 Professor, Born 1958
B.S. 1980, University of Illinois
Ph.D. 1985, University of California - Los Angeles
Room: 6209a
Phone: 608-262-0660
Email: mcmahon@chem.wisc.edu
Position: Professor
Organic Glasses with Exceptional Thermodynamic and Kinetic Stability, Stephen F. Swallen, Kenneth L. Kearns, Marie K. Mapes, Yong Seol Kim, Robert J. McMahon, M. D. Ediger, Tian Wu, Lian Yu, Sushil Satija, Science 2007, 315, 353-356. Organic Glass-Forming Materials: 1,3,5-Tris(naphthyl)benzene Derivatives, Paul A. Bonvallet, Caroline J. Breitkreuz, Yong Seol Kim, Eric M. Todd, Katherine Traynor, Charles G. Fry, M. D. Ediger, and Robert J. McMahon, J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 10051-10057. A Search for ortho-Benzyne (o-C6H4) in CRL 618, Susanna L. Widicus-Weaver, Anthony J. Remijan, Robert J. McMahon, and Benjamin J. McCall, Astrophys. J. 2007, 671, L153-L156. Triplet 1,3-Diphenylpropynylidene (Ph-C-C-C-Ph), Jeffrey T. DePinto, Wendy A. deProphetis, Jessica L. Menke, and Robert J. McMahon, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 2308-2315. Reactive Carbon-Chain Molecules: Synthesis of 1-Diazo-2,4-pentadiyne and Spectroscopic Characterization of Triplet Pentadiynylidene (H-C≡C-C-C≡C-H), Nathan P. Bowling, Robert J. Halter, Jonathan A. Hodges, Randal A. Seburg, Phillip S. Thomas, Christopher S. Simmons, John F. Stanton, and Robert J. McMahon, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 3291-3302. Ring Opening of 2,5-Didehydrothiophene: Matrix Photochemistry of C4H2S Isomers, Yong Seol Kim, Hiroshi Inui, and Robert J. McMahon, J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 9602-9608. Enediyne Isomers of Tetraethynylethene, Nathan P. Bowling and Robert J. McMahon, J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 5841-5847. [selected as feature article for journal cover] Interstellar Chemistry: A Strategy for Detecting Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Space, F. J. Lovas, Robert J. McMahon, Jens-Uwe Grabow, Melanie Schnell, James Mack, Lawrence T. Scott, Robert L. Kuczkowski, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 4345-4349.
The Radio Spectrum of the Phenyl Radical, R. J. McMahon, M. C. McCarthy, C. A. Gottlieb, J. B. Dudek, J. F. Stanton, P. Thaddeus, Astrophys. J. 2003, 590, L61-L64.
| Research Description
Our research program focuses on bringing physical-organic insights and physical and analytical methods to bear on important problems in chemistry. Our interests range from mechanistic organic and organometallic chemistry to the fundamental chemistry underlying important problems in material science.
Reactive Intermediates and Astrochemistry
We continue a longstanding interest in studying highly reactive organic species using both experimental and computational methods. Our recent research efforts focus on elucidating the structure, photochemistry, and spectroscopy of organic species that are relevant to combustion chemistry, the formation of fullerenes, nanotubes, and soot, and the chemistry of the interstellar medium. Understanding the organic chemistry of interstellar clouds represents a significant challenge in mechanistic organic chemistry - both in terms of identifying new organic species in the clouds and in terms of investigating the chemical processes that govern the formation and destruction of these organic species. 
Materials Chemistry of Organic Glasses and Supercooled Liquids
In collaboration with Prof. Mark Ediger's research group, we have been engaged in the study of fundamental physical properties of organic materials that form glasses and supercooled liquids. Glassy phases are poorly understood because of their amorphous composition. Yet they are extremely important in a variety of technological applications - from dielectric thin films that are used to insulate electrical circuitry in semiconductor devices, to the formulation of pharmaceuticals. We synthesized the first series of glass-forming materials in which it is possible to relate bulk physical properties, such as the glass transition temperature, to molecular properties of the glass-forming material. Our ability to prepare these materials, and tailor their properties through chemical synthesis, enables a range of important studies of their bulk properties.
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2003 Vilas Associate, UW-Madison, 2000-02 NSF Award for Special Creativity, 1996-98 Research Fellow - Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 1994-96 NSF Presidential Young Investigator, 1989-94 Departmental Teaching Award, 1992 Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, 1989 UCLA Distinguished Scholar, 1984-85 Winstein Dissertation Award, 1984 IBM Corporation Graduate Fellow, 1983-84 SF Graduate Fellow, 1980-83 Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 1979 Phi Lambda Upsilon Honorary Chemical Society, 1979
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