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Kalyani receives grant for organometallic chemistry research

By Kyle Schut '13
November 12, 2012

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dipannita Kalyani (seated in center) is working with St. Olaf juniors (from left) Peter Waller, Christine Nervig, Devin Ferguson, Jiayi Wang, and Lydia Wolfe to find more efficient ways to turn the chemical compounds found in oil and natural gas into the components needed for everyday items like fuels and pharmaceuticals. Photo by Thomas Dunning '15

St. Olaf College Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dipannita Kalyani is using a new grant from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund to look for more efficient ways to turn the chemical compounds found in oil and natural gas into the components needed for everyday items like fuels and pharmaceuticals.

Kalyani is currently working with five St. Olaf students on the research, which aims to develop methods for the conversion of carbon-hydrogen bonds to carbon-carbon bonds using transition metal catalysts. Carbon-hydrogen bonds are a major component of oil and natural gas, while carbon-carbon bonds are important components of many everyday compounds such as fuels, pharmaceuticals, and other commodity chemicals.

Developing cost-effective, efficient, and applicable methods for transforming carbon-hydrogen bonds to carbon-carbons bonds presents an important challenge in the field of organic chemistry.

Kalyani looks forward to working with St. Olaf students on this project. "The undergraduates working on the projects associated with this grant learn a variety of state-of-the-art techniques used in organometallic research laboratories," she says.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.