Andrew Grant

Associate Professor
Office
Barclay 117
Office hours
By appointment

Biography

Discipline:

  • Organic Chemistry
  • Bioorganic Chemistry

 Research Area:

  • Mechanism-of-action of biotin, green organic synthesis, synthesis of superconducting organic polymers

Publications

"A Convenient One-step Synthesis of 1,4-Dithiin" Andrew S. Grant, Sara Faraji-Dana, Erin Graham, Journal of Sulfur Chemistry, 30(2), 135-136 (2009).

"Synthesis of a 'twisted' transition-state analogue of biotin", A.S. Grant, K. Chaudhary, L. Stewart, A. Peters, S. Delisle and A. Decken, Tetrahedron Letters, 45, 1777-1780 (2004).

"Bromination/Debromination of Cholesterol: A Self-Enquiry Based Lab involving Structure Elucidation, Reaction Mechanism and 1H NMR", A.S. Grant, D. Latimer, J. Chem. Ed. 80, 670-671 (2003).

Education

BSc - Queen's University, Kingston, ON

PhD - University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB

Teaching

Fall 2022

Chem 2111 - Organic Chemistry I

Chem 3131 - Bioorganic

Winter 2023

Chem 3111 - Organic Chemistry II

Chem 3121 - Intermediate Organic Chemistry

Research

Our group is interested in understanding and utilizing 3-dimensional electronic effects. With regard to the enzyme cofactor biotin, we are interested in the possibility that the sulfur atom in ring-B could modulate the reactivity at N1 of the urea as a result of a conformation dependent thru-bond/thru-space interaction; the proper transition-state conformation being accessed as a result of a binding energy-induced movement of atoms. Our studies involve a combination of MO calculations, design and synthesis of biotin analogues, enzyme inhibition and physical organic studies on the synthesized analogues.

Our interest in electronic effects has taken us into the area of conducting organic polymers. We are currently examining the synthesis of novel polymers that have the potential to superconduct at liquid nitrogen temperature.