemistry major Amanda Ohs ’03 (St. Paul, Minn.) and chemistry major Abby O’Connor ’03 (Newton, N.J.), who received praise for the EXCEL Scholars research they presented at the Humphrey Memorial Symposium at the University of Vermont;
• Goldwater Scholar and chemistry major Daniel Ruddy ’03 (Dunmore, Pa.), who examined chromium derivatives in EXCEL Scholars research and conducted an honors thesis with Nataro’s guidance on creation of a polymer that would serve as a light-emitting diode, potentially leading to number pads in new colors for digital watches and calculators;
• Marquis Scholar and biochemistry major Becky Wiza ’01 (Reading, Pa.), who used electrochemistry to learn more about compounds’ physical properties.

Nataro accompanied a group of seven Lafayette students who shared their research at an American Chemical Society National Meeting last year. Several of his students also have presented their research at the Intercollegiate Student Chemists Convention.

He has published his research in peer-reviewed journals such as Inorganic Chemistry, Polyhedron, Organometallics, Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, and Journal of Chemical Education, and has given presentations at national and regional meetings of the American Chemical Society. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society, as well as its Inorganic Division and Organometallic Subdivision.

He is a recipient of Lafayette’s Delta Upsilon Distinguished Mentoring and Teaching Award, which recognizes distinctive and extraordinary teaching through mentoring.

Nataro came to Lafayette from the University of Vermont, where he was a post-doctoral fellow in the department of chemistry for two years. He holds a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Iowa State University and a B.S. in chemistry from Messiah College.