UMD News Releases

Award Lecture and Reception Set for April 26
Public Cordially Invited

Dr. Viktor Zhdankin, UMD Professor of Chemistry, has been selected as the recipient of the Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award for 2003-2004.

Professor Zhdankin will present "Iodine and Life" for the annual distinguished research award lecture April 26 at 3:15 p.m. in the UMD Life Science Building room 185. A reception will be held at 4 p.m. following the lecture in the Griggs Center, UMD Kirby Student Center, second floor. Professor Zhdankin's presentation will provide a general overview of the critically important role that iodine plays in human life, as well as a description of the reagents he has helped create. The public is cordially invited to both the lecture and reception.

Iodine is part of thyroxine, a hormone produced by the thyroid gland. A lack of iodine can cause serious health problems such as goiters and mental retardation, and compounds of iodine have a wide range of pharmaceutical, industrial, and agricultural applications. Over the past twenty years, Professor Zhdankin's research has focused primarily on the development of new hypervalent iodine reagents useful in organic synthesis, as well as in medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry. His work has led to several important reagents that are used currently in chemical and pharmaceutical laboratories all over the world.

Professor Zhdankin is one the world's most renowned experts in the organic chemistry of hypervalent main group elements. His research involves the development and application of new reagents for organic synthesis based on polyvalent iodine compounds. He serves on Editorial Boards of several international journals and is a member of the Japanese Forum on Iodine Utilization. His previous awards include the prestigious national fellowship from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus foundation.

Professor Zhdankin was born in Sverdlovsk, Russia. His M.S., Ph.D., and Doctor of Chemical Science degrees were earned at Moscow State University. In 1987 he was appointed as Senior Research Fellow-Head of Research Group at the Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University, in Russia. He moved to the University of Utah in 1990, where he worked for three years as Instructor of organic chemistry and Research Associate. In 1993 he joined the UMD faculty where he is currently a Professor of Chemistry.