Washington College: A Top-Tier Maryland Liberal Arts College

Sub Menu contents

Department of Chemistry

Frank Creegan

W. Alton Jones Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus

E-mail: fcreegan2@washcoll.edu

Education

B.S., Merrimack College, 1961
Ph.D., Fordham University, 1966

Research Interests

Mechanistic studies on the acid-catalyzed dehydrations of alkylcyclohexanols;
Development of stereospecific, enzyme-reductions of alkylcyclohexanones;
Mechanistic studies of the Beckmann Rearrangement of ketoximes and the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of ketones;
Development of Guided Inquiry laboratory experiments for General and Organic Chemistry.

Current Organic Chemistry Research

My organic research interests and activities are centered on the chemistry of molecular rearrangements in organic reactions. As a Physical-Organic chemist I focus not only the mechanisms by which organic substrates undergo chemical reactions but also on the electronic, steric, and stereochemical factors that determine relative stabilities (and thus reactivity). Molecular rearrangements are defined as those reactions in which there is a change in the skeleton or backbone of the substrate. Such reactions can be light induced, heat-induced, or, more commonly, set in motion by acidic or basic co reactants or by acidic or basic catalysts.

Current research is concerned with the discovery of the mechanism by which ketones (cyclic and non-cyclic), in the presence of a strong oxidizing agent and an acid catalyst are converted to esters. The reaction, the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation (Baeyer-Villiger or B-V reaction), affords us an opportunity to examine the relative migrating ability (migratory aptitude) of substituents in the ketone. The instrumentation workhorse for these studies, and for most of the organic research conducted in our group, is gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). GC-MS allows us to look at not only the reaction products in the B-V reaction, but also provides us with a technique to monitor the progress of the reaction and detect the presence of reaction intermediates. Such information is invaluable in arriving at a reaction mechanism.

Current Chemistry Education Research

Another area of research in which I am engaged is that associated with studies designed to determine how students learn and with the development and dissemination of classroom and laboratory materials that will improve student learning. With the aid of a 2002 National Science Foundation (NSF), 4-year grant of $1.5 million, colleagues at Franklin & Marshall College, SUNY-Stony Brook (Stony Brook University), College of Charleston, and The Catholic University of America and I have established the POGIL Project.

POGIL is a classroom and laboratory technique that seeks to simultaneously teach content and key process skills such as the ability to think analytically and work effectively as part of a collaborative team.

A POGIL classroom or lab consists of any number of students working in small groups on specially designed guided inquiry materials. These materials supply students with data or information followed by leading questions designed to guide them toward formulation of their own valid conclusions - essentially a recapitulation of the scientific method. The instructor serves as facilitator, observing and periodically addressing individual and classroom-wide needs.

POGIL is based on research indicating that

a) teaching by telling does not work for most students,
b) students who are part of an interactive community are more likely to be successful, and
c) knowledge is personal; students enjoy themselves more and develop greater ownership over the material when they are given an opportunity to construct their own understanding.

We have found that a discovery-based team environment energizes students and provides instructors with instant and constant feedback about what their students understand and misunderstand. Students quickly pick up the message that logical thinking and teamwork are prized above simply getting "the correct answer." This emphasizes that learning is not a solitary task of memorizing information, but an interactive process of refining one's understanding and developing one's skills. (See http://www.pogil.org)

In October 2006, NSF awarded an additional $1.9 million to extend the POGIL Project through 2010.