James Harper
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of Central Florida
United States of America
Biography
EDUCATION Postdoctoral work, Montana State University, 2000–2002 Advisor: Gary A. Strobel (Emeritis Professor of Plant Pathology) Ph.D., Analytical Chemistry, University of Utah, 2000 Thesis advisor: David M. Grant (Distinguished Professor of Chemistry) Dissertation: Analysis of Tensors in Solid-state Terpenes by Magic Angle Turning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Methods M. S., Physical Chemistry, Brigham Young University, 1993 Thesis advisor: Noel Owen (Professor of Chemistry) Thesis: Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Indole Alkaloids from Aspidosperma Cruenta B. S., Chemistry, Brigham Young University. 1986 .
Research Interest
The primary research goal in our laboratory is the NMR characterization of structure in solids that are difficult or impossible to examine by more conventional techniques. The relevance of our methods is, perhaps, best demonstrated by our recent characterization of the complete crystal structure of (+)-catechin, a ubiquitous and extensively studied antioxidant that had defied characterization for nearly a century.1 This NMR work emphasizes 13C and 15N shift tensor measurements and relies on computational chemistry methods to tie these results to structure. A secondary area of emphasis involves the search for novel bioactive fungal products with a special focus on identifying unusual antioxidants.
Publications
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Nigg, J.; Strobel, G.*; Knighton, W. B.; Hilmer, J.; Geary, B.; Riyaz-Ul-Hassan, S.; Harper, J. K.; Valenti, D.; Wang, Y. “Functionalized para-substituted benzenes as 1,8- cineole production modulators in an endophytic Nodulisporium species” Microbiol. 2014, 160, 1772.
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Kalakewich, K.; Iuliucci, R.; Mueller, K. T.; Eloranta, H.; Harper, J. K.* “Monitoring the refinement of crystal structures with 15N solid-state NMR shift tensor data” J. Chem. Phys. 2015, 143, 194702.
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Powell, J.; Kalakewick, K.; Uribe-Romo, F.; Harper, J. K.* “Solid-state NMR and DFT predictions of differences in COOH hydrogen bonding in odd and even numbered n-alkyl fatty acids” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2016, 18, 12541.
