A Day in the Life: Summer Research at F&M
Beyond the Mat: James Conway ’25 Balances ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôº & Athletics
B. S., St. Lawrence University
Ph.D., University of Illinois
We use organic synthesis to build molecules for practical purposes. Research projects involve:
Research Collaborations:
Nucleic Acid Probes
History of Organic Chemistry
Brewer, S. H.; Fenlon E. E. Investigating Protein and RNA Structure and Dynamics with Vibrational Reporters. National Institutes of Health. National Institute of General Medical Sciences: Academic Research Enhancement Award, June 2019 through June 2023. $425,256.
National Institute of Health R01 Award (R01GM051501-18A1) to Alexander MacKerell (PI, University of Maryland, Baltimore). Subaward to F&M (Edward Fenlon, Scott Brewer), 7/1/17-6/30/19.
NIH AREA grant - "Investigating Protein Hydration and Structure with Azide Probes." 2014 to 2017. $272,300.
NIH grant - "Development and Application of Multi-Spectroscopic, Site-Specific (MS3) Probes of Nucleic Acid Structure." June 2010 through May 2013. $195,895.
(Undergraduate student coauthor are in bold.)
Hassani, M.; Mallon, C. J.; Monzy, J. N.; Schmitz, A. J.; Brewer, S. H.; Fenlon, E.E.; Tucker, M. J. Inhibition of Vibrational Energy Flow Within an Aromatic Scaffold via Heavy Atom Effect. Journal of Chemical Physics, 2023, 158, 224201.
Lee, B. L.; Papoutsis, B. M.; Wong, N. Y.; Piacentini, J.; Kearney, C.; Huggins, N. A.; Cruz, N.; Ng, T. T.; Hao, K. H.; Kramer, J. S.; Fenlon, E. E.; Nerenberg, P. S.; Phillips-Piro, C. M.; Brewer, S. H. Unraveling Complex Local Protein Environments with 4-Cyano-L-phenylalanine. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2022, 126, 8957-8969.
Edward E. Fenlon Double, double trefoil and trouble, Nature Synth. 2022, 1, 586-587.
Margolis, E. A.; Keyes, R. J.; Lockey, S. D., IV; Fenlon, E. E.; Design and Synthesis of a Bis-macrocyclic Host and Guests as Building Blocks for Small Molecular Knots. Beilstein J. Org. Chem., 2020, 16, 2314-2321.
Chalyavi, F.; Schmitz, A.; Fetto, N. R.; Tucker, M. J.; Brewer, S.; Fenlon, E. E. Extending the Vibrational Lifetime of Azides with Heavy Atoms. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phs., 2020, 22, 18007-18013.
Chalyavi, F.; Adeyiga, O.; Weiner, J.; Monzy, J.; Schmitz, A.; Nguyen, J.; Fenlon, E. E.; Brewer, S.; Odoh, S.; Tucker, M. J. 2D-IR Studies of Cyanamide (NCN) as a Spectroscopic Reporter of Dynamics in Biomolecules: Uncovering the Origin of Mysterious Peaks. Journal of Chemical Physics, 2020, 152, 074201.
Schmitz, A. J.; Pandey, H. D.; Chalyavi, F.; Shi, T.; Fenlon, E. E.; Brewer, S. H.; Leitner, D. M.; Tucker, M. J. Tuning Molecular Vibrational Energy Flow within an Aromatic Scaffold via Anharmonic Coupling. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2019, 123, 10571-10581.
Luo, M.; Eaton, C. N.; Hess, K. R.; Phillips-Piro, C. M.; Brewer, S. H.; Fenlon, E. E. Paired Spectroscopic and Crystallographic Studies of Proteases. Chemistry Select, 2019, 4, 9836-9843.
Schmitz, A. J.; Hogle, D. G.; Gai, X. S.; Fenlon, E. E.; Brewer, S. H.; Tucker, M. J. Two-Dimensional Infrared Study of Vibrational Coupling between Azide and Nitrile Reporters in a RNA Nucleoside. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2016, 120, 9387-9394.
Levin, D. E.; Schmitz, A. J.; Hines, S. H.; Hines, K. J.; Tucker, M. J.; Brewer, S. H.; Fenlon, E. E. Synthesis and Evaluation of the Sensitivity and Vibrational Lifetimes of Thiocyanate and Selenocyanate Infrared Reporters. RSC Advances 2016, 6, 36231-36237.
Tookmanian, E. M.; Philips-Piro, C. M.; Fenlon, E. E.; Brewer, S. H. Azidoethoxyphenylalanine as a Vibrational Reporter and Click Chemistry Partner in Proteins. Chem. Eur. J. 2015, 21, 19096-19103.
Tookmanian, E. M.; Fenlon, E. E.; Brewer, S. H. Synthesis and protein incorporation of azido-modified unnatural amino acids. RSC Advances 2015, 5, 1274-1281.
Fenlon, E. E.; Myers, B. J. Profiles in Chemistry: A Historical Perspective on the National Organic Symposium, Journal of Organic Chemistry 2013, 78, 5817-5831.
Lipkin, J.S.; Song, R.; Fenlon, E.E.; Brewer, S.H. Modulating Accidental Fermi Resonance: What a Difference a Neutron Makes. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2011, 2, 1672-1676.
Gai, X.S.; Coutifaris, B.A.; Brewer, S.H.; Fenlon, E.E. A Direct Comparison of Azide and Nitrile Vibrational Probes. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2011, 13, 5926-5930.
Tucker, M.J.; Gai, X.S.; Fenlon, E.E.; Brewer, S.H.; Hochstrasser, R.M. 2D IR Photon Echo of Azido-Probes for Biomolecular Dynamics.Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2011, 13, 2237-2241.
Gillies, A.T.; Gai, X.S.; Buckwalter, B.L.; Fenlon, E.E.; Brewer, S.H. 15N NMR Studies of a Nitrile-Modified Nucleoside. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2010, 114, 17136-17141.
Fenlon, E.E. Tying Up Some Loose Ends. Nat. Chem. 2010, 2, 156-157.
Gai, X.S.; Brewer, S.H.; Fenlon, E.E. A Sensitive Multispectroscopic Probe for Nucleic Acids. J. Phys. Chem. B 2010, 113, 7958-7966.
Watson, M. D.; Gai, X. S.; Gillies, A. T.; Brewer, S. H.; Fenlon, E. E. A Vibrational Probe for Local Nucleic Acid Environments: 5-Cyano-2-deoxyuridine. J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 13188-13192.
Fenlon, E. E. Open Problems in Chemical Topology. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2008, 5023-5035.
Fenlon, E. E.; Ito, B. R. The Thread & Cut Method: Syntheses of Molecular Knot Precursors. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2008, 3065-3068.
Silverman, L. N.; Pitzer, M. E.; Ankomah, P. O.; Boxer, S. C.; Fenlon, E. E.. Vibrational Stark Effect Probes for Nucleic Acids. J. Phys. Chem. B 2007 111, 11611-11613.
Chem 211: Organic Chemistry I: Structure and Function of Carbon-Containing Compounds, Lecture & Lab
Chem 212: Organic Chemistry II: Reactivity and Synthesis of Organic Molecules, Lecture & Lab
Chem 323 - Medicinal Chemistry
​CNX 230 - Mars & Venus on the Pill
A Day in the Life: Summer Research at F&M
Beyond the Mat: James Conway ’25 Balances ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôº & Athletics