VIRENDER K. SHARMA
 Professor of Chemistry
Ph.D. RSMAS, University of Miami, 1989
Postdoctoral Fellow, SUNY, Buffalo, 1989-1990
Research Associate, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1990-1992
Email:vsharma@fit.edu
Phone: (321) 674-7310
Office: 220 Olin Physical Sciences Building
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ACS SYMPOSIUM SOLICITATION
I am organizing a symposium entitled “Ferrates: Synthesis, Properties and Applications in Water and Wastewater Treatment” to be presented through the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society at the 232nd ACS National Meeting, scheduled for September 10-14, 2006 in San Francisco, CA.
I am soliciting contributed papers to be presented and later published possibly in the ACS symposium series. If you and your colleagues are interested in presenting a paper, please submit a short abstract to the ACS online abstract system (OASYS) and send an extended abstract to me as an email attachment and prepared according to these instructions by April 15, 2006. This is excellent opportunity to make a timely contribution to the scientific community by presenting your research.
If you have any questions, please email me.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Sharma is active in teaching and research in analytical, physical, and environmental chemistry. His research interests include the study of kinetics and mechanisms of oxidations by transition metals in higher oxidation states in aqueous solution, development of innovative and effective methods for reducing the level of contaminants in the aquatic environment, study physical chemistry of natural waters, and the study of coastal environment contamination. The current projects are:
- Higher Oxidation States of Iron (Fe(VI), Fe(V), and Fe(IV)): Properties and Applications. High oxidation states of iron in aqueous solution are of interest because of their involvement in many hydroxylation/oxidation reactions of environmental, industrial, and biological importance. In our group, fundamental properties of ferrates (FeVIO42-, FeVO43-, and FeIVO44-) in aqueous solutions are being studied. Stopped-flow and pulse radiolysis techniques are being used to perform kinetic studies of these oxidation states of iron with nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds. Recent work has for the first time provided spectroscopic evidence for sequential reduction of Fe(V) to Fe(IV) to Fe(III) in aqueous media. The reactivity of the three oxidation states of iron with cyanide shows that Fe(V) and Fe(IV) are approximately four- and two-orders of magnitude more reactive than Fe(VI), respectively. The work on the use of ferrates in the development of environmentally-friendly technology for oxidative destruction of pollutants is also being carried out.
- Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Reduction of Iron(VI). The results of recent work of the heterogeneous photocatalytic reduction of Fe(VI) in UV-irradiated TiO2 suspensions showed the indirect observation of the formation of Fe(V) at the TiO2 surfaces. Fe(V) has the ability to oxidize compounds which cannot be easily oxidized by Fe(VI). The present research include understanding kinetics and mechanism of photocatalytic reduction of Fe(VI) in the presence of nitrogen-containing compounds (ammonia and cyanate) and fulvic acid, which react sluggishly with either Fe(VI) or illuminated TiO2 individually. The overall objective of this research is to explore the role of Fe(V), produced by a photocatalytic technique, in remediation processes.
- Acid-Base Chemistry of Thiols in Aquatic Environment. Thiols such as cysteine and methionine can be major organic ligands for metals in natural waters. Understanding of chemical speciation of thiols is important to determine the nature of formation of complexes with metals in natural waters. Our group is using potentiometric techniques to determine dissociation constants of protonated species of thiols over a wide range of temperature and ionic strength. Ionic interaction models are used to estimate the activity and speciation of thiols in natural waters.
- Geochemistry of metals and hydrocarbons in Gulf of Mexico. These research activities focus on the concentrations of metals and hydrocarbons in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The studies are carried out in a wide variety of geographical settings including Mexican lagoons and are in collaboration with UNAM, Mexico.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Dr. Sharma's educational background is in analytical, marine and environmental chemistry. He is experienced in solution thermodynamics and kinetics. He was twice awarded Diplomas by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico for studying metals contamination in the coastal environment of the Gulf of Mexico in collaboration with ICML, UNAM, Mexico in 1992 and 1996. He was also awarded the certification of Merit award in 1996 by the ACS (Environmental Chemistry Division) for his presentation "Oxidation of Thiourea by Ferrate(VI)". He served as an Associate Editor for "Directory of Research in Chemistry at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions", Council of Undergraduate Research, 6th Ed. (1995). He organized the symposium "Thermodynamics and Kinetics in Natural Waters" in honor of Frank Millero at the 1999 ACS meeting in Anaheim, California and was a Guest Editor of a special issue of Marine Chemistry, (Vol 70, 2000). Dr. Sharma served as Secretary of the American Chemical Society (Geochemistry Division) from 1999 to 2002. In summer 2004, Virender Sharma has organized the international symposium “Innovative Ferrate(VI) Technology in Water and Wastewater” in Prague, Czech Republic. Currently, Dr. Sharma has active international collaborations with scientists all over the world on the chemistry and applications of higher oxidation states of iron.
Click here for a complete list of Dr. Sharma's publications.
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