Bob Houser

Contact Information

Education

BS, 1987, Colorado State University
PhD, 1996, University of Minnesota
Postdoc, 1996-1999, California Institute of Technology

Research/Areas of Interest

Dr. Houser came to UNC in 2012 with experience in both faculty and administrative roles at the University of Oklahoma (OU), having served on the faculty since 1999 and as Assistant Chair of his department from 2006-2010. Specializing in synthetic inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry, he has a distinguished record in his discipline, authoring or co-authoring over 40 research publications, a number of which have been collaborative works with students and postdoctoral researchers, and garnering as PI or Co-PI more than $1.5 million in extramural research funding. Among his extramural support has been a highly regarded CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.

Research in Dr. Houser's laboratory focuses on synthetic inorganic and coordination chemistry, modeling of bioinorganic active sites with small molecule synthetic chemistry, and coordination polymers. Recent projects in the Houser lab include the design and synthesis of models for copper enzymes in denitrifying bacteria and for binuclear iron centers in proteins and enzymes; and the design and synthesis of coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks.

Publications/Creative Works

Recent Publications

• Jozwiuk, A.; Myers, A. L.; Powell, D. R.; Houser, R. P. " Redox and Acid/Base Properties of Unsupported, Asymmetric Hydr(oxo)-Bridged Non-heme Diiron Complexes " Dalton Trans., 2014, 43, 9740-9753.
• Houser, R. P.; Wang, Z.; Powell, D. R.; Hubin, T. J. " Copper(I) and copper(II) complexes with pyrazine-containing pyridylalkylamide ligands N-(pyridin-2-ylmethyl) pyrazine-2-carboxamide and N-(2-(pyridin-2-yl)ethyl) pyrazine-2-carboxamide " , J. Coord. Chem. 2013, 66, 4080-4092.
• Pal Chaudhuri, U.; Shakya, R.; McClain, J. M.; Klein, E. L.; Powell, D. R.; Grohmann, A.; Houser, R. P. "Copper(II), iron(II), and manganese(II) complexes of 2-methyl-2-(2-pyridinyl)-1,3-propanediamine " Polyhedron, 2013, 54, 84-90.
• Jozwiuk, A.; Wang, Z.; Powell, D. R.; Houser, R. P. "Copper(II) complexes of symmetric and asymmetric bis(imine) ligands: Tuning the Cu(I)/Cu(II) redox couple."2012, Inorg. Chim. Acta, 394, 415-422.
• Shakya, R.; Wang, Z.; Powell, D. R.; Houser, R. P. "Tetra- vs. Pentadentate Coordination in Copper(II) Complexes of Pyridylbis(aminophenol) Ligands Depends on Nucleophilicity of Phenol Donors " Inorg. Chem., 2011, 50, 11581-11591.
• Yang, L.; Powell, D. R.; Houser, R. P. "Copper(II) coordination chemistry of 2-methyl-2-(2-pyridyl)-1,3-propan-diol: Syntheses and structures of mono-, di-, and tricopper complexes " Polyhedron, 2010, 29, 1946-1955.
• Wang, Z.; Powell, D. R.; Houser, R. P. "Bis{2-hydroxy-N-[2-(2-pyridyl)ethyl]- benzamide}copper(I) tetrafluoridoborate " Acta Crystallogr. E, 2010, E66, m173.