The Graduate Program in Chemistry currently has its areas of activity divided into seven lines of research, detailed below:
Line 1 involves two main routes of scientific investigation: 1st – the chemical study of Brazilian plants (phytochemistry) and apicile bio-products; 1b – evaluation of biological activities (including antioxidant activity, total phenolics) of isolated substances or extracts from different parts of living organisms. Such activities are developed through the use of isolation techniques (adsorption and partition chromatographies, including HPLC, DAD and GC / MS) and structural characterization of isolated fixed and volatile organic components (or possibly analysis of mixtures using GC / MS and dereplication techniques) through the application of UV, IV, 1D and 2D 1H and 13C NMR spectrometric methods, low and high resolution MS (HRESIMS), CD and DOR, involving the original substances and their derivatives when necessary.
The Surface Plasmonic Resonance Band of Metal Nanoparticles: Power Generation and Application in Catalysis; Photostability and Phototoxicity of Drugs and Analogs Derived from Quinones; Study of the Interaction between Proteins and Molecules of Biological Interest Using Spectroscopic Methods and Molecular Modeling.
Mechanisms related to the production of metabolites under different environmental and nutritional conditions and through gene manipulation and its application in the agricultural area.
This research line is focused in the study and discovery of compounds with biological activities, including synthetic and natural products. The biological activities searched for are mainlly related to human health, including neglected tropical diseases, and agriculture. Some projects related to this research line are:
Study of the anticholinesterase activity of natural and synthetic products;
Molecular modeling of bioactive compounds;
Chemistry of fluorescent compounds in the scope of Medicinal and Biological Chemistry;
Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry;
Medicinal Chemistry;
Medicinal Chemistry of natural products and derivatives applied to diseases of socioeconomic impact in the State of Rio de Janeiro;
Use of abundant natural products in the planning of new drug candidates.
In this line of research, computational tools are used for theoretical approaches to chemical systems with point and spatial symmetries. Among the formalisms used, there are the ab initio and density functional theory methods. Structural, conformational and electronic aspects are studied, as well as kinetic and thermodynamic properties. In particular, the following can be highlighted: 1) Evaluation of mono- and disaccharide conformations for systems in aqueous solution; 2) Species adsorption and kinetics of loop reform reactions that use metal oxides as a catalyst; 3) Study of reaction paths and calculation of speed coefficients for specific reactions, of interest in Atmospheric Chemistry, Combustion Chemistry, Astrochemistry and other relevant technological processes; 4) Studies of kinetic models for the evaluation of the combustion profile of chemical substances and candidate mixtures for fuels and analysis of the need for mutual adaptation of internal combustion engines for the best use of the generated energy; 5) Evaluation of property-structure relationships in organic two-dimensional semiconductors; 6) Mechanistic study of chemical oxidations in carbon nanotubes.
The line of research, which fits in the context of both basic and applied science, seeks to simulate, synthesize and evaluate properties of new materials of an organic and inorganic nature. Among the systems of interest, are composed of representative elements and transition metals, mainly in condensed phases. The projects currently included in this line relate to the study of anti-corrosion and sequestering systems of H2S in high salinity environments, gas separation, synthesis of new multifunctional magnetic materials, slow release systems based on double lamellar hydroxides, and improvement of catalytic systems for the production of hydrogen fuel, by means of organic matter.
Line designed for the development, validation and application of analysis methodologies for a wide range of matrices. Still within analytical chemistry, we have the quality control of samples, forensic analysis, analysis in biological matrices and environmental chemistry, including qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the analyte of interest.