The Chemistry Department's research programs span both pure and applied chemistry, with many important potential technological applications in the fields of material science, electrochemistry, sonochemistry, polymer nanoparticles, synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry, pharmaceuticals, bio-organic, inorganic and theoretical chemistry.

In the field of medicinal and bio-organic chemistry, for example, novel techniques of drug design are being developed and drug efficiency is being improved via better chemical delivery systems. In addition, enzyme inhibitors and enzyme reaction mechanisms are being studied with a view to their pharmaceutical applications, organotellurium compounds that are active in enhancing the immune system have been developed, P2-receptors are being studied towards developing rational drug design for a variety of disorders involving P2-receptors, and the role of the superoxide anion radical in metabolism, aging and cancer is being investigated. The biological and medical application of surface modified functionalized nanoparticles are also being explored.

A strong research effort in the field of material science has developed in recent years. Four groups are involved in the fields of electrochemistry, sonochemistry, polymers and self-assembled monomolecular films, working both on individual and joint research projects. Research projects include the development of lithium batteries, the production of amorphous metallic nanoparticles by sonochemistry, microdevice fabrication using ultrathin films of organic materials on surfaces, and the study of polymer nanoparticles.

On the theoretical front, the Department has the facilities for performing theoretical calculations using a wide variety of commercially available computer software packages. These are used by theoreticians and experimentalists in the fields of organic, physical organic and bio-organic chemistry and are an indispensable tool in modern chemical research. Other theoretical studies are in the fields of nonlinear optics, studying the interaction between lasers and material systems, and fundamental studies on the relationship between quantum and classical mechanics which will allow intractable problems in quantum mechanics to be solved.

In addition, the Department has several groups in the field of Organic Chemistry with applications to biology, medicine and the Israeli chemical industry, as well as in the fields of gas kinetics and the kinetics and spectroscopy of organometallic reactions.

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