Norman P. Schepp 

Associate Professor

BSc, PhD (Toronto)

E-mail: norman.schepp@dal.ca
Phone: (902) 494-7055
Fax: (902) 494-1310

* Accepting Graduate Students

Research Interests: Bio-organic Chemistry.

Our research is currently directly towards examining the chemistry of biologically relevant reactive intermediates. Within this broad context, our work in focussing in two more specific areas. One involves understanding the influence of biological str uctures, namely specific amino acid sequences found in enzymes and peptides, on the dynamics and reactions of reactive intermediates in organic chemistry. Of particular interest is to determine if natural or synthetic active site structures can modify the dynamic behaviour of reactive intermediates through, for example, the presence non-bonding interactions (electrostatic, hydrophobic, p-cation, etc). From these studies, we will be able to obtain information concerning the extent to which the reactive intermediate is protected within the active site from external reactants, and identify the amino acid residues that are responsible for modifying the behaviour of the reactive intermediate. The second area of interest involves obtaining fundamental information about biologically interesting reactive intermediates by studying their behaviour in water and other hydroxylic solvents. The results from this second approach will provide information about the fundamental pro perties of the reactive intermediates that can be applied to understanding the formation and reactions of the same or similar reactive intermediates in biological environments.

Visit our lab: Laser Lab Photolysis