In memory of Professor F. Sherwood Rowland 1927 - 2012
UC Irvine founding professor F. Sherwood Rowland, who patiently endured years of criticism and then won a Nobel Prize for showing that chlorofluorocarbons could destroy the Earth’s ozone layer, died Sat., March 10 at his home in Corona del Mar. He was 84. Mrs. Rowland asks that in lieu of flowers a donation be made to the F. Sherwood Rowland Chair and Graduate Fellowship Fund of the UC Irvine Department of Chemistry.
http://ps.uci.edu/content/celebrating-curiosity-and-finest-spirit-science
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Chemists discover ozone-boosting reaction
AirUCI is an Environmental Molecular Sciences Institute funded by the National Science Foundation. Director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts and colleagues found new chemistry that increases ozone formation, missing from existing models of choking smog.
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Going for gold
Gold nanowires can activate a credit card or launch a missile. Ervin Meneses, a 17-year old summer intern, grows gold-coated filaments 1,000th the width of a human hair. 
http://ps.uci.edu/news/135
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Imaging the inner workings of single molecules
Professor Ara Apkarian and colleagues are attempting to take time-lapse images of single molecules. His team was awarded $20 million from the National Science Foundation.  UC Irvine scientists hope to make the first ever real-time videos of single molecules in action - a feat that has so far proved elusive, because the size and time scales are so small.
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Message from Chair Scott D. Rychnovsky

Welcome to the UCI Department of Chemistry! Located in sunny Orange County, just minutes from the beautiful beaches of Southern California, our department is one of the nation's largest producers of graduates with B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry. We have a commitment to excellence in research and instruction, and our faculty members have won numerous awards. Our research programs range from investigating the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere to visualizing individual molecules.  Our friendly and collegial environment provides an excellent climate for research students to pursue their studies. 

Seminars and Events

Research Highlights

self healing polymers
In a recent paper in Nature Chemistry, the Guan lab reports a multiphase design of stiff polymers that can repair themselves. 
Quantum Mechanics
In a recent Physical Review Letter, grad Zenghui Yang created a new mathematical procedure for studying the effects of cusps in quantum mechanics....