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Patrick M. Hare
Department of Chemistry
Nothern Kentucky University
Highland Heights, KY
41099

e-mail: harep1@nku.edu
Office: SC 351
Phone: (859) 572 - 1928
FAX: (859) 572 - 5162


The Hare group focuses on using spectroscopy to learn about the properties and behaviour of small molecules. We focus on molecules that have biological or environmental interest. The basic idea behind spectroscopy is that different molecular properties will respond to in different ways to the various colors (frequencies) of light. Measuring the frequencies at which they absorb or emit light will give information on the physical and electronic structures of the molecules. Measuring how the absorption or emission changes as a function of time can give information on electronic properties and also the relative number of molecules undergoing a light-induced change.





The Hare group is applying transient absorption spectroscopy and time-resolved fluorescence to the study of estrogen photodegradation. High population densities can lead to unnaturally high estrogen concentrations in surface waters. One path to their degradation in such environments is photolysis by sunlight. However, the mechanism is poorly understood and the diversity of estrogen structures makes extrapolating from model compounds difficult. The Hare group is using spectroscopic tools and computational chemistry to determine the photodegradation mechanisms and learn about the underlying photophysical properties of these molecules.

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