Gary B. Schuster Professor and Provost Office: 1-35 Boggs Phone: 404-385-2700 Fax: 404-894-7452 E-mail Gary B. Schuster

B.S., Clarkson College of Technology, 1968; Ph.D., University of Rochester, 1971.

Chancellor's Award, University System of Georgia - 1998; Recipient of the A C. Cope Scholar Award and Paul Flory-IBM Fellowship, appointed as Dean of Sciences - 1994

Research Interests

Cationic Anthraquinone Derivatives as Photocatalytic DNA Cleavage agents. The ability to perform double-stranded (ds) cleavage of DNA is crucial to many molecular biological techniques such as gene isolation and production of recombinant DNA vectors. In order for a single molecule to cleave both strands of duplex DNA at a given site, the cleavage moiety must be either bifunctional or recyclable. We discovered that some ammonium - substituted anthraquinone derivatives bind to double-stranded DNA and function as recyclable photonucleases. This process was examined by absorption, circular dichroism and time-resolved laser spectroscopy which reveals a binding geometry in which the long axis of the quinone group is approximately parallel to the long axes of adjacent base pairs.

Transitions in Liquid Crystals Initiated with Circularly Polarized Light. The fundamental goal of this research is the discovery of new means to control the physical and optical properties of liquid crystals with light. We focus on the development of triggers designed to induce a reversible nematic to cholesteric transition under the influence of circularly polarized light. Systems investigated are biaryl chromophores, axially symmetric benzylidene cyclohexanes, and chiral cycloheptatrienes.

Representative Publications

"Long-range radical cation migration in DNA: Investigation of the mechanism ," Joy A, Schuster GB, CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS (22): 2778-2784 2005 .

"Effect of netropsin on one-electron oxidation of duplex DNA," Roberts LW, Schuster GB, PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY 80 (3): 456-461 NOV-DEC 2004 .

"Tuning of intercalation and electron-transfer processes between DNA and acridinium derivatives through steric effects," Joseph J, Kuruvilla E, Achuthan AT, Ramaiah D, Schuster GB, BIOCONJUGATE CHEMISTRY 15 (6): 1230-1235 NOV-DEC 2004.

"Synthesis and study of naphthacenedione (TQ) as a photosensitizer for one-electron oxidation of DNA ," Roberts LW, Schuster GB, ORGANIC LETTERS 6 (21): 3813-3816 OCT 14 2004 .

"Transport and reactions of radical cations in DNA: steric and energetic control of reactivity," Abdou EM, Boone EK, Cao HC, Crummie C, Schuster GB, RESEARCH ON CHEMICAL INTERMEDIATES 30 (4-5): 419-427 2004 .

"One-electron oxidation of DNA: The effect of replacement of cytosine with 5-methylcytosine on long-distance radical cation transport and reaction ," Kanvah S, Schuster GB, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 126 (23): 7341-7344 JUN 16 2004.

"The mechanism of long-distance radical cation transport in duplex DNA: Ion-gated hopping of polaron-like distortions ," Schuster GB, Landman U, TOPICS IN CURRENT CHEMISTRY 236: 139-161 2004.

"Mechanism for radical cation transport in duplex DNA oligonucleotides ," Liu CS, Hernandez R, Schuster GB, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 126 (9): 2877-2884 MAR 10 2004.

"Long-distance radical cation migration in duplex DNA: The effect of contiguous A center dot A and T center dot T mismatches on efficiency and mechanism," (vol 125, pg 15732, 2003), Schlientz NW, Schuster GB, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 126 (6): 1921-1921 FEB 18 2004.

"Long-distance radical cation migration in duplex DNA: The effect of contiguous A center dot A and T center dot T mismatches on efficiency and mechanism ," Schlientz NW, Schuster GB, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 125 (51): 15732-15733 DEC 24 2003.

"Long-distance radical cation reactions in DNA three-way junctions: inter-arm interaction and migration through the junction ," Santhosh U, Schuster GB, NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH 31 (19): 5692-5699 OCT 1 2003.

"Base sequence effects in radical cation migration in duplex DNA: Support for the polaron-like hopping model ," Liu CS, Schuster GB, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 125 (20): 6098-6102 MAY 21 2003.

"Intercalation of trioxatriangulenium ion in DNA: Binding, electron transfer, X-ray crystallography, and electronic structure ," Reynisson J, Schuster GB, Howerton SB, et al., JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 125 (8): 2072-2083 FEB 26 2003.