The admission process for graduate studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is about to begin and I have wide open spaces in my lab for people interested in getting a PhD in the field of applied computational chemistry.
The canonical molecular orbital depiction of an electronic transition is often a messy business in terms of a ‘ chemical ‘ interpretation of ‘ which electrons ‘ go from ‘ which occupied orbitals ‘ to ‘ which virtual orbitals ‘. Natural Transition Orbitals provide a more intuitive picture of the orbitals, whether mixed or not, involved in any hole-particle excitation.
As a continuation of our previous work on estimating pKa values from DFT calculations for carboxylic acids, we now present the complementary pKb values for amino groups by the same method, and the coupling of both methodologies for predicting the isoelectric point -pI- values of amino acids as a proof of concept.
We’re always happy at the lab when a student defends their dissertation thesis and now it was the turn of Raúl Márquez-Avilés to do so with flying colors.
Funny enough I was unable to log into my Linux (Ubuntu) session and I realized this might be a more common problem that it seemed. So, if you keep getting redirected to the login screen after typing your correct password over and over (and over and over), there’s no need to panic.
We’re sad to begin this year by saying farewell to Dr. Jacinto Sandoval-Lira who held a postdoc position in our lab for two years with a DGAPA – UNAM scholarship, a very competitive and highly sought-after position here in Mexico.
This time I try delivering a personal video post to close this #IYPT2019 celebrations. I hope you find it interesting. I invite you all to always imitate molecules and react!
It was my distinct pleasure for me to participate in the organization of the latest edition of the Mexican Meeting on Theoretical Physical Chemistry, RMFQT which took place last week here in Toluca. With the help of the School of Chemistry from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México. This year the national committee created a Lifetime Achievement Award for Dr. Annik Vivier, Dr. Carlos Bunge, and Dr. José Luis Gázquez.
Elucidating the pairing of non-hydrogen bonded unnatural base pairs (UBPs) is still a controversial subject due to the lack of specificity in their mutual interactions. Experimentally, NMR is the method of choice but the DNA strand must be affixed on template of sorts such as a polymerase protein. Those discrepancies are well documented in a recent review which cites our previous computational work, both DFT and MD, on UBPs.
I just came back from beautiful Cancun where I attended for the third time the IMRC conference invited by my good friend and awesome collaborator Dr. Eddie López-Honorato, who once again pulled off the organization of a wonderful symposium on materials with environmental applications.
Statistical Mechanics is the bridge between microscopic calculations and thermodynamics of a particle ensemble. By means of calculating a partition function divided in electronic, rotational, translational and vibrational functions, one can calculate all thermodynamic functions required to fully characterize a chemical reaction.