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Specialization:
Isolated Molecules
Laser Spectroscopy
Mass Spectrometry
Photochemistry
Building Blocks of Life
UV Photodynamics of DNA
Archaeometry
Cultural Heritage
Art and Archaelogy
Prebiotic Chemistry
Education:
Dr. de Vries received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics at the University of Amsterdam in 1980. After spending four years in our department at UCSB as a Research Associate, he became a Research Staff member at the IBM Almaden Research Laboratory. In 1997 Dr. de Vries became an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In September 2000, Dr. de Vries joined The UCSB Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry as a Professor of Physical Chemistry. While at IBM he won three awards for outstanding innovation and technical achievement. He was elected Humboldt Fellow (2003) and AAAS Fellow (2008).
Research:
Research Group Website: http://www.chem.ucsb.edu/devriesgroup/
Research Objective
The de Vries lab combines a number of advanced physical chemistry techniques for a novel approach to the study of individual molecules. This leads to a combination of physical and analytical chemistry by employing laser induced desorption of molecules from surfaces, photoionization, multiphoton spectroscopy, femtosecond spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Included are studies of complex molecules, isolated biomolecules and clusters, and surface analytical applications.
There are two major directions to this research:
(1) Gas phase techniques enable the study of isolated molecules, free of interactions. A major thrust is the laser spectroscopy of isolated biomolecular building blocks. These include single DNA bases and amino acids, as well as their clusters with each other and with water molecules. These studies touch on questions such as: “What is the chemical origin of life?”, What makes a peptide fold?”, or “How is the machinery of life protected from UV radiative damage?”.
(2) The same techniques also apply to state of the art analytical applications, analyzing fragile organics by laser mass spectrometry. The de Vries lab applies Laser mass spectrometry to detect trace compounds for beverage residues in archeological artifacts or to study objects of cultural heritage.
Publications:
Selected Research Publications
- Exploring how Molluscan Purple has Survived throughout the Ages: The Excited State Dynamics of 6,6’-Dibromoindigotin. Trevor Cohen, Julia Didziulis, Charles Smith, Michal F. Rode, Andrzej Sobolewski, Ioannis Karapanagiotis, and Mattanjah S. de Vries. Chemical Physics 581, 112271, DOI:10.1016/j.chemphys.2024.112271 (2024)
- New light on the use of Theobroma Cacao by the Late Classic Maya Anabel Ford, Ann Williams, and Mattanjah S. de Vries, PNAS 119 DOI:10.1073/pnas.2121821119 (2022)
- Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer in Hydroxyanthraquinones: Towards Predicting Fading of Organic Red Colorants in Art. Jacob.A. Berenbeim, Samuel Boldissar, Shawn Owens, Michael R. Haggmark, Gregory Gate, Faaady M. Siouri, Trevor Cohen, Michal F. Rode, Catherine Schmidt Patterson, and Mattanjah S. de Vries. Science Advances Vol. 5, no. 9, eaaw5227. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw5227 (2019)
- How Nature covers its bases. Samuel Boldissar and Mattanjah S. de Vries. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 20, 9701-9716 (2018) DOI: 10.1039/C8CP01236A
- Life in the Light: Nucleic Acid Photoproperties as a Legacy of Chemical Evolution. Ashley A. Beckstead, Yuyuan Zhang, Mattanjah de Vries, and Bern Kohler, PCCP, 18, 24228 - 24238 (2016) DOI: 10.1039/c6cp04230a
- Sub-Micron Proximal Probe Thermal Desorption and Laser Mass Spectrometry on Painting Cross-Sections Shawn C. Owens, Jacob A. Berenbeim, Catherine Schmidt Patterson, Eoghan. P. Dillon and M.S. de Vries Analytical Methods 6(22):8940-8945 DOI: 10.1039/C4AY00919C (2014)
- Excited state dynamics of DNA bases Karl Kleinermanns, Dana Nachtigallová, and Mattanjah S. de Vries, International Reviews in Physical Chemistry, 32, 308-342, (2014)
- Gas-Phase Spectroscopy of Biomolecular Building Blocks, Theory and Experiment Mattanjah S. de Vries and Pavel Hobza, Annual Reviews of Physical Chemistry Volume 58, 585-612 (2007)
- Cobalt Catalyzed Growth of Carbon Nanotubes with Single-Atomic-Layer Walls D.S. Bethune, C-H. Kiang, M.S. de Vries, G. Gorman, R. Savoy, J. Vazquez, and R. Beyers. NATURE, 363, 605, 1993.
Courses:
CHEM 123 (ENVIRONMENTAL CHEM)