Dr. Dongmei Zhang

Principal Research Interests

• Design and synthesis of acyclic podands, monocyclic proton-ionizable crown ether, proton-ionizable calix[4]crown and -thiacrown ligands for metal ion separations
• Methodology for covalently linking ligands onto silica gel for metal ion separations
• Synthesis of proton-ionizable calix[4]arene compounds with unusual alkylation patterns on the lower rim
• Developing hosts for removal of hazardous or toxic ions, such as Pb(II), Hg(II), Cs(I), and Ra(II)

Representative Publications

• "Sorption of Heavy Metal Ions by Silica Gel-Immobilized, Proton-Ionizable Calix[4]arenes," Wang, J.; Zhang, D.; Lawson, T. R.; Bartsch, R. A.  Talanta,2009, 78(2), 477-483.
• "Di-ionizable p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene-1,2-monothiacrown-3 ligands in the cone conformation: synthesis and metal ion extraction."  Zhang, D.; Crawford, J. D.; Bartsch, R. A. Tetrahedron, 2008, 64(42), 9843-9849.
• "Heavy metal separation with polymer inclusion membranes." Sgarlata, C.; Arena, G.; Longo, E.; Zhang, D.; Yang, Y.; Bartsch, R. A. Journal of Membrane Science, 2008, 323(2), 444-451.
• "Di-ionizable p-tert-Butylcalix[4]arene-1,2-crown-3 Ligands in Cone and 1,2-Alternate Conformations: Synthesis and Metal Ion Extraction," Zhang, D.; Cao, X.; Purkiss, D. W.; Bartsch, R. A. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 2007, 5, 1251-1259.
• "Synthesis and Lead(II) Sorption of Silica Gel-Immobilized, Di-ionizable Calix[4]arenes," Zhang, D.; Wang, J.; Lawson, T. R.; Bartsch, R. A.  Tetrahedron, 2007, 63, 5076-5082.
• "Preparation and Properties of Rigid-rod Polyimide/Silica Hybrid Materials by Sol-gel Process," Huang, J. C.; Zhu, Z. K.; Yin, J.; Zhang, D.; Qian, X. F.  Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2000, 79, 794-800.

Presentations at Professional Conferences

• Dongmei Zhang and Richard A. Bartsch, “Synthesis of Proton Di-ionizable p-tert-Butylcalix[4]arene-1,2-crown-3 Compounds in Cone and 1,2-Alternate Conformations,” 62nd Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Houston, TX, October 19-22, 2006.
• Jing Wang, Dongmei Zhang, Hui Zhou and Richard A. Bartsch, “Complexation of Alkali Metal Cations by Proton Di-ionizable Calix[4]arenes and Calix[4]arene-crown-6 Hosts,” 62nd Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Houston, TX, October 19-22, 2006.
• Xiaodan Cao, Dongmei Zhang and Richard A. Bartsch, “Metal Ion Selectivity Study of p-tert-ButylCalix[4]Arene-1,2-Crown-3 Ethers in the Cone and 1,2-Alternate Conformations by Solvent Extraction,” 62nd Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Houston, TX, October 19-22, 2006.
• Richard A. Bartsch, Chuqiao Tu, Dongmei Zhang, Kazimierz Surowiec and Xiaodan Cao, “Di-ionizable Calix[4]arene-1,2-crown Ligands for Metal Ion Separations,” 233rd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007.