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Harry C. Dorn received a Ph.D. in 1974
from the University of California, Davis. In the same year he joined
the faculty at Va. Tech and initiated a research program to develop
a new analytical instrument involving the direct coupling of high performance
liquid chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance (HPLC-NMR). Today,
the HPLCNMR
instrument has evolved as an important tool in the pharmaceutical and
bio-medical fields with commercial instrument sales of over $400 million
(2000).
In the early 1990's, the Dorn laboratory began a second area of research
involving the synthesis, separation, and characterization of the newly
discovered carbon based materials, nanotubes, fullerenes and metal encapsulated
fullerenes (endohedral metallofullerenes). In collaboration with a team
of scientists at IBM (Almaden) and Dorn coauthored two seminal papers
in Science involving the first bond length measurements and the corresponding
solidstate dynamics of the soccer-ball shaped fullerene, C60. In 1992
he also received a divisional award from IBM. In 1991-94, Dorn's laboratory
developed new separation methodolgy for purifying fullerenes and endohedral
metallofullerenes.
In 1994, the IBM team and the Dorn laboratory at Va.Tech co-authored
a paper in Nature that provided the first direct confirmation of metal
encapsulation in a fullerene cage, Sc2@C84. In 1999, the Dorn laboratory
discovered a new family of trimetallic nitride teplate (TNT) endohedral
metallofullerenes A3N@C80 (A=Group IIIB and rare-earth metals) that
was reported in Nature. The TNT endohedral metallofullerenes represents
the first family of
endohedral fullerenes that can be prepared in high yields and purity.
The Dorn laboratory has also synthesized the first family of non-classical
endohedral metallofullerenes A3N@C68 and was reported in Nature, 2000.
Recently, we reported the first functionalized derivative for the TNT,
A3N@C80 family (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2002). The endohedral
metallofullerne discoveries have been licensed by Virginia Tech Intellectual
Properties (VTIP) to Luna Innovations, Blacksburg, Virginia. Related
activities during the year, 2001 include: Director of VA Tech Center
Self-Assembled Nanostructures and Devices (CSAND), Member of Advisory
Committee, 2nd Georgia Tech Conferences on Nanoscience and
Nanotechnology, Sept. 19-21, 2001, Virginia Tech Mini-Conference on
NanoScience and Engineering, and Member of NSF Working Group to Define
Major Research Facilities for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Jan.
10, 2001, Tampa, FL. Member of Advisory Committee, INano VA Project,
2001 (funded by Center for Innovative Technology), Member of Advisory
Committee, Frontiers of Nanostructured Systems, Charlottesville, VA
Oct. 14-16,
2001, Session Chair, Oak Ridge National Laboratories,(ORNL) Center for
Nanophase Materials Sciences, Workshop, Oct. 25., 2001.
Dr. Dorn has ~100 research publications appearing in the literature.
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