Department of Chemistry – UNC Chapel Hill Chemistry Department

Department News

Study: Robotic Automation, AI Will Accelerate Progress in Science Laboratories

Left to right, Dr. Jim Cahoon, chair of the Department of Chemistry; Dr. Ron Alterovitz, Lawrence Grossberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Science; and Angelos Angelopoulos, a fourth-year graduate student in Dr. Alterovitz’s lab, stand beside their AI-driven mobile robot for automating chemistry lab tasks. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Science laboratories across disciplines are on the verge of a sweeping transformation as robotic automation and AI lead to faster and more precise experiments that unlock breakthroughs in fields like health, energy and electronics, according to UNC-Chapel Hill researchers

Yosuke Kanai Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society

Fellowship is a distinct honor signifying recognition by one’s professional peers.

Researchers Achieve Breakthrough in Understanding Complex Systems in Thermodynamics

Researchers have made an important advance in understanding how complex systems behave, which could have wide-reaching implications in fields like thermodynamics, chemistry and biophysics.

Creativity Hubs Project Aims to Position UNC as Leader in Solid-State Battery Technology

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is embarking on a groundbreaking project that aims to position the school and State of North Carolina as leaders in lithium-ion battery research and development.

Breakthrough Achieved in Production of Key Component of Solar Technology

UNC researchers, led by Wei You and Xiaowei Zhong, have made a significant breakthrough in the production of electronic acceptors, a key component of organic solar cells to make solar energy more accessible and affordable

Exploring Chemical Methods to Overcome Renewable Energy’s Biggest Challenge

With a team of dedicated graduate and undergraduate students, Jackson’s lab is making significant strides in developing advanced electrode materials that can efficiently store energy generated from solar and wind sources.

Researchers Design Enzyme-Mimicking Polymers Promising Greener Industrial Practices

Researchers in the Knight Group have unveiled significant advancements in the design and functionality of synthetic polymer catalysts, which could have major implications for various industrial chemical processes.

Using AI, Researchers Launch Database to Predict Cancer DNA Anomalies

3d rendered medically accurate illustration of a cancer cell

UNC-Chapel Hill researchers have launched a database called CytoCellDB to address a significant gap in cancer research, particularly focusing on extrachromosomal DNA.

Research

Fluorescence shadow imaging of Hypsibius exemplaris reveals morphological differences between sucrose- and CaCl2-induced osmobiotes

Herein, an approach for discriminating between tardigrade morphological states is developed and utilized to compare sucrose- and CaCl2-induced tuns, using the model species Hypsibius exemplaris.

Architectural Editing of Polyesters and Polyurethanes via Palladium(II)-Catalyzed [3,3]-Sigmatropic Oxo-Rearrangements

Herein, we disclose a backbone rearrangement approach to tune the short-chain branching of polymers.

Reductive Dynamic and Static Excited State Quenching of a Homoleptic Ruthenium Complex Bearing Aldehyde Groups

A new homoleptic Ru polypyridyl complex bearing two aldehyde groups on each bipyridine ligand, [Ru(dab)3](PF6)2, where dab is 4,4′-dicarbaldehyde-2,2′-bipyridine, was synthesized, characterized, and utilized for iodide photo-oxidation studies.

Valence can control the nonexponential viscoelastic relaxation of multivalent reversible gels

Here, we propose a model where the relaxation of polymer gels in the dilute regime originates from elementary events in which the bonds connecting two neighboring cross-linkers all disconnect.