Helium nanodroplets provide a cold, inert, and optically transparent environment for doping atomic and molecular species. Helium's weak interaction with dopants is minimally perturbing, and facilitates the collection of high-resolution vibrational and rotational spectra. An instrument was designed that facilitates the ionization of dopant molecules using resonant two-photon ionization. Excitation of the molecular ions then occurs using a tunable OPO/OPA infrared laser.

Shock waves travelling through a material generate incredible amounts of pressure and cause irreversible changes in said material. Observing mechanical and chemical changes in an energetic material under shock is of particular interest in the study of detonations. Until recently, most experimental measurements of shock waves and shock induced chemistry have been limited to the nanosecond scale. Ultrafast Dynamic Ellipsometry (UDE) is a single-shot, picosecond scale probe of the transit of a shock through a condensed matter sample.

One of the major challenges facing intravenous nanoparticle administration is the formation of protein coronae on the surface of injected nanoparticles, which prevents them from reaching the target tissue. Biocompatible ionic liquids (ILs) have been shown to have tunable interactions with biomolecules including proteins and are prone to rearrangement on charged surfaces.

Cyclopropanone derivatives have long been regarded as unusable and elusive synthetic intermediates, mainly owing to their prominent ring strain and kinetic instability. In this work, we report the enantioselective synthesis of sulfonylcyclopropanols, shown to be modular and versatile synthetic equivalents of the corresponding cyclopropanone derivatives.

The development of new reactions and catalysts for the oxidative cross-coupling of C-H bonds with C-H, N-H and O-H bonds will be discussed. Strategically, these reactions allow for the synthesis of complex molecules from their constituent components, minimizing the need for functional group activation and manipulation. Specifically, rhodium and iridium catalysts for oxidative allylic C-H functionalization of terminal, di- and trisubstituted olefins will be presented.