Xiaolong Zhu, Jingxiang Yang and Megndi Qiu and co-workers report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society fast-acting crystalline and amorphous forms of contact insecticides against Drosophila and Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes, linking their effectiveness to the stability of the solid forms while rediscovering a compound that was developed in Germany during World War II, but vanished from public health considerations.. Link to the article here. Also see NY Times Science Times.

The Chemists Club held its 122nd Annual Egg Nog Gala Dinner at the New York Academy of Sciences on December 12, 2019. MDI members from the Ward and Weck group left to right: Nicolle Jackson, Anne Ward, Mike Ward, Anna Yusov, and Eman Ahmed. Waiting for the Nog!

Xiaodi Zhong and Molecular Design Institute co-workers demonstrated that properly sized polymer particles incorporated in potassium hydrogen phthalate crystals during growth serve as dislocation generators. Link to article here.

Yuantao Li, Sishuang Tang, Anna Yusov and co-workers report in Nature Communications an approach to molecular structure determination that relies on a versatile toolkit of guanidinium organosulfonate hydrogen-bonded host frameworks that form crystalline inclusion compounds with target molecules for which crystal structure determination can be elusive. Link to article here. Also see Nature Editor’s Highlight.

The NYU Molecular Design Institute is hosting the 24th International Congress of the Chemistry of the Organic Solid State, June 16-21, 2019 at the New York University Campus in Greenwich Village, New York City. More information soon....
​​​​​​​Artwork credit: Cesar Rodriguez & Anne L. Ward, NYU

After a few years at the University of Strasbourg, Takuji Adachi, a former postdoctoral research scientist in our group, has been appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of Geneva. Congrats, Taki!

Christie Passos was awarded a highly selective internship in the 2019 Harvard Summer Research Program in Kidney Medicine (HSRPKM), where she will experience clinical fundamentals and challenges in the field of nephrology. Congratulations Christie!

Jingxiang Yang, Xiaolong Zhu, Mengdi Qiu, et al. publish an article on “Inverse Correlation between Lethality and Thermodynamic Stability of Contact Insecticide Polymorphs” in Crystal Growth & Design, describing the insecticide activity of lindane polymorphs toward Drosophila melanogaster…..

Bart Kahr and Mike Ward provide a perspective in the December 7, 2018 issue of Science magazine on a report by Chen, et al. that describes epitaxial one-dimensional growth of peptide dimer crystals on molybdenum disulfide substrates. See more here….