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Dr. Courtney Cooper

Department of Physical and Life Sciences

Specializations: organic synthesis, computational modelling, personal care chemistry

Email: Courtney.Cooper@nevadastate.edu
Phone: (702) 992-2653

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Biography

I am a synthetic organic chemist by training who is interested in synthesizing and characterizing new compounds through spectral means and using computational modelling in combination. I have experience with computational modelling for basic DFT calculations, and aromaticity indices such as NICS, and AICD through gaussian and chemcompute.org

Current projects:

1. The Effects of Bacterial Contamination and Heat Degradation of Efficiency of Cosmetic Preservatives - in collaboration with Dr. Holly Martin who is testing the Staphylococcus epidermis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa within three serums: marine hylauronics, matrixyl, and niacinamide from The Ordinary. Samples taken are then tested through Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to be analyzed.

2. Synthesis Derivation of Eugenol and Vanillin - in collaboration with Dr. Amber Howerton who will do biological assays to test for inflammation, anti-aging properties, antimicrobial processes, and tyrosinase inhibition of various eugenol derivatives. Based on these studies, we will plan on developing new molecular structures to test.

3. Mechanistic studies of the bromination of tetraphenylporphyrin in which we are determining the pathway it with undergraduate researchers through kinetic and spectral analysis (FTIR, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), structures).

4. Computational modelling looking at NICS to profile aromatic changes in compounds.

5. Evaluating an AI-Supported Learning on ChemIllusion in Undergraduate Organic Chemistry - a Chemistry Education study looking at how AI can support student learning in Organic Chemistry

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Synthetic Methodology and novel synthesis
University of North Texas
08/01/2017 - 06/01/2023
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with an emphasis in biological chemistry
University of Texas at Tyler
01/01/2014 - 05/01/2017

Publications

Substituent effect on napthodithiophene-fused porphyrins: Understanding the unusual trend of fluorescence quantum yield quenching
Journal of Porphyrins and Pthlalocyanines
09/01/2025
Electrochemical Screening and DFT Analysis of Acetylacetonate Metal Complexes in Organic Solvents
Journal of The Electrochemical Society
10/01/2024
Naphthodithiophene-Fused Porphyrins: Synthesis, Characterization, and Impact of Extended Conjugation on Aromaticity
Chemistry-A European Journal
07/01/2023
A Synthetic Approach to β-Functionalized Naphtho[2,3]porphyrins
Organic Letters
09/01/2020