Professor Amir Karton
Professor in Chemistry , Computational Chemistry - School of Science and Technology
Biography
Professor Amir Karton leads the quantum chemistry lab at the School of Science and Technology at the University of New England. Prof. Karton’s lab designs functional molecules and materials for catalysis and sustainable energy technologies using high-level quantum chemical simulations. The significance of this research has been recognized by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Citation Award (2021), American Chemical Society (ACS) PHYS Division Lectureship Award (2020), RACI Physical Chemistry Lectureship (2019), and Le Fèvre Medal from the Australian Academy of Science (2018). Amir is an Editor of Chemical Physics Letters and Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Chemistry.
Awards
RACI Citation Award, Royal Australian Chemical Institute (2021)
Journal of Physical Chemistry – PHYS Division Lectureship Award, American Chemical Society (2020)
RACI Physical Chemistry Lectureship, Royal Australian Chemical Institute (2019)
Le Fèvre Medal, Australian Academy of Science (2018)
Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree guest-lecturer fellowship, European Commission (2018)
Vice-Chancellor’s Early Career Investigators Award, University of Western Australia (2016)
Next Steps Initiative Award, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (2016)
Australia China Young Scientist Exchange Program Award, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (2015)
Fresh Science state finalist, Fresh Science (2015)
Outstanding Young Investigator Award, University of Western Australia (2013)
The Dov Elad Distinction Award, Weizmann Institute of Science (2009)
Teaching Areas
Computational chemistry, Applications of virtual reality (VR) technology in chemistry education, Physical chemistry.
Primary Research Area/s
Computational Chemistry; Computational Materials; Quantum Chemistry; Theoretical ChemistryResearch Interests
The research in Prof. Karton’s group is highly interdisciplinary and lies at the interface of materials, biology, physics, and chemistry. His group develops quantum chemical theories to calculate highly accurate chemical properties and then applies these theories to problems of chemical structure, mechanism, and design. Prof. Karton’s applied studies range from nanochemistry to biochemistry. Including the computational design of super-thin, 2D functional materials for energy storage, molecular separation, and green catalysis applications, the computational design of small bioactive molecules, and highly accurate simulations of atmospheric and astrochemical reactions. His research group employs a range of computational techniques including machine-learning force fields, density functional theory, and ab initio quantum chemical methods. At UNE, Prof. Karton's research is focused on developing nanotechnology solutions for energy conversion and storage. This research is well-aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of affordable and clean energy, ensuring access to energy for all.
Research Grants
ARC Discovery Project (DP200101664, 2021–4) $461,000
ARC Future Fellowship (FT170100373, 2017–21) $880,000
ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE140100311, 2014–6) $395,220
ARC Discovery Project Grant (DP110102336, 2011–3) $245,538
ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities grant (LE150100148, 2015) $150,916
DFAT New Colombo Plan Mobility Program grant (project ID: 23712, 2018) $33,000
DFAT Endeavour Leadership Mobility Program (project ID: 29120) $25,000
Research Supervision Experience
Prof. Karton supervised the projects of six PhD and three Honours students to completion at the University of Western Australia
Publications
Selected Publications
A. A. Kroeger, A. Karton. Perylene bisimide cyclophanes as biaryl enantiomerization catalysts – Explorations into π–π catalysis and host–guest chirality transfer. Journal of Organic Chemistry, available online (2022). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.1c02719
A. A. Kroeger, A. Karton. Graphene-induced planarization of cyclooctatetraene derivatives. Journal of Computational Chemistry, 43, 96–105 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.26774
B. Chan, A. Karton. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: From Small Molecules Through Nano-Sized Species Towards Bulk Graphene. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 23, 17713–17723 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CP01659H
A. A. Kroeger, A. Karton. Perylene bisimide cyclophanes as receptors for planar transition structures – Catalysis of stereoinversions by shape-complementarity and noncovalent π–π interactions. Organic Chemistry Frontiers, 8, 4408–4418 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1039/D1QO00755F
A. Karton, P. R. Spackman. Evaluation of density functional theory for a large and diverse set of organic and inorganic equilibrium structures. Journal of Computational Chemistry, 42, 1590–1601 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.26698
S. Kozuch, T. Schleif, A. Karton. Quantum Mechanical Tunnelling: the Missing Term to Achieve sub-kJ/mol Barrier Heights. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 23, 10888–10898 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CP01275D
A. A. Kroeger, A. Karton. π-π Catalysis in carbon flatland – Flipping [8]Annulene on graphene. Chemistry - A European Journal, 27, 3420–3426 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202004045
A. Karton. Catalysis on Pristine 2D Materials via Dispersion and Electrostatic Interactions. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 124, 6977–6985 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.0c05386
A. A. Kroeger, J. F. Hooper, A. Karton. Pristine graphene as a racemization catalyst for axially chiral BINOL. ChemPhysChem, 21, 1675–1681 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.202000426
A. Savateev, N. V. Tarakina, V. Strauss, T. Hussain, K. ten Brummelhuis, J. M. S. Vadillo, Y. Markushyna, S. Mazzanti, A. P. Tyutyunnik, R. Walczak, M. Oschatz, D. Guldi, A. Karton, M. Antonietti. Potassium Poly(Heptazine Imide) – Metal-free Solid State Triplet Sensitizer in Cascade Energy Transfer and [3+2]-cycloadditions. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 59, 15061–15068 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202004747
T. Hussain, E. Olsson, K. Alhameedi, Q. Cai, A. Karton. Functionalized Two-Dimensional Nanoporous Graphene as Efficient Global Anode Materials for Li-, Na-, K-, Mg-, and Ca-Ion Batteries. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 124, 9734–9745 (2020). https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c01216
T. Hussain, M. Sajjad, D. Singh, H. Bae, H. Lee, J. A. Larsson, R. Ahuja, A. Karton. Sensing of Volatile Organic Compounds on Two-Dimensional Nitrogenated Holey Graphene, Graphdiyne, and Their Heterostructure. Carbon, 163, 213–223 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2020.02.078
A. A. Kroeger, A. Karton. Catalysis by pure graphene – From supporting actor to protagonist through shape complementarity. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 84, 11343–11347 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.9b01909
K. Alhameedi, T. Hussain, D. Jayatilaka, A. Karton. Reversible hydrogen storage properties of defect-engineered C4N nanosheets under ambient conditions. Carbon, 152, 344–353 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2019.05.080
T. Hussain, B. Mortazavi, H. Bae, T. Rabczuk, H. Lee, A. Karton. Enhancement in Hydrogen Storage Capacities of Light Metal Functionalized Boron–Graphdiyne Nanosheets. Carbon, 147, 199–205 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2019.02.085
Memberships
Royal Australian Chemical Institute
American Chemical Society
Consultancy Interests
Materials Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Machine Learning in Chemistry, Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry.
