Welcome to the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Summer 2026 registration will open early March. We offer 7-week summer classes starting the last week of June.
About Us
The Queens College Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry offers American Chemical Society-certified courses in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Our undergraduate and graduate programs include existing BS, BS/MS and MS degrees in Chemistry with specializations in Chemistry and in Biochemistry. In conjunction with secondary education, we also offer BA in chemistry education leading to NY state 7-12 chemistry certification. We strive to offer an integrated, broad-based, challenging educational experience to imbue students with the intellectual, experimental, and on-line interactive skills necessary to perform effectively in any field related to the chemical and biochemical sciences. The educational goals and pre-professional training of our programs are designed to deepen a student’s molecular perspective of the natural world with modern, quantitative and mechanism-based approaches, and to equip the student with the skills needed to thrive in the workplace.
Chemistry MS Program
The Chemistry MS program offers coursework and laboratory training for students preparing for careers in health, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, and computational areas, or who plan to pursue PhD programs. Financial support is available for qualified students through fellowships, or positions as teaching or research assistants.
Recent Publications
Chen Group
- Liu, X.; Hee, S.; Sapir, N. G.; Li, A.; Farkruzzaman, S.; Liu, J.;* Chen, Y.* “n-Bu4NI/K2S2O8 Mediated C–N Coupling between Aldehydes and Amides” Eur. J. Org. Chem Catal. 2024, 27, e202400067. DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.202400067.
- Liu, X.; Hee, S.; Sapir, N. G.; Li, A.; Liu, J.;* Chen, Y.* “n-Bu4NI/K2S2O8-Mediated Csp2-Csp2 Bond Cleavage – Transformylation from p-Anisaldehyde to Primary Amides” Adv. Synth. Catal. 2024, 366, 2489-2494. DOI: 10.1002/adsc.202301505
Choi Group
- Sadeeshkumar Velayutham, Ryan Seerattan#, Maab Sultan, Trisha Seal, Samaya Danthurthy, Baskaran Chinnappan, Aveta Singh#, Keiran S.M. Smalley, Julia Zaias, Jun Yong Choi*, Dmitriy Minod*. “Novel anti-melanoma leads are efficacious in A375 cell line xenograft melanoma model in nude mice” Biomolecules, 2023, 13, 1276
- Jun Yong Choi*, Eugene Chung#. “Molecular dynamics simulations of matrix metalloproteinase 13 – ligand complexes and the analysis of the selectivity loop and the S1’-site” , Int. J. Mol. Sci, . 2023, 24(13), 10577
- Aditi Mukherjee, Zakir Hossain#, Esteban Erben, Shuai Ma#, Jun Yong Choi*, and Hee-Sook Kim*,“Identification of a small molecule inhibitor specifically targeting the activity of DNA-binding domain A of Trypanosoma brucei RPA1” ,Nature Communications, 2023, 14, 439
- Jun Yong Choi*, Yoshihiko Noguchi, James M. Alburger, Simon Bayle, Eugene Chung#, Wayne Grant, Apirat Chaikuad, Stefan Knapp, Derek R. Duckett, and William R. Roush*,“Structure-based development of isoform selective inhibitors of Casein Kinase 1e vs. Casein Kinase 1d” ,J. Med. Chem., 2023, 66(11), 7162-7178
- Eunju Im, Ying Jiang, Philip Stavrides, Sandipkumar Darji, Sandipkumar Darji, Hediye Erdjument-Bromage, Thomas A. Neubert, Jun Yong Choi, Jerzy Wegiel, Ju-Hyun Lee, and Ralph A. Nixon, “Lysosomal dysfunction in Down syndrome and Alzheimer mouse models is caused by v-ATPase inhibition by Tyr682-phosphorylated APP βCTF” ,Science Advances, 2023, 9, eadg1925
- Ashif I. Bhuiyan, Athena H. Choi, Sarbani Ghoshal, Ugochi A. Adiele, Dibyendu Dana, Jun Yong Choi, Karl R. Fath, Tanaji T. Talele, Sanjai K. Pathak, “Identification of A Novel Spirocyclic Nek2 Inhibitor Using High Throughput Virtual Screening” ,Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett, 2023, 88 (15), 129288
Hersh Group
- Tarpanova, A.; Malik, S.; Lichtman, D.; Wallach, Y.; Mukhlall, J. A.; Hersh, W. H. “Synthesis of dixanthates, dithiocarbonyl disulfides, and 1,3-oxathiolane-2-thione from diols and carbon disulfide: Model chemistry for Poly(disulfide) synthesis” Tetrahedron 2023, 134, 133302.
- Hersh, W. H.; Chan, T.-Y. “Improving the accuracy of 31P NMR chemical shift calculations by use of scaling methods” Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 36-56.
- Garimallaprabhakaran, A. K.; Hersh, W. H.; Murelli, R. P. “CCDC 1935560: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination, 2019” CSD Communication 2019.
Jang Group
- Kwang Hyun Cho, Seogjoo J. Jang, and Young Min Rhee; “Dynamic embedding of effective harmonic normal mode vibrations in all-atomistic energy gap fluctuations: Case study of light harvesting 2 complex,” Journal of Chemical Physics 160, 184104 (2024).
- Taner M. Ture and Seogjoo J. Jang; “Simple and general unitarity conserving numerical real-time propagators of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation based on Magnus expansion,” Journal of Physical Chemistry A 128, 2871 – 2882 (2024).
- Pablo Ramos, Hannah Friedman, Barry Y. Li, Cesar Garcia, Ellen Sletten, and Seogjoo J. Jang; “Nonadiabatic derivative couplings through multiple Franck-Condon modes dictate the energy gap law for near and short-wave infrared dye molecules,” Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 15, 1802 – 1810 (2024).
- Won Kyu Kim, Kiri Choi, Changbong Hyeon, and Seogjoo J. Jang; “General Chemical Reaction Network Theory for GPCR-based Olfactory Sensing: Elucidation of Odorant Mixture Effects and Agonist–Synergist Threshold,” Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 14, 8412 – 8420 (2023).
- Seogjoo J. Jang and Young Min Rhee; “Modified Fermi’s golden rule rate expressions,” Journal of Chemical Physics159, 014101(2023)
- Seogjoo J. Jang “Quantum Mechanics for Chemistry,” (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30218-3; ISBN: 978-3-031-30217-6, 978-3-031-30220-6, 978-3-031-30218-3) (Springer Nature) (2023).
- Davinder Singh, Seogjoo J. Jang, and Changbong Hyeon; “Fundamental trade-off between the speed of light and the Fano factor of photon current in three-level lambda systems,”Journal of Chemical Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical 56, 015001 (2023)
- Seogjoo J. Jang “Partially polaron-transformed quantum master equation for exciton and charge transport dynamics,” Journal of Chemical Physics157, 104107 (2022)
- Seogjoo J. Jang,Irene Burghardt, Chao-Ping Hsu, and Christopher J. Bardeen, “Excitons: Energetics and spatiotemporal dynamics” Journal of Chemical Physics 155, 200401 (2021)
Liu Group
- Jianbo Liu, Wenjing Zhou, Steven D. Chambreau, Ghanshyam L. Vaghjiani “Computational study of the reaction of 1-methyl-4-amino-1,2,4-triazolium dicyanamide with NO2: From reaction dynamics to potential surfaces, kinetics and spectroscopy” J. Phys. Chem. B. 2019
- Yan Sun, Wenjing Zhou, May Myat Moe, Jianbo Liu “Reactions of water with radical cations of guanine, 9-methylguanine, 2′-deoxyguanosine and guanosine: Keto-enol Isomerization, C8-hydroxylation, and effects of N9-Substitution” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys 2018, 20, 27510-27522.
- Wenchao Lu, Yan Sun, Midas Tsai, Wenjing Zhou, and Jianbo Liu “Singlet O2 oxidation of deprotonated guanine-cytosine base pair and its entangling with intra-base-pair proton transfer” ChemPhysChem 2018, 19, 2645-2654.
- Wenchao Lu, Yan Sun, Wenjing Zhou, Jianbo Liu “pH-Dependent Singlet O2 Oxidation Kinetics of Guanine and 9-Methylguanine: An Online Mass Spectrometry and Spectroscopy Study Combined with Theoretical Exploration” J. Phys. Chem. B 2018, 122, 40−53.
Rotenberg Group
- V. Maddula, N.S. Holtzman, M.C. Nagan, S.A. Rotenberg “Phospho-mimetic mutation at Ser165 of a-tubulin promotes the persistence of GTP caps in microtubules” Biochemistry 61 :1508-1516, 2022.
- Ela Markovsky, Elisa de Stanchina, Aryeh Itzkowitz, Adriana Haimovitz-Friedman, Susan A.Rotenberg “Phosphorylation state of Ser165 in alpha-tubulin is a toggle switch that controls proliferating breast tumors” Cellular Signalling 2018, 52, 74-82.
Pathak Group
- Dibyendu Dana and Sanjai K.Pathak “A review of small molecule inhibitors and functional probes of human Cathepsin L” Molecules 2020, 25, 698.
- Dibyendu Dana, Jeremy Garcia, Ashif I.Bhuiyan, Pratikkumar Rathod, Laura Joo, Daniel A.Novoa, Suneeta Paroly, Karl R.Fath, Emmanuel J.Chang, Sanjai K.Pathak “Cell penetrable, clickable and tagless activity-based probe of human cathepsin L” Bioorganic Chemistry 2019, 85, 505.
- Sanjai K. Pathak “Highly Efficient Cell-Penetrating Probes of Protein Arginine Deiminases for Functional Proteomics” ChemBioChem 2018, 19, 1806.
Mirkin Group
- Tong Sun, Dengchao Wang, Michael V. Mirkin “Electrochemistry at a single nano particle…” Faraday Discussions 2018, 210, 173-188.
- Tong Sun, Dengchao Wang, Michael V. Mirkin “Tunneling Mode of SECM: Probing Electrochemical Processes at Single Nanoparticles” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 7463-7467.
- Min Zhou, Dengchao Wang, Michael Mirkin “Electrochemical Evaluation of the Number of Au Atoms …” Anal Chem. 2018, 90: 8285-9.
Wang Group
- Yishu Jiang, Chen Wang, Cameron R. Rogers, Mohamad S. Kodaimati & Emily A. Weiss “Regio- and diastereoselective intermolecular [2+2] cycloadditions photocatalysed by quantum dots” Nature Chemistry Volume 11 , 1034-1040 2019, 52, 74-82.
Office Information
Deputy Chair: Dr. Jianbo Liu
Associate Chair: Dr. Yu Chen
Secretary: Ms. Elizabeth L. Zoiner
Office Assistant: Ms. Kelly Barth
Remsen 206
Tel: 718-997-4100, 4482
Email: chemistry@qc.cuny.edu
Advising Hours
Advising Hours: Email kelly.barth@qc.cuny.edu to schedule appointment with advisor.
Free Chemistry tutoring: Queens College Learning Commons provides tutoring for many subjects including chemistry. Chemistry Honor Society provide free tutoring services for chemistry students. Click on the appropriate link for more details.
Major/Minor Forms: To declare a major/minor, Gen Chem 1 completion and department approval is required. Fill the online form (LINK) and send it to Kelly.Barth@qc.cuny.edu. Also, see program advisor during advising hours to plan your courses/career. Dropping a major/minor DO NOT require department approval and students should submit the form to service help desk.
Department News and Events
Scholarships in Science Education
- Undergraduates and graduated science degree students can earn teaching certification with more than $20,000 in scholarship money. Students through this program have achieved immediate employment after graduation. Learn more about the program and apply for consideration. Science Education Program Link
UPCOMING EVENTS
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- Feb 9, 2026: Department Seminar 11:15 am to 12:30 pm, Contact Dr. Pathak for zoom link, Dr. Seiya Kitamura; Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center
- Feb 23, 2026: Special Seminar from Alchemists Club. Topic to be announced.
- Mar 2, 2026: Department Seminar 11:15 am to 12:30 pm, RE105, Prof. Arek Kulczyk; Rutgers University
- Mar 9, 2026: Department Seminar 11:15 am to 12:30 pm, RE105, Prof. Robert Bohn; NYU Langone
- Friday, March 13, 2026: EIGHTH Annual Reimagining Science & Technology Education Conference. 10 to 2. For registration, click here.
- The 29th annual Thomas Hayden Chemistry Demo Show is tentatively scheduled for Thursday Jan 7, 2027. For more information and to participate, contact Prof. Pokay Ma (Pokay.Ma@qc.cuny.edu).