Andrew Grant
Dr. Grant is no longer taking graduate students
Biography
Discipline:
- Organic Chemistry
- Bioorganic Chemistry
- Redox-active Materials
Research Area:
- Development and Commercialization of Novel redox-active materials and their applications to gold mining, anti-viral PPE, organic batteries, water purification.
Publications
1) Synthesis and Surface Investigations of N-Substituted 2,5-Dithio-7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptanes on Gold Surfaces J. Phys. Chem. C, 116, 78867896 (2012).
2) "A Convenient One-step Synthesis of 1,4-Dithiin" Andrew S. Grant, Sara Faraji-Dana, Erin Graham, Journal of Sulfur Chemistry, 30(2), 135-136 (2009).
3) "Synthesis of a 'twisted' transition-state analogue of biotin", A.S. Grant, K. Chaudhary, L. Stewart, A. Peters, S. Delisle and A. Decken, Tetrahedron Letters, 45, 1777-1780 (2004).
4) "Bromination/Debromination of Cholesterol: A Self-Enquiry Based Lab involving Structure Elucidation, Reaction Mechanism and 1H NMR", A.S. Grant, D. Latimer, J. Chem. Ed. 80, 670-671 (2003).
5) Redox-Active Materials, Processes, and Uses Thereof US Patent 11,851,444B2, 2023, Andrew S Grant, Travis Osmond, Kasis Environmental.
Education
BSc - Queen's University, Kingston, ON
PhD - University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
Teaching
Dr. Grant will not be teaching during the 25-26 academic year
Winter 2026 "Saturday Morning Chemistry"
Id like to extend my sincere thanks to the talented second-, third-, and fourth-year students who have worked so diligently in my lab over the past winter. Their efforts have focused on investigating various aspects of the redox-active materials we are developing in collaboration with Kasis Clean Water Technologies in Vancouver. Current applications under exploration include: (1) gold recovery from cyanide-leached solutions, (2) an all-organic redox-flow battery based on chitosan, (3) corrosion resistance, and (4) antibacterial and antiviral surfaces and personal protective equipment
Research
Over the years we have been interested in how the enzyme cofactor biotin functions. Our main focus has been to determine whether the sulfur atom in ring-B of biotin affects the chemistry taking place at N1 of ring-A. Our studies involved a combination of MO calculations, design and synthesis of biotin analogues, enzyme inhibition and physical organic studies on the synthesized analogues.
The work on biotin led us to design a novel sulfur-based polymer that has the potential to be a superconductor at liquid nitrogen temperatures. We have had several PostDocs work on this project, but to date, progress has been slow. We are looking for more funding.
--> The work on biotin also led to the discovery of a novel class of redox-active materials. We have patents on these materials in the US, Canada, and Europe. This is the main focus of the Group now.
--> Kasis Environmental was founded in 2015 for the purpose of bringing these materials to the marketplace.
These redox-active materials are easily made in one synthetic step from readily available materials (cellulose, silica gel, chitosan, polystyrene). We are exploring applications in 1) a greener process for gold recovery in gold mining 2) the development of anti-viral and anti-bacterial PPE, 3) their use in organic batteries, and 4) water purification processes.