Jiri Jonas
Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
Professor of Center for Advanced Studies
Professor Jiri Jonas received his B. S. Degree from the University of Prague in 1956 and his Ph.D. from the Czechoslovak Academy of Science in 1960. He joined the faculty at Illinois in 1966. He was the director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois from August 1993 to September 2001. His research interests are in chemical physics and physical chemistry.
Research
The aim of our research is to improve the understanding of the dynamic structure of liquids, viscoelastic fluids, disordered solids, and biopolymers by carrying out experiments under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, laser Rayleigh and Raman scattering techniques, FT infrared and other techniques are used in our work. The emphasis is on development of new experimental techniques to study materials under very high pressures. Unique NMR and Raman experiments investigating the structure and dynamics of liquids confined to porous silica glasses and at liquid/solid interfaces represent other areas of our research interests. Advanced high resolution NMR spectroscopy including two-dimensional techniques, combined with the high pressure capability (900 MPa) represents a powerful new tool in studies of proteins. The long-term objective of our on biochemical systems is to contribute to the understanding of folding of proteins, folding intermediates and structure of pressure denatured states. The photo chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization NMR equipment at high pressure has recently been developed.
Publications
"A High Pressure, High Resolution NMR Probe for Experiments at 500 MHz," L. Ballard, A. Yu, C. Reiner, and J. Jonas, J. Magn. Res. 133, 190-193 (1998).
"Effect of Pressure on Local Order in Liquid Dimethyl Sulfoxide," C. Czeslik and J. Jonas, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 103, 322-3227 (1999).
"Carbon-13 NMR Study of the Effect of Confinement on the Molecular Dynamics of 2-Ethylhexyl Benzoate," V. S. Sullivan, Y. J. Kim, s. Xu, J. Jonas, and J-P. Korb, Langmuir, 15, 4664-4670 (1998).
"Dynamics of Complex Phthalate Liquids II: Structural Effects of Side Chains," Y. J. Kim and J. Jonas, J. Phys. Chem., 102, 2778-2784 (1998).
"Effects of High Pressure on the Wildtype and F29W Mutant Forms of the N-Domain of Avian Troponin C," Yu, A., Ballard, L., Lee, B.-S., Smillie, L., Foguel, D., Silva, J., Jonas, A., and Jonas, J., Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1431, pp. 53-63 (1999).
"Pressure and Temperature Dependence of Hydrogen Bond Strength in Methanol Clusters," Czeslik, C. and Jonas, J., Chemical Physical Letters, 302/5-6, pp. 633-638 (1999).
Awards
- Sloan Fellow
- Guggenheim Fellow
- J. L. Hildebrand Award in Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry of Liquids
- Czechoslovak Academy of Science Award for Scientic Work
- Alexander van Humboldt Award
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science
- Fellow, American Physical Society
- Fellow, American Philosophical Society (2003)
- Member, National Acadamy of Sciences.
