BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//ZContent.net//ZapCalLib 1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Understanding Stacking Interactions Involving Aromatic Rings LOCATION:Chemistry A101 TZID:America/Denver DTSTART:20181001T000000 UID:2026-04-28-23-04-15@natsci.colostate.edu DTSTAMP:20260428T230415 Description:About the Seminar:\n\nStacking interactions are ubiquitous in c hemical and biological systems\, impacting everything from the packing of organic electronic materials and the stereoselectivity of organic reaction s to the binding of drugs. While attractive interactions between aromatic rings (so called \\'pi-stacking\\' or \\'pi-pi\\' interactions) have been known for decades\, only recently have we begun to understand the many fac tors that control the strength and geometry of these interactions. I will provide an overview of our efforts to understand stacking interactions bet ween aromatic rings as well as less conventional stacking interactions bet ween heterocycles and protein amide backbones and Asp-Arg salt-bridges. Ul timately\, I\\'ll introduce a a robust predictive model of the strength of stacking interactions between heterocyclic drug fragments and the aromati c amino acid side chains Phe\, Tyr\, and Trp. Along the way\, I\\'ll show that molecular electric fields provide a powerful tool for understanding s tacking interactions and dispel pervasive myths about heteroatom and subst ituent-induced changes in electrostatic potentials of aromatic systems.\n\ n \;\n\nAbout the Speaker:\n\nSteven graduated from New College of Flo rida in 2002 with a B.A. in Chemistry and Physics and completed his Ph.D. working with Fritz Schaefer at the University of Georgia in 2006. He was a n NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Ken Houl\\'s group at UCLA before joining the faculty at Texas A&\;M in 2010. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2015 and named Davidson Professor of Science in 2016. He m oved to his present position at the Center for Computational Quantum Chemi stry at the University of Georgia in January\, 2017. His research group wo rks in the area of computational physical organic chemistry studying the r ole of noncovalent interactions in organocatalysis\, organic electronic ma terials\, and drug design using modern tools of computational chemistry.12 :00 pm END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR