Professor, Organic Chemistry - CURRENTLY ON LEAVE

Phone: (509) 963-2022 
Fax: (509) 963-1050 
Email: petersj@cwu.edu

Education:

• 1986 - Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, Harvard University
• 1980 - B.S., Chemistry, Antioch College-Yellow Springs, Ohio

Professional Experience:

• Sept. 1996-present: Associate Professor (1996-2001), Professor (2001-present), and Chair (Aug. 1988-June 2001 and Dec. 2007-present) Department of Chemistry, Central Washington University
• Sept.-Dec. 2010: Visiting scientist, Conservation Laboratories, Royal British Columbia Museum
• Aug. 1987-May 1996: Assistant Professor (1987-1994) and Associate Professor (1994-1996), Department of Chemistry, Illinois State University
• Dec. 1985-June 1987: Post-doctoral researcher, University of Nevada-Reno

Award:

• 1997, Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award

Interests:

In addition to a long standing interest in mechanistic organic chemistry, I have recently become interested in the intersection between chemistry and the visual arts. I participated in the 2008 Chemistry in Art Workshop and the 2009 Advanced Chemistry in Art Workshop sponsored by the NSF-Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences. Building on the workshop experience I developed a course entitled Chemistry of Materials for Art. I teach this course on a regular basis as part of an interdisciplinary curriculum within the CWU Douglas Honors College. I spent the fall of 2010 as a visiting scientist in the conservation laboratories at the Royal British Columbia Museum, working on the identification and conservation of plastic materials in the museum collection. I am currently collaborating with the Yakima Valley Museum and CWU undergraduate students on the identification of museum plastics, as well as the development of improved testing procedures.

Selected Publications:

• Judith M. Swanson, Curt A. Dvorak, JoAnn P. DeLuca, and Jean M. Standard "Complexation of a Singlet Carbene by a Fluoroalkane. Modification of 1:CHCO2Et Selectivity in Perfluorohexane Solution and Ab Initio Calculations," The Journal of Organic Chemistry 1994,59, 3026.
• Warunee Sobery and JoAnn P. DeLuca "Intramolecular Trapping of an Ylide Intermediate in the Reaction of 1:CH2 with an Allylic Alcohol," Tetrahedron Letters 1995,36, 3315.
• Jerry W. Cubbage, Brian L. Edelbach, Kan Shuh Kuen, and JoAnn P. DeLuca "Stereodirecting Effects in the Characterization of Ylide Intermediates in Reactions of Singlet Methylene with an Allylic Ether and an Allylic Chloride," Tetrahedron 1997, 53, 9823.
• Margaret B. Camacho, Aurora E. Clark, Tabitha A. Liebrecht, and JoAnn P. DeLuca "A Phenyliodonium Ylide as a Precursor for Dicarboethoxycarbene: Demonstration of a Strategy for Carbene Generation," Journal of the American Chemical Society 2000, 122, 5210.
• William v. E. Doering and JoAnn P. DeLuca "Conformational Restraint in Thermal Rearrangments of a Cyclobutane: 3,4-Dicyanotricyclo[4.2.2.02,5decane," Journal of the American Chemical Society 2003, 125,10608.
• Matthew J. Lenington and JoAnn P. DeLuca "Generation of Triplet Carbenes through Photolysis of Iodonium Ylides," The Spectrum, winter 2005.