Welcome | Blank Research Group in Chemistry

Welcome to the Blank Research Group in the Chemistry Department at the University of Minnesota.

Our research group investigates a variety of dynamic events in condensed media. The investigations range from basic chemical reaction dynamics in solution to energy and charge transfer dynamics in new materials with targets including applications in solar energy conversion. Our primary experimental tools are nonlinear time domain spectroscopies and this includes new methods developed in our laboratory. Computational tools such as time dependent density functional methods and molecular dynamics simulations are used to complement the experiments and aid in the interpretation of our data.

Recent news and publications

	Michael wins Department Chili Cookoff
	Meghan Knudtzon wins DOE Award
	Michael Hodny Named Head TA
	Graduate Student Rachel Swedin wins Excellence Fellowship
	Preparation of Viscosity-Sensitive Isoxazoline/Isoxazolyl-Based Molecular Rotors and Directly Linked BODIPY−Fulleroisoxazoline from the Stable meso-(Nitrile Oxide)-Substituted BODIPY	Zatsikha, Y.V; Didukh, N.O.; Swedin, R.K.; Yakubovskyi, V.P.; Blesener, T.S.; Healy, A.T.; Herbert, D.E.; Blank, D.A.; Nemykin, V.N.; Kovtun, Y.P. Organic Letters, 2019, 21, 5713-5718.
	Synthesis, Characterization, and Electron‐Transfer Properties of Ferrocene–BODIPY–Fullerene Near‐Infrared‐Absorbing Triads: Are Catecholopyrrolidine‐Linked Fullerenes a Good Architecture to Facilitate Electron‐Transfer?	Zatsikha, Y.V.; Swedin, R.K.; Healy, A.T.; Goff, P.C.; Didukh, N.O.; Blesener, T.S.; Kayser, M.; Kotvun, Y.P.; Blank, D.A.; Nemykin, V.N. Chem. Eur. J., 2019, 25, 8401-8414.
	Rachel Swedin Wins Paul and Gerda Gassman Award
	Effect of extending conjugation via thiophene-based oligomers on the excited state electron transfer rates to ZnO nanocrystals	Oehrlein, A.N.; Sanchez-Diaz, A.; Goff, P.C.; Planells, M.; Robertson, N.; Blank, D.A.; Gladfelter, W.L. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 6991-6998.
	Rapid Excited-State Deactivation of BODIPY Derivatives by a Boron-Bound Catechol	Swedin, R.K.; Zatsikha, Y.V. Healy, A.T.; Didukh, N.O.; Blesener, T.S.; Fathi-Rasekh, M.; Wang, T.; King, A.J.; Nemykin, V.N.; Blank, D.A. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2019, 10, 1828–1832.
	Ultrafast electron-transfer in a fully conjugated coumarin-ferrocene donor-acceptor dyads	King, A.J.; Zatisikha, Y.V.; Blessener, T.; Dalbec, F.; Goff, P.C.; Kayser, M.; Blank, D.A.; Kovtun, Y.P.; Nemykin, V.N. Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 2019.