Alex Brown, PhD

Professor, Faculty of Science - Chemistry

Chair, Faculty of Science - Chemistry

Contact Overview Publications Links

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Science - Chemistry

Email: alex.brown@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 492-1854
Address: W4-70D Chemistry Centre - West
11227 Saskatchewan Drive NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2G2

Chair, Faculty of Science - Chemistry

Email: chmchair@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 492-3249
Address: E3-38B Chemistry Centre - East
11227 Saskatchewan Drive NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2G2

Overview

About

Education

PhD (Chemistry), University of Western Ontario 1997

BSc (Chemical Physics), University of Waterloo 1992

Awards

Teacher of The Year Award, Chemistry Students' Society 2014-2015

Faculty of Science, Teaching Honor Roll, Lifetime Member2014

Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching 2013

Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Alberta2012

Graduate Student Association, Graduate Student Supervisor Award 2012

Alberta Ingenuity New Faculty Award2007-2009

Award for Teaching Excellence from the Chemistry Students' Association 2006-2007

Award for Teaching Excellence from the Chemistry Students' Association 2003-2004

Research

Theoretical/computational studies of molecular photochemistry and laser control
Computational design of small-molecule biofluorophores
Photochemistry and photophysics of fluorescent proteins and their chromophores
Understanding of novel bonding and structure in inorganic materials (collaboration with E. Rivard)
Study of asphaltene-model compounds and non-covalent interactions
Molecular quantum dynamics (using MCTDH)
Optimal control theory for laser control

Teaching

2019-2020

CHEM 681/405: Quantum Mechanics for Chemistry (Winter)

Previous Courses Taught

CHEM 371: Energetics of Chemical Reactions

CHEM 282: Atomic and Molecular Structure

CHEM 102/105: Introductory Chemistry II

Featured Publications

Evaluating the Tamm–Dancoff Approximation for Two-Photon Absorption Properties

Ismael A. Elayan, Ryan Johannson, Alex Brown

Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. 2025 June; 10.1021/acs.jctc.5c00436

Verdazyl-Based Radicals for High-Field Dynamic Nuclear Polarization NMR

Jakob A. Meckes, Zachary W. Schroeder, Diganta Sarkar, Riley W. Hooper, Clara E. Faraday-Smith, Alex Brown, Rik R. Tykwinski, Vladimir K. Michaelis

Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2025 March; 10.1021/jacs.4c13374

Two-photon absorption of BODIPY, BIDIPY, GADIPY, and SBDIPY

Ismael A. Elayan, Mingmin Zhou, Alex Brown

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2025 January; 10.1039/D4CP03915G

A variant on the CREST iMTD algorithm for noncovalent clusters of flexible molecules

Nathanael J. King, Ian D. LeBlanc, Alex Brown

Journal of Computational Chemistry. 2024 November; 10.1002/jcc.27458

Non-Degenerate Two-Photon Absorption of Fluorescent Protein Chromophores

Ismael A. Elayan, Alex Brown

The Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 2024 September; 10.1021/acs.jpca.3c08402

An enantioselective and modular platform for C4ʹ-modified nucleoside analogue synthesis enabled by intramolecular trans-acetalizations

Thirupathi Nuligonda, Gautam Kumar, Jason W. Wang, Dinithi Rajapaksha, Ismael A. Elayan, Ramiz Demir, Neil J. Meanwell, Sherrie F. Wang, Lara K. Mahal, Alex Brown, Michael W. Meanwell

Nature Communications. 2024 August; 10.1038/s41467-024-51520-5