Venkat R. Thalladi

Assistant Professor

Goddard Hall 206
508-831-5224 (Voice)
508-831-5933 (Fax)
thalladi@wpi.edu

Research

Research in our group is interdisciplinary: it uses the concepts of chemistry to create materials that are relevant to photonics, nonlinear optics, biology, and medicine. Our group works in the general areas of materials, solid-state, and supramolecular chemistry, and chemical approaches to micro- and nanofabrication. All the work requires development of the fundamental skills of experimental chemistry: synthesis and characterization of new organic compounds, examination of relations between molecular structure and reactivity or physical properties. Currently we are pursuing the following research projects:

• Polymorphism in Pharmaceutical Drugs
• Organic Octupolar Nonlinear Optical Materials
• Self-Assembly Approaches to Nanofabrication
• Crystals of Crystals: Photonic Materials at the Micron and Sub-Micron Length-Scales
• Chemical Applications of Microfluidics

Students who work in our group will be exposed to a variety of research techniques: chemical synthesis, crystal growth, X-ray diffraction, surface chemistry, photo- and soft-lithography, microfluidics, computation and simulation, and atomic and molecular level imaging.

We have openings for several MQP projects. If interested please drop by my office or contact me by e-mail.

Selected Publications

• Dissections: Self-Assembled Aggregates That Spontaneously Reconfigure Their Structures When Their Environment Changes J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 14508-14509. C. Mao, V.R. Thalladi, D. B. Wolfe, S. Whitesides, G.M. Whitesides
• Using Hierarchical Self-Assembly to Form Three-Dimensional Lattices of Spheres J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 14495-14502. H. Wu, V.R. Thalladi, S. Whitesides, G.M. Whitesides
• Generation of 30-50 nm Structures Using Easily Fabricated, Composite PDMS Masks." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 12112-12113. T.W. Odom, V.R Thalladi, J.C. Love, G.M. Whitesides
• Simulation of Indentation Fracture in Crystalline Materials Using Mesoscale Self-Assembly J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 9912-9917 V.R. Thalladi, A. Schwartz, J.N. Phend, J. W. Hutchinson, G.M. Whitesides
• Crystals of crystals: Fabrication of Encapsulated and Ordered Two-dimensional Arrays of Microcrystals J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 3521-3522 V.R. Thalladi, G.M. Whitesides
• The Melting Point Alternation in α,ω-Alkanedicarboxylic Acids J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2000, 122, 9227-9236 V.R. Thalladi, M. Nuesse, R. Boese
• Why is the Melting Point of Propane the Lowest Among n-Alkanes? New J. Chem., 2000, 24, 579-581 V.R. Thalladi, R. Boese
• C-H Group Acidity and the Nature of C-H···N Interactions: Crystal Structural Analysis of Pyrazine and Methyl Substituted Pyrazines New J. Chem., 2000, 24, 463-470 V.R. Thalladi, A. Gehrke, R. Boese
• Reproducible Phenazine Molecular Stacks CrystEngComm, 2000, Article No. 17 V.R. Thalladi, T. Smolka, R. Boese, R. Sustmann
• The Melting Point Alternation in α,ω-Alkanediols and α,ω-Alkanediamines: Interplay between Hydrogen Bonding and Hydrophobic Interactions Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 2000, 39, 918-922 V.R. Thalladi, R. Boese, H.C. Weiss
• The Melting Point Alternation in α,ω-Alkanedithiols J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2000, 122, 1186-1190 V.R. Thalladi, R. Boese, H.C. Weiss
• Role of Weak Hydrogen Bonds in the Crystal Structures of Phenazine, 5,10-Dihydrophenazine and their 1:1 and 3:1 Molecular Complexes New J. Chem., 2000, 24, 143-147 V.R. Thalladi, T. Smolka, A. Gehrke, R. Boese, R. Sustmann
• A Comparative Study of the Crystal Structures of Tetrahalogenated Hydroquinones and γ-Hydroquinone Acta Crystallogr., 1999, B55, 1005-1013 V.R. Thalladi, H.C. Weiss, R. Boese, A. Nangia, G.R. Desiraju
• Steering Noncentrosymmetry into the Third Dimension: Crystal Engineering of an Octupolar Nonlinear Optical Crystal Chem. Commun., 1999, 1639-1640 V.R. Thalladi, R. Boese, S. Brasselet, I. Ledoux, J. Zyss, R.K.R. Jetti, G.R. Desiraju
• C-H···F Interactions in the Crystal Structures of some Fluorobenzenes J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1998, 120, 8702-8710 V.R. Thalladi, H.C. Weiss, D. Blaeser, R. Boese, A. Nangia, G.R. Desiraju
• Octupolar versus Dipolar Crystalline Structures for Nonlinear Optics: A Dual Crystal and Propagative Engineering Approach J. Chem. Phys., 1998, 109, 658-669 J. Zyss, S. Brasselet, V.R. Thalladi, G.R. Desiraju
• Crystal Engineering of some 2,4,6-Triaryloxy-1,3,5-Triazines: Octupolar Nonlinear Optical Materials J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1998, 120, 2563-2577 V.R. Thalladi, S. Brasselet, H.C. Weiss, D. Blaeser, A.K. Katz, H.L. Carrell, R. Boese, J. Zyss, A. Nangia, G.R. Desiraju
• Engineering of an Octupolar Nonlinear Optical Crystal: Tribenzyl Isocyanurate Chem. Commun., 1997, 1841-1842 V.R. Thalladi, S. Brasselet, D. Blaeser, R. Boese, J. Zyss, A. Nangia, G.R. Desiraju
• Crystal Engineering and Correspondence between Molecular and Crystal Structures. Are 2- and 3-Aminophenols Anomalous? J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1997, 119, 3477-3480 F.H. Allen, V.J. Hoy, J.A.K. Howard, V.R. Thalladi, G.R. Desiraju, C.C. Wilson, G.J. McIntyre

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Worcester Polytechnic Institute - 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609-2280
Phone: +1-508-831-5371 - Fax: +1-508-831-5933 - chem-biochem@wpi.edu