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A new, active metabolite called cryptomaldamide was discovered by Robin Kinnel, the Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, while he was on leave at Scripps Institute of Oceanography during the spring semester. This summer Kinnel is pursuing the synthesis of cryptomaldamide with University of Maastricht graduate student Marta Kolodziejczak who comes to Hamilton through the Junior Year in France Program.

Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry Robin Kinnel recently took part in a panel exploring the role of research at primarily undergraduate institutions at Washington College, host of the 43rd meeting of the Middle Atlantic Association of Liberal Arts Chemistry Teachers. Kinnel and his co-panelist, Shaun Murphree (Allegheny College), discussed the experiences of their departments in the significant growth in publications that was described in a recent article in the Journal of Chemical Education.

Following pregnancy, women sometimes have a high concentration of what is known as alpha-fetoprotein, a protein found in blood plasma and produced in the yolk sac and liver during the fetal stage of development. Previous studies have shown that the alpha-fetoprotein has pronounced affects against breast cancer, and therefore women who have had multiple births might be less at risk. This summer Nathaniel Taylor ’11 looked at two sub-derivatives (small pieces) of alpha-fetoprotein, Peptides TPVNP and STPNVP to see if the properties they possess could be extracted for pharmaceutical purposes. He worked on the research with Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry Robin Kinnel.

As a high school student, Keith Willner ’11 was very interested in chemistry but had no interest in going to Hamilton because he was a local student and felt it was too close to home. “My parents dragged me on a tour of campus.” But as soon as he entered the Science Center, with its towering glass windows and immaculate, well-equipped labs, his sullen attitude went away. “I was hooked,” he said. Now Willner is a budding chemist working for the Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry Robin Kinnel. The goal of his research this summer is to establish that the (-) enantiomer of germacrene D is the principal chemical signal for feeding and egg laying in the female Phyciodes tharos (Pearl Crescent) butterfly. 

Robin Kinnel, the Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry, presented a poster titled "The Chemistry of Aster prenanthoides: An Unexpected Encounter with a Polyacetylenic Hydrocarbon" at the meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy. Thomas Irvin '09 co-authored the paper. The scientific work detailed in the poster was largely taken from Irvin's thesis.