Professor, Department of Chemistry The City University of New York, Brooklyn College Deputy Executive Officer, Department of Chemistry The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2004-2007 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 invertebrates 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 ab initio and density functional theory.   Currently, our research is supported by the National Institutes of Health.
LABORATORY ROTATIONS Techniques to be learned upon doing lab rotations may include: Methods in Photochemistry, Organic Synthesis, and Drug Design; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS) Techniques, Laser Spectroscopy, and Computational Theory.
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.     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. 2.     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. 2008, 29, 445-457. 3.     D. Aebisher, A. Greer; preface. “Extreme Sulfur Chemistry” [In: J. Sulfur Chem. 2008; 29, 241-241]. 4.     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, 112, 1913-1917. 5.     A. Greer and J. F. Liebman “Paradigms and Paradoxes: Energetics of the Oxidative Cleavage of Azo Compounds” Struct. Chem. 2008, in press. 6.     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. 7.     A. Greer “Organic Chemistry: Molecular Crosstalk” Nature 2007, 447, 273-274. 8.     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.   9.     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.  10.   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 2007, 11, 115-118. 11.   N. Sawwan;^(a) A. Greer “Rather Exotic Types of Cyclic Peroxides: Heteroatom Dioxiranes” Chemical Reviews 2007, 107, 3247-3285. 12.   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. 13.   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. 14.   A. Greer; preface. “Organic Chemistry of Singlet Oxygen” [In: Tetrahedron 2006; 62, 10603-10776]. 15.   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. 16.   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. 17.   N. Sawwan;^(a) A. Greer “The Generation of Mono- and Bis-dioxiranes from 2,3-Butanedione” J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 5796-5799.  18.   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. Accompanying website http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/Faculty_Details5.jsp?faculty=576
ACADEMIC RECORD Assistant Professor (1999-2003), Associate Professor (2004-2007), Professor (2008-present) at the Graduate Center and CUNY Brooklyn College.