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Debbie Mohler Associate Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 540.568.8803 mohlerdl@jmu.edu Research Page

Education, Honors, Awards

• Associate Professor, James Madison University (2008-present)
• Assistant Professor, James Madison University (2005-2008)
• Assistant Professor, Emory University (1999-2005)
• Assistant Professor, West Virginia University (1995-1999)
• Postdoctoral Associate, Stanford University (1993-1995)
• Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley (1992)
• B.S., The College of William and Mary in Virginia (1985)
• National Science Foundation CAREER Award (1998-2002)
• Phi Beta Kappa Honoree: Honor bestowed upon a faculty member by Emory undergraduate Phi Beta Kappa inductees (2004)
• Mortarboard Honor Society Honoree: most influential faculty member to an inductee (2003)
• Nominated for a Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence, sponsored by the Emory Student Government Association and the Office of Residence Life (2002)
• Nominated for the Anna Louise Hoffman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Research (1988)
• B.S. Honors in Chemistry (1985)

Research Interests

• The synthesis of photoactive metal complexes for interfacial electron transfer to nanoparticles
• Footprinting approaches to chromatin structure

Research Description

Interfacial electron transfer (ET) from molecular adsorbates and metal or semiconductor nanoparticles/thin films is an essential process in applications including photocatalysis, solar energy conversion, and photography. The emerging field of heterogeneous photocatalysis is of particular interest for its potential to employ “green” methods in functionalizing petroleum-derived materials and in developing new synthetic methods. Because the rate of ET is often a key determinant of efficiency in these systems, the understanding of this process is essential for their design. Therefore, our research entails the systematic design, synthesis, and photoinduced interfacial ET studies of a series of chlorotricarbonylrhenium complexes of substituted bipyridine ligands. The substitution patterns of these ligands allow us to probe such factors as distance from the dye to the surface, orbital overlap between the dye and the surface, and the relative energies of the two components.

Selected Recent Publications

• Huang, J.; Stockwell, D.; Huang, Z.; Mohler,  D. L.; Lian, T. “Photoinduced Ultrafast Electron Transfer from CdSe Quantum Dots to Re-bipyridyl Complexes,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008,  130,  5632-5633. 
• Mohler, D. L.; Downs, J. R.; Coonce, J. G.; Mirandi, J. L.; Riera, L.; Reira, V.; Pérez, J. “Dual Mechanisms of DNA Damage by MoX(h3-allyl)(CO)2(phen) Complexes,” J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 8755-8759.
• Maddox, M. P. III; Colton, C. M., Patterson, M. J.; Mohler, D. L. “Dissociation of DNA-Histone Assemblies Resulting from Protein Side-Chain Functionalization,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 11328-11329.
• Shell, T. A.; Glass, J., Mackey, M. A.; Layman, K. A.; Mohler, D. L., “Formal DNA Hydrolysis by Mono- and Dinuclear Iron Complexes” Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 8120-8122.
• She, C.; Guo, J.; Irle, S.; Morokuma, K.; Mohler, D. L.; Zabri, H.; Odobel, F.; Youm, K.-T.; Liu, F.; Hupp, J. T.; Lian, T., "Comparison of Interfacial Electron Transfer through Carboxylate and Phosphonate Anchoring Groups, " J. Phys. Chem. A 2007, 111, 6832-6842.
• Mohler, D. L.; Downs, J. R.; Hurley-Predecki, A. L.; Sallman, J. R.; Gannett, P. M.; Shi, X., “DNA Cleavage by the Photolysis of Cyclopentadienyl Metal Complexes: Mechanistic Studies and Sequence Selectivity of Strand Scission by CpW(CO)3CH3,” J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 9093-9102 (featured on journal cover).
• She, C.; Anderson, N. A.; Guo, J.; Liu, F.; Goh, W-H.; Chen, D.; Mohler, D. L.; Tian, Z.-Q.; Hupp, J. T.; Lian, T., “pH-Dependent Electron Transfer from Molecules to Metal Oxide Nanocrystalline Thin Films, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2005, 109, 19345-19355.
• Ultrafast Interfacial Electron Transfer to nanocrystalline SnO2 Thin Films,” J. Phys. Chem. B, 2003, 107, 14231.
• Mohler, D. L.; Chen, D.; Reddy, V. B., "A Facile Synthesis of Homologous 4,4'-Dialkanoic Acid Substituted 2,2'-Bipyridines,"  Synthesis 2002, 745.

Last Modified: 07/21/08