Alexander Greer

Alexander Greer

 

Professor, Department of Chemistry
The City University of New York, Brooklyn College

Deputy Executive Officer, Department of Chemistry
The Graduate Center, CUNY

Guest Editor: Tetrahedron Symposium-in-Print, Organic Chemistry of Singlet Oxygen; Journal of Sulfur Chemistry Special Issue, Extreme Sulfur Chemistry

Board of Editors: Structural Chemistry and Research Letters in Organic Chemistry

 

CONTACT

 

RESEARCH

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

GROUP MEMBERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTACT

Department of Chemistry
Graduate Center and CUNY
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn, New York 11210

Phone: 718-951-5000 ext. 2830
Fax: 718-951-4607
Email: agreer@brooklyn.cuny.edu

 

 

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

 

Our group is interested in fundamental aspects of organic chemistry.  Factors that control reactions of oxygen and sulfur species are of interest.  We are involved in research of atomic oxygen, singlet molecular oxygen, and other reactive and cytotoxic agents.  Some molecules used in our studies (polysulfanes) exhibit cytotoxic properties that must have taken eons to evolve, formed by marine invertebrate to deter predators.  Our synthetic chemistry aims to create polysulfanes with increased anti-tumor activity over those found in Nature.  Using chemicals synthesized with functionality to initiate cell responses or the modulation of specific cell sensitivity is of interest.  Examining toxicity of other reactive intermediates, such as the toxic electrophilic quinones is also of interest.  Computations are used to try to deepen our understanding of experiments.  We often probe organic mechanisms with computational chemistry; theoretical methods that we use include, ab initio and density functional theory.   Currently, our research is supported by the National Institutes of Health.

 

 

CURRENT GROUP 2008

 

 Dr. David Aebisher (Postdoc), Dr. Laila H. Wazneh-Khalil (visiting scientist), Adaickapillai Mahendran (Ph.D. student), Alvaro Castillo (Ph.D. student), Matibur Zamadar (Ph.D. student), Nikolay Azar (Master’s student), Sarah Celebi (undergraduate student), Wang Chan (undergraduate student), Martine Paulynice (undergraduate student).

 

PUBLICATIONS 2006 - present

[(a) Ph.D. student; (b) MS student; (c) undergraduate student at Brooklyn College]

1.      A. Castillo,(a) J. F. Liebman; A. Greer “Quinones, Monoradicals and Diradicals From 3- and 4-Mercaptocatechol, and 3,4-Bismercaptocatechol:  A Computational Study of a Plausibly Biomimetic Reaction” J. Sulfur Chem. (submitted).

2.      D. Aebisher; N. S. Azar,(b) M. Zamadar;(a) H. D. Gafney; N. Gandra; R. Gao, A. Greer “Singlet Oxygen Chemistry in Water.  A Porous Vycor Glass-Supported Photosensitizer” J. Phys. Chem. B 2008 (in press).

3.      A. T. Frank;(c) N. S. Farina;(b) N. Sawwan;(a) O. R. Wauchope;(c) M. Qi;(b) E. M. Brzostowska;(a) W. Chan;(c) F. W. Grasso; P. Haberfield; A. Greer “Natural Macromolecules Have a Possible Limited Structural Diversity” Molecular Diversity 2008 (in press).

4.      E. M. Greer; D. Aebisher; A. Greer; R. Bentley “Computational Studies of the Tropone Natural Products, Thiotropocin, Tropodithietic acid, and Troposulfenin.  Significance of Thiocarbonyl-enol Tautomerism” J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73, 280-283.

5.      D. Aebisher; E. M. Brzostowska;(a) N. Sawwan;(a) R. Ovalle; A. Greer “Implications for the Existence of a Heptasulfur Linkage in Natural o-Benzopolysulfanes” J. Nat. Prod. 2007, 70, 1492-1494.

6.      A. Greer “Organic Chemistry: Molecular Crosstalk” Nature 2007, 447, 273-274.

7.      E. M. Brzostowska;(a) M. Paulynice;(c) R. Bentley, A. Greer “Planar Chirality Due to a Polysulfur Ring in Natural Pentathiepin Cytotoxins.  Implications of Planar Chirality for Enantiospecific Biosynthesis and Toxicity” Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2007, 20, 1046-1052.  

8.      D. Aebisher; E. M. Brzostowska;(a) M. Adaickapillai;(a) A. Greer “Regioselective (Biomimetic) Synthesis of a Pentasulfane From Ortho-benzoquinone” J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 2951-2955. 

9.      N. Sawwan;(a) A. Greer “Rather Exotic Types of Cyclic Peroxides: Heteroatom Dioxiranes” Chemical Reviews 2007, 107, 3247-3285.

10.    A. T. Frank;(c) A. Adenike;(c) D. Aebisher; A. Greer; R. Gao; J. F. Liebman “Paradigms and Paradoxes: Energetics of the Oxidative Cleavage of Indigo” Struct. Chem. 2007, 18, 71-74.

11.    O. R. Wauchope;(c) S. Shakya;(b) N. Sawwan;(a) J. F. Liebman; A. Greer “Photocleavage of Plasmid DNA by Dibenzothiophene S-oxide Under Anaerobic Conditions” J. Sulfur Chem. 2007, 28, 11-17.

12.    A. Greer; preface. “Organic Chemistry of Singlet Oxygen” [In: Tetrahedron 2006; 62, 10603-10776].

13.    A. Greer “Christopher Foote’s Discovery of the Role of Singlet Oxygen [1O2 (1∆g)] in Photosensitized Oxidation Reactions” Acc. Chem. Res. 2006, 39, 797-804.

14.    A. Greer; O. R. Wauchope;(c) N. S. Farina;(b) P. Haberfield; J. F. Liebman  “Paradigms and Paradoxes:  Mechanisms for Possible Enhanced Biological Activity of Bilaterally Symmetrical Chemicals” Struct. Chem. 2006, 17, 347-350.

15.    N. Sawwan;(a) A. Greer “The Generation of Mono- and Bis-dioxiranes from 2,3-Butanedione” J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 5796-5799. 

16.    N. Gandra, Aaron T. Frank,(c) O. Le Gendre,(a) N. Sawwan,(a) D. Aebisher, J. F. Liebman, K. N. Houk, A. Greer, and  R. Gao  “Possible Singlet Oxygen Generation from the Photolysis of Indigo Dyes in Methanol, DMSO, Water, and Ionic Liquid, 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate” Tetrahedron 2006, 62, 10771-10776.

 

ACADEMIC RECORD

 

 Assistant Professor (1999-2003), Associate Professor (2004-2007), Professor (2008-present) at the Graduate Center and CUNY Brooklyn College.