Kevin Range; Ph.D.

Courses Most Commonly Taught

• Forensic Chemistry
•  Principles of Chemistry I
• Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy
• Introduction to Computational Chemistry

Courses Developed

• Forensic Chemistry
• Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy
• Introduction to Computational Chemistry

Programs Developed

• B.S. Chemistry - Forensic concentration

Research Areas (Current)

Heat of formation of ketene
The fact that the relatively simple molecule ketene has several, wildly different values for its heat of formation in the literature is annoying, and I aim to try to fix that.

Triazine and other interesting N₃H₃ species and derivatives
I began my training as a computational chemist as an undergraduate at Moravian College under the direction of Dr. Carl Salter investigating this fascinating system.  Structure of NH₄NO₃ hydrates and solutionsAmmonium nitrate is an amazing compound with a wide variety of uses, from fertilizer to explosives. One of the amazing properties of this compound is its incredible miscibility with water.  In saturated solution at room temperature there are approximately one water molecule for every ammonium and nitrate ion! I am applying state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations to study the structure of these mixtures.

Electron Energy Analysis
Professors R. D. Libby and O. C. Salter at Moravian College are developing an interesting new paradigm for teaching organic chemistry. I am performing quantum chemical calculations to provide a connection between accurate electronic structure and the qualitative valence bond model used in their Electron Energy Analysis method.

Recent Publications

Moser, A.; Range, K.; York, D. M. "Accurate Proton Affinity and Gas-Phase Basicity Values for Molecules Important in Biocatalysis", J. Phys. Chem. B 2010, 114, 13911-13921.

Range, K. Forensic Chemistry Laboratory Manual, Lock Haven Univeristy of Pennsylvania: Lock Haven, PA, 2008-2013.

McCracken, J.; Vassiliev, I.; Yang, E.; Range, K.; Barry, B. A. "ESEEM Studies of Peptide Nitrogen Hyperfine Coupling in Tyrosyl Radicals and Model Peptides", J. Phys. Chem. B 2007, 111, 6586–6592.Sibert, R.; Josowicz, M.; Porcelli, F.; Veglia, G.; Range, K.; Barry, B. A. "Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer in a Biomimetic Peptide as a Model of Enzyme Regulatory Mechanisms",J. Am. Chem. Soc.2007, 129, 4393-4400.

Range, K.; Ayala, I.; York, D.; Barry, B. A. ``Normal modes of redox-active tyrosine: conformation dependence and comparison to experiment'', J. Phys. Chem. B.2006, 110, 10970-10981.

Giese, T. J.; Gregersen, B. A.; Liu, Y.; Mayaan, E.; Moser, A.; Range, K.; Faza, O. N.; Lopez, C. S.; de Lera, A. R.; Schaftenaar, G.; Lopez, X.; Lee, T.; Karypis, G; York, D. ``QCRNA 1.0: A database of Quantum Calculations for RNA catalysis'', J. Mol. Graph. Model2006, 25, 423-433.

Range, K.; Lopez, C. S.; Moser, A.; York, D. ``Multi-level and density functional electronic structure calculations of proton affinities and gas-phase basicities involved in biological phosphoryl transfer'', J. Phys. Chem. A2006, 110, 791-797.

Recent Presentations

Range, K.; Tiaw, J. "Heat of formation of ethenone", 2013, 245th ACS National Meeting, Poster.

Olsen, M.; Range K. "Simulation of functionalized gold nanoparticles", 2013, 245th ACS National Meeting, Poster.

Gee, D.; Range, K. "Hydrogen bonding in substituted benzoates", 2013, 245th ACS National Meeting, Poster.

Range, K. "Molecular Computation and Visualization in Introductory Chemistry Courses". 2012, 46th Annual Meeting of the Middle-Atlantic Association of Liberal Arts Chemistry Teachers. Invited speaker.

Range, K.; Salter, O. C.; MacKay, J. A. "Vinyl boronate esters as dienophiles", 2010, 239th ACS National Meeting, Poster.

Hiamey, Y.; Overton, B.; Range, K. "FTIR/PCA for identification of microorganisms", 2009, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, COS Poster.

Range, K. ``Benchmark calculations of ammonium and nitrate ions in aqueous solution", Spring 2009 ACS National Meeting, Poster.