Thomas S. Hughes

My Professional Experience

Current Research

Synthesis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon architectures, including graphene ribbons, single-walled carbon nanobelts, substituted acenes.  Synthesis and supramolecular chemistry of phenylene macrocycles.  Development of novel cycloaromatization reactions.

Articles & Book Reviews

• A simple lattice projection method for estimating conformer strain energies using diamond or Lonsdaleite lattices to identify atomistic steric interactions and dihedral strain
  Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry
  2022
• Synthesis and Photophysical Properties of Biphenyl and Terphenyl Arylene-​Ethynylene Macrocycles
  Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 79
  2014
• Arylene Imine Macrocycles of C3h and C3 Symmetry from Reductive Imination of Nitroformylarenes (Organic Letters)
  Organic Letters
  2008
• Predicting the UV-VIS Spectra of Tetraarylcyclopentadienones: Using DFT Molecular Orbital Energies to Model Electronic Transitions (Journal of Organic Chemistry)
  Journal of Organic Chemistry
  2008
• A Facile, One-Pot Procedure for Forming Diarylimines from Nitroarenes and Benzaldehydes (Synlett)
  Synlett
  2007
• Hydrocarbon links in an octet truss (Journal of Mathematical Chemistry)
  Journal of Mathematical Chemistry
  2007
• Synthesis of Heterosubstituted Hexaarylbenzenes via Asymmetric Carbonylative Couplings of Benzyl Halides (Organic Letters)
  Organic Letters
  2007
• Synthesis of poly(para-phenylene)(2-isocyano-2-tosylpropane-1,3-diyl), poly(para-phenylene)(2-oxopropane-1,3-diyl) and oligo(cyclopentadienones) via carbonylative coupling of ±,±'-dibromoxylene
  Chem. Commun.
  2007
• Mechanistic Studies on the Cyclization of (Z)-1,2,4-Heptatrien-6-yne in Methanol: a Possible Non-Adiabatic Thermal Reaction
  Journal of the American Chemical Society
  2005
• Foldamers as Dynamic Receptors: Probing the Mechanism of Molecular Association between Helical Oligomers and Rodlike Ligands (Angewandte Chemie, International Edition)
  Angewandte Chemie, International Edition
  2002
• A Field guide to Foldamers (Chemical Reviews)
  Chemical Reviews
  2001
• Parallel mechanisms for the cycloaromatization of enyne allene (Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions I)
  Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 2
  1999
• Synthesis and Characterization of Oligocyclosiloxanes via the Hydrosilation of Vinylsilanes and Vinylsiloxanes with Heptamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry)
  Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry
  1993

Presentations

• Aggregation and photophysics of cyclooligo(3,​3'-​para-​terphenylene ethynylene) and cyclooligo(3,​3'-​biphenylene ethynylene) armchair carbon nanobelt precursors
  2016
  252nd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Mechanistic pathways to PAHs: Novel cycloaromatization of ortho-​benzoyl enediynes to give benzo[a]​fluoren-​11-​ones via exo-​cyclizations at low temperatures
  2016
  252nd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• ORGN 151: Synthesis of a C3 symmetric cyclooligo(3,3'-para-terphenylene ethynylene) as a precursor of a [9,9] armchair carbon nanobelt
  August, 2015
  250th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, Boston, Massachusetts
• ORGN 188: Mechanistic studies of a novel low-temperature cycloaromatization of o-benzoyl enediynes
  August, 2015
  250th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, Boston, Massachusetts
• Molecular origami: Experimental and theoretical investigation of Diels-Alder cycloadditions of ethyne moieties in cyclooligo(phenylene ethynylene)s to give cyclooligo(p-phenylene)s
  April, 2015
  Eastern New York ACS Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Molecular origami: Experimental and theoretical investigation of Diels-Alder cycloadditions of ethyne moieties in cyclooligo(phenylene ethynylene)s to give cyclooligo(p-phenylene)s
  August, 2014
  248 American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, San Fransisco, California
• Molecular origami: Folding phenylene ethynylene macrocycles into nanotube segments via cycloadditions
  September, 2013
  246th American Chemical Society Meeting, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Synthesis of Shape-Persistent Phenylene Ethynylene Macrocycles as Precursors of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
  September, 2013
  Upstate NY Undergraduate Research Conference, Canton, New York
• Synthesis and supramolecular aggregation of a C3 symmetric terphenylene ethynylene macrocycle: Toward carbon nanotubes via molecular origami
  April, 2013
  Eastern New York Section of the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Synthesis and supramolecular aggregation of a C3 symmetric terphenylene ethynylene macrocycle: Toward carbon nanotubes via molecular origami
  April, 2013
  SUNY Adirondack Research Symposium, Queensbury, New York
• Low temperature copper-catalyzed formal Bergman cycloaromatizations of bis(2-arylethynyl)benzenes
  2012
  243rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, San Diego, California
• Synthesis of cyclotri(3,3'-para-terphenyldiyl ethynylene), a novel shape-persistant macrocyclic carbon-single wall nanotube precursor
  2012
  243rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, San Diego, California
• Synthesis of cyclotri(3,3'-para-terphenyldiyl ethynylene), a novel shape-persistant macrocyclic carbon-single wall nanotube precursor
  2012
  Eastern New York Section of the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Photophysics and Aggregation Behavior of Alkyl-substituted Phenylene Ethynylene Macrocycles
  2011
  Eastern New York Section of the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Synthesis of cyclotri(3,3'-para-terphenyldiyl ethynylene), a novel shape-persistent macrocyclic carbon single-wall nanotube precursor
  2011
  Skidmore College Undergraduate Research Symposium, Saratoga Springs, New York
• Departmental Seminar
  2009
  Colby College, Waterville, Maine
• Carbon nanotube segments via elaboration of planar phenylene macrocycles
  2008
  236th ACS National Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Novel Substituted Pentacenequinones and Pentacenes Via Cava Reactions
  2008
  Northeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, South Burlington, Vermont
• Substituted Phenylene Ethynylene Macrocycles: Precursors of Carbon Nanotubes
  2008
  Northeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, South Burlington, Vermont
• Synthesis of phenylene-ethynylene and phenylene-imine macrocycles: Precursors for organic nanotubes
  2008
  236th ACS National Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Measurement and calculation of optical transitions in substituted tetraarylcyclopentadienones
  2007
  234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts
• Novel copper-mediated cycloaromatization of electron-poor diarylethynylbenzenes to form benzo[a]fluoren-11-ones
  2007
  234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts
• Synthesis and photophysics of a terphenylene-ethynylene macrocycle
  2007
  234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts
• Aggregation and Host-Guest chemistry of arylene-imine macrocycles
  2006
  232nd ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Fransisco, California
• Efficient synthesis of an ortho-phenylene-para-phenylene-imine macrocycle' Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society 230: 451-ORGN, Washington
  2005
  230th ACS National Meeting, Washington, District of Columbia
• Synthesis of Heterofunctionalized Hexaarylbenzenes
  2005
  Northeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Fairfield, Connecticut