Ronald E. Noftle Professor B.S., 1961, University of New Hampshire Ph.D., 1966, University of Washington (G. H. Cady) Postdoctoral Fellow, 1966-1967, University of Idaho (J. M. Shreeve) Visiting Scientist, 1975-76; U. S. Naval Research Laboratory (W. B. Fox) Reynolds Research Leave, 1986, 1995, University of Southampton, England (D. Pletcher), 2003, Los Alamos National Laboratory (T. J. Meyer, J. Schoonover, D. Dattelbaum)

Mailing Address: Chemistry Department, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109.
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Phone: (336) 758-5520
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Research Interests

Prof. Noftle is interested in the synthesis and characterization of new compounds of the main group elements particularly those containing fluorine and the elements of Groups 14-16. These compounds have a wide range of potential industrial and medical applications including use as charge storage media, solid polymer electrolytes, ion-exchange media, drug-delivery systems, and molecular recognition agents. Modern synthetic methods, electrochemistry, spectroscopy (multi-nuclear NMR, FTIR, GC-MS, and UV-visible), and electron microscopy play arole in the investigation of these materials. Presently our research is focused on two projects.

1. A recent interest is in the synthesis and characterization of heterocyclic derivatives bearing functional groups which can act as ligands for metal ions. The resulting transition metal complexes have applications in electronics, optics and medicine. The focus of the project involves the synthesis of new thiophene monomers with chelating side-chains which, when electrochemically polymerized, can sequester metal ions and act as catalysts or energy-conversion materials. Since some of these compounds are luminescent, they have potential use as biochemical taggants as well.
   
2. Ruthenium and osmium metal complexes are very useful for the study of excited-state energy transfer in systems involving light-emitting polymers. These systems have potential applications in the fabrication of high-intensity, efficient light sources. The synthesis and characterization of novel complexes of these metals containing bipyridyl groups is a primary goal of this research. Such systems are studied by infrared and Raman spectroscopy as well as by electrochemical methods.

A continuing interest is in the characterization of oxidation pathways of biochemically important species by studying their electrochemical properties. This project involves the use of spectroelectrochemical techniques by which the species produced at an electrode surface can be indentified spectroscopically.

Current Research Group:
Ph.D. Students: Jeanette Sellers, S. Jarrett Howell
Undergraduate: Allison Hager

Publications

Synthesis and structural characterization of 3-thienyl alkyl imides, Dai, J.; Day, C. S.; Noftle, R. E. Tetrahedron, 2003, 59, 9389-9397.

An Efficient Method for the Synthesis of 3-Alkylthiophenes Bearing Functional Groups: Imides and Amides, Dai, J.; Sellers, J.L.; Noftle, R. E. Synthetic Metals, 139, 2003, 81-88.

Stoichiometric Preference in Copper-promoted Oxidative DNA Damage by Ochratoxin A. Manderville, R. A.; Calcutt, M. W.; Dai, J.; Park, G.; Gilman, I. G.; Noftle, R. E.; Mohammed, A. K.; Dizdaroglu, M.; Roderiguez, H.; Akman, S. A. J. Inorganic Biochemistry, 2003, 95, 87-96.

Influence of the A-Ring on the Redox and Nuclease Properties of the Prodigiosins: Importance of the Bipyrrole Moiety in Oxidative DNA Cleavage, Melvin, M. S.; Calcutt, M. W.; Noftle, R. E.; Manderville*, R. A. J. Chem Res. Toxicol. 2002, 15, 742-748.

Electrochemical Oxidation of Ochratoxin A: Correlation with 4-Chlorophenol, Calcutt, M. W.; Gilman, I. G.; Noftle*, R. E.; Manderville*, R. A. J. Chem. Res. Toxicol., 2001, 14, 1266-1272.

Characterization and Crystal Structures of Some Fluorinated Imides, Narula, P. M.; Day, C. S.; Odian, M. A.; Pennington, W. T.; Lachgar, A.; Noftle, R. E. Polyhedron, 1999, 18, 1751-1759.

Cleavage of Substituents Upon Oxidative Polymerization of Substituted Thiophenes, Ritter, S. K.; Noftle, R.E. Inorg. Chim. Acta, 1999, 287, 232-237.

Investigation of the Lifetimes of Some Pyrrole Species by Rapid Scan Cyclic Voltammetry and Double Potential Step Techniques, Narula, P. M; Noftle, R. E. J. Electroanal. Chem., 1999, 464, 123-127.

Synthesis and Characterization of Thiophenes With Fluorinated Substituents, Ritter, S.. K.; Hill, B. K.; Odian, M. A.; Dai, J.; Noftle, R. E.; Gard, G. L. J. Fluorine Chem., 1999, 93, 73-79.

The Preparation and Oxidative Polymerization of 3-Thienylperfluoroacylamides, Odian, M. A.; Noftle, R. E. J. Fluorine Chem., 1998, 92, 131-135.

Preparation of Fluorinated Imides, Ye, F; Noftle, R. E. J. Fluorine Chem. 1997, 29, 7.

Studies of Platinum Electroplating Baths. Part III. The Electrochemistry of Pt(NH₃)_4-X(H₂O)_X²⁺ and PtCl_4-X(H₂O)_X^(2-X), A. J. Gregory, W. Levason, R. E. Noftle, R. LePenven, and D. Pletcher, J. Electroanal. Chem. 1995, 399, 105-113.

New Fluorinated Thiophenes and their Electrochemical Properties. R.E. Noftle, M.A. Odian and S.K. Ritter, J. Fluorine Chem. 1995, 71, 177. (ACS 207 Abstr. 17-Fluo)

On the Formation of Tubules During the Electropolymerization of Pyrrole in the Presence of Perfluorobutyrate, J. W. Long, Y. Wu, and R. E. Noftle, J. Fluorine Chem. 1994, 68, 261-264.