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James Tanko

Professor
Jim Tanko
317 Davidson Hall
jtanko@vt.edu
540-231-6687

Research Interests

Kinetics and mechanism, electron transfer reactions, the structure and chemistry of free radicals and radical ions, radical ion rearrangements, oxygen-centered radicals.

  1. Effect of Lewis Acids and Low Temperature Initiators on the Allyl Transfer Reaction Involving the Phthalimido-N-oxyl Radical, Patil, S.; Chen, L.; Tanko, J. M. Tetrahedron Letters, 2014, 55, 7029-7033.
  2. C-H Bond Functionalization with the Formation of a C-C Bond: A Free Radical Condensation Reaction Based on the Phthalimido-N-oxyl Radical, Patil, S.; Chen, L.; Tanko, J. M. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2014, 3, 502-505.
  3. Reaction of benzophenone triplet with aliphatic amines. What a potent neurotoxin can tell us about the reaction mechanism, Grimm, M. L., Allen, W. J., Finn, M., Castagnoli, N., Tanko, J. M. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2011, 19, 1458-1463.
  4. How Solvent Modulates Hydroxyl Radical Reactivity in Hydrogen Atom Abstractions, Mitroka, S.; Zimmeck, S.; Troya, D.; Tanko, J. M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 2907-2913.
  5. The First Calibration of an Aminiumyl Radical Ion Clock: Why N-Cyclopropylanilines May be Poor Mechanistic Probes for Single Electron Transfer. Li, X.; Grimm, M. L.; Igarashi, K., Castagnoli, N., Tanko, J. M. Chem. Commun., 2007, 2648-2650.
  • Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Radicals and Radical Ions in Chemistry and Biology, 2007
  • Vice Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Free Radical Reactions, 2005
  • Faculty Teaching Award, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, May 2004
  • Alan F. Clifford Faculty Service Award, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, May 2004
  • B.A. Chemistry, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), 1978
  • Ph.D. Chemistry, Iowa State University, 1985
  • Postdoctoral Associate, Penn State University, 1984–1986

Research Areas