Welcome to the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Fall 2023 Departmental Pre-Registration Week is Mar 20 to 26. Come in person to RE206 8:30 am to 12:30 pm or fill out the form available in the department office and drop it in the drop box after 12:30 pm during this week. Click here for tentative schedule for Fall 2023 chem classes
You can also register for summer 2023 courses. Click here for Summer 2023 Tentative Schedule Link
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 BA, BA/MA and MA 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 MA Program
The Chemistry MA 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
- Yang, W.; Liu, X; Leung, P.-H.; Li, Y.; Yang, D.; Chen, Y. “Iron-Mediated Ring-Opening and Rearrangement Cascade Synthesis of Polysubstituted Pyrroles from 4-Alkenylisoxazoles” Adv. Synth. Catal. 2020
- Liu, X.; Hong, D.; Sapir, N. G.; Yang, W.; Hersh, W. H.; Leung, P.-H.; Yang, D.; Chen, Y. “Iron- Catalyzed Transfer Hydrogenation in Aged N- Methyl- 2- pyrrolidone: Reductive Ring- Opening of 3, 5- Disubstituted Isoxazoles and Isoxazolines” J. Org. Chem.2019
- Yang, W.; Chen, Y.; Yao, Y.; Lin, Q.; Yang, D.“Iron-Promoted Reductive Ring- Opening and Isomerization Reactions of C4- Alkynylisoxazoles Leading to 2- Alkynylenaminones and Polysubstituted Furans” Adv. Synth. Catal. 2019
- Li, X.-R.; Chen, H. J.; Wang, W.; Ma, M.; Chen, Y.; Li, Y.; Pullarkat, S. A.; Leung, P.-H. “Palladacycle promoted asymmetric hydrophosphination of α,β-unsaturated sulfonylfluorides” J. Organomet. Chem. 2019, 899, 120912.
- Wen Yang, Yu Chen, Yongqi Yao, Xin Yang, Qifu Lin, and Dingqiao Yang “ICl/AgNO3 Co-Catalyzed Radical Oxidation of Diaryl- and Alkylarylalkynes into 1,2-Diketones” J. Org. Chem. 2019
- Xi‐Rui Li, Yu Chen, Benjamin Piaoxiang Pang, Jaeyu Tan, Yongxin Li, Sumod A. Pullarkat, Pak‐Hing Leung “Efficient Synthesis of Malonate Functionalized Chiral Phosphapalladacycles and their Catalytic Evaluation in Asymmetric Hydrophosphination of Chalcone” Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2018, 4385–90.
- Xiaochen Liu, Dongsub Hong, Zhigang Shea, William H.Hersh, Barney Yoo, Yu Chen “Complementary regioselective synthesis of 3,5-disubstituted isoxazoles from ynones” Tetrahedron 2018, 74, 6593-6606.
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
- Seogjoo J. Jang “Fourth order expressions for the electronic absorption lineshape of molecular excitons” Journal of Chemical Physics 151, 044110 (2019).
- Marta Kowalczyk, Ning Chen, Seogjoo J. Jang “Comparative Computational Study of Electronic Excitations of Neutral and Charged Small Oligothiophenes and Their Extrapolations Based on Simple Models” ACS Omega 2019, 4, 5758-5767.
- Seogjoo J. Jang “Effects of Donor-Acceptor Quantum Coherence and Non-Markovian Bath on the Distance Dependence of Resonance Energy” J. Phys. Chem. C 2019, 123, 5767-5775.
- Seogjoo J. Jang, Benedetta Mennucci “Delocalized excitons in natural light-harvesting complexes” Reviews of Modern Physics 2018, 90, 035003.
- Ji Hyun Bak, Seogjoo J. Jang, Changbong Hyeon “Implications for human odor sensing revealed from the statistics of odorant-receptor interactions,” PLOS Computational Biology 2018, 14(5): e1006175.
- Seogjoo J. Jang “Robust and Fragile Quantum Effects in the the Transfer Kinetics of Delocalized Excitons between B850 Units of LH2 Complexes” J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2018, 9 (22), pp 6576–6583.
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.
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.
Rotenberg Group
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.
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
Chair: Dr. Jianbo Liu
Deputy Chair: Dr. Sanjai Pathak
Secretary: Ms. Elizabeth L. Zoiner
Office Assistant: Ms. Kelly Barth
Remsen 206
Tel: 718-997-4100, 4482
Email: kelly.barth@qc.cuny.edu
Advising Hours
Advising Hours: In-person advising has resumed. Students can choose in-person or zoom advising on all days of the work week during the semester. Email kelly.barth@qc.cuny.edu to schedule appointment with advisor.
Free Chemistry tutoring: Chemistry Honor Society and Queens College Learning Commons provide free tutoring services for chemistry students. Click here for Chem Honor Society Tutoring Information.
Department News and Events
Upcoming Events:
- Department Seminar
Seminars are in-person at 11:15 am RE 105
March 20: “Fundamental Insights into Therapeutic Peptides Design and Delivery” Prof. Baofu Qiao, Baruch College
Click here for complete Spring 2023 seminar schedule. - Other Events
Fifth Annual Reimagining Science and Technology Education Conference at Queens College is on APRIL 28, 2023. This program is for aspiring teachers, current high school teachers, students and administrators. Click here for more information and registration.
The 25th annual Thomas Hayden Chemistry Demo Show is tentativehttp://SciTechConference_Registration2023.pdfly scheduled for Jan 4, 2024. This show is open for local area high school students interested in science. If you are participating with your high school class, contact Prof. Pokay Ma (Pokay.Ma@qc.cuny.edu).