Welcome to the Holman Research Group home page.
Research in the Holman lab lies at the intersection of organic, organometallic, and solid-state/materials chemistry. Broadly speaking, our research is focused in two areas: i) recognition, self-assembly, and/or supramolecular chemistry―that is, the designed organization of molecules into multi-component species via non-covalent (i.e. reversible, individually weak) bonds; and ii) crystal engineering―the design and study of molecule-derived crystalline materials via supramolecular principles. Specific avenues of research can be found on the Research page, but it is true to say that projects in the Holman Group are highly multidisciplinary, allowing students (high school, undergraduate, and post-graduate) and post-doctoral researchers to develop expertise in synthetic organic and/or organometallic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, solid-state chemistry, powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction, various spectroscopic techniques (e.g. NMR, Raman, and, ocassionaly, more exotic techniques such as neutron scattering), thermal analysis (e.g. tandem TGA-mass spectrometry, DSC), gas sorption, etc. Consult the Research page for more information on specific projects and the availability of research positions.
We are located in the Department of Chemistry at Georgetown University.
We are located in the Department of Chemistry at Georgetown University.
Group News:
April, 2021. Congratulations to Prashant Pandey, on his successful application for a GU Dissertation Research Travel Grant, funding a forthcoming trip to the Barbour lab in South Africa to study thermally regulated gas-sorption by porous molecular solids.
May 2020. Check out Ivana Brekalo's three (!) first-author 2020 papers (Angew. Chem., Chem. Sci., and Molecules) on the publications page.
December, 2019. Congratulations to now Dr. Ivana Brekalo on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation, with distinction!
October, 2019. Ivana Brekalo's first author paper on "Microporosity of a Guanidinium Organodisulfonate Hydrogen‐Bonded Framework" is now live in Angewandte Chemie. Congratulations to Ivana and coworkers, especially former undergraduate student, David Deliz; it's his first published article!
July, 2019. Congratulations to now Dr. Mandy Ley on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation!
June, 2019. Ivana Brekalo won a prize for her talk entitled "Are guanidinium organodisulfonates formally microporous?" at the 2019 Crystal Engineering and Materials Workshop of Ontario and Quebec, Montreal, Canada. Congratulations, Ivana!
May, 2019. Congratulations to now Dr. Joseph Ramirez on the successful defense of his PhD dissertation!
April, 2019. Congratulations to Andrew Kelly on being selected for the prestigious 2019/2020 ARCS Graduate Fellowship!
September 2018. Prof Holman is promoted to the status of full professor. Congratulations!
August 2018. Ivana Brekalo's first author paper on "Use of a 'Shoe-Last' Solid-State Template in the Mechanochemical Synthesis of High-Porosity RHO-Zinc Imidazolate" is now live in JACS. Congratulations to Ivana and coworkers!
June 2018. Ivana Brekalo is elected to organize the 2020 Gordon Research Seminar on Crystal Engineering with Ren Wiscons from University of Michigan. Congratulations to Ivana and Ren!
December, 2017. Congratulations to now Dr. Gracia El-Ayle on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation!
August 2017. Congratulations to Gracia El-Ayle on the publication of her (52 page!) review on "Cryptophanes" in Comprehensive Supramolecular Chemistry II, published by Elsevier! www.sciencedirect.com/science/referenceworks/9780128031995
January 2017. Happy New Year! And congratulations to Ivana Brekalo on being selected for a prestigious 2017 Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarship! The Ludo Frevel Crystallographic Scholarship is an annual award ($2500) intended to support the education and research program of promising graduate students in crystallography-related fields. It is administered by the International Center for Diffraction data (ICDD).
September 2016. Congratulations to Chris Kane on being awarded the Department of Chemistry's first inaugural "Graduate Student Research Award", recognizing a major scientific achievement by an individual graduate student during the 2015/2016 academic year! The award was announced at this year's annual State of the Department reception. Chris will receive $1000 and his name will be be engraved on a plaque to be displayed in the Departmental office.
September 2016. The Georgetown University College has written a short article touting the modest success of faculty in the Department of Chemistry in garnering external grant support. Check it out: college.georgetown.edu/collegenews/chemistry-department-shines-in-grant-awards.html
September 2016. Joe Ramirez's first author paper on "Reproducible Synthesis and High Porosity of mer-Zn(Im)2 (ZIF-10): Exploitation of an Apparent Double-Eight Ring Template" is now live in JACS, ASAP. Congratulations to Joe and coworkers!
August 2016. Congratulations to Gracia El-Ayle on earning a Division of Organic Chemistry travel grant to attend the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia, PA scheduled for August 21-25.
July 2016. Congratulations to Gracia El-Ayle on winning a travel award for her trip to the 2016 annual meeting of the American Crystallographic Association in Denver, CO!
June 2016. Ivana Brekalo won a prize for her poster entitled "Templated Solid State Synthesis of Novel ZIF Structures" at the 2016 Gordon Research Conference on Crystal Engineering, Stowe, VT. Great stuff, Ivana!
June 2016. Ivana Brekalo was recognized for Best Student Oral Presentation in the Materials Division, at the 2016 Canadian Society for Chemistry meeting in Halifax, NA, Canada. Congratulations Ivana!
April 2016. Congratulations to Gracia El-Ayle on being awarded the GU Graduate School's 2016 Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Award (2016), to be presented at this year's 1st Annual Graduate Student Awards Ceremony!
March, 2016. Chris Kane's full paper on the "Enclathration and Confinement of Small Gases by the Intrinsically 0D Porous Molecular Solid, Me,H,SiMe2" is now live in JACS. Congratulations, Chris!
February, 2016. Ivana Brekalo won the Bruker poster prize at the 2016 Bruker/MIT Symposium in Boston, along with a travel grant for the same symposium from the Georgetown Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Congratulations!
May 2020. Check out Ivana Brekalo's three (!) first-author 2020 papers (Angew. Chem., Chem. Sci., and Molecules) on the publications page.
December, 2019. Congratulations to now Dr. Ivana Brekalo on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation, with distinction!
October, 2019. Ivana Brekalo's first author paper on "Microporosity of a Guanidinium Organodisulfonate Hydrogen‐Bonded Framework" is now live in Angewandte Chemie. Congratulations to Ivana and coworkers, especially former undergraduate student, David Deliz; it's his first published article!
July, 2019. Congratulations to now Dr. Mandy Ley on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation!
June, 2019. Ivana Brekalo won a prize for her talk entitled "Are guanidinium organodisulfonates formally microporous?" at the 2019 Crystal Engineering and Materials Workshop of Ontario and Quebec, Montreal, Canada. Congratulations, Ivana!
May, 2019. Congratulations to now Dr. Joseph Ramirez on the successful defense of his PhD dissertation!
April, 2019. Congratulations to Andrew Kelly on being selected for the prestigious 2019/2020 ARCS Graduate Fellowship!
September 2018. Prof Holman is promoted to the status of full professor. Congratulations!
August 2018. Ivana Brekalo's first author paper on "Use of a 'Shoe-Last' Solid-State Template in the Mechanochemical Synthesis of High-Porosity RHO-Zinc Imidazolate" is now live in JACS. Congratulations to Ivana and coworkers!
June 2018. Ivana Brekalo is elected to organize the 2020 Gordon Research Seminar on Crystal Engineering with Ren Wiscons from University of Michigan. Congratulations to Ivana and Ren!
December, 2017. Congratulations to now Dr. Gracia El-Ayle on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation!
August 2017. Congratulations to Gracia El-Ayle on the publication of her (52 page!) review on "Cryptophanes" in Comprehensive Supramolecular Chemistry II, published by Elsevier! www.sciencedirect.com/science/referenceworks/9780128031995
January 2017. Happy New Year! And congratulations to Ivana Brekalo on being selected for a prestigious 2017 Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarship! The Ludo Frevel Crystallographic Scholarship is an annual award ($2500) intended to support the education and research program of promising graduate students in crystallography-related fields. It is administered by the International Center for Diffraction data (ICDD).
September 2016. Congratulations to Chris Kane on being awarded the Department of Chemistry's first inaugural "Graduate Student Research Award", recognizing a major scientific achievement by an individual graduate student during the 2015/2016 academic year! The award was announced at this year's annual State of the Department reception. Chris will receive $1000 and his name will be be engraved on a plaque to be displayed in the Departmental office.
September 2016. The Georgetown University College has written a short article touting the modest success of faculty in the Department of Chemistry in garnering external grant support. Check it out: college.georgetown.edu/collegenews/chemistry-department-shines-in-grant-awards.html
September 2016. Joe Ramirez's first author paper on "Reproducible Synthesis and High Porosity of mer-Zn(Im)2 (ZIF-10): Exploitation of an Apparent Double-Eight Ring Template" is now live in JACS, ASAP. Congratulations to Joe and coworkers!
August 2016. Congratulations to Gracia El-Ayle on earning a Division of Organic Chemistry travel grant to attend the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia, PA scheduled for August 21-25.
July 2016. Congratulations to Gracia El-Ayle on winning a travel award for her trip to the 2016 annual meeting of the American Crystallographic Association in Denver, CO!
June 2016. Ivana Brekalo won a prize for her poster entitled "Templated Solid State Synthesis of Novel ZIF Structures" at the 2016 Gordon Research Conference on Crystal Engineering, Stowe, VT. Great stuff, Ivana!
June 2016. Ivana Brekalo was recognized for Best Student Oral Presentation in the Materials Division, at the 2016 Canadian Society for Chemistry meeting in Halifax, NA, Canada. Congratulations Ivana!
April 2016. Congratulations to Gracia El-Ayle on being awarded the GU Graduate School's 2016 Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Award (2016), to be presented at this year's 1st Annual Graduate Student Awards Ceremony!
March, 2016. Chris Kane's full paper on the "Enclathration and Confinement of Small Gases by the Intrinsically 0D Porous Molecular Solid, Me,H,SiMe2" is now live in JACS. Congratulations, Chris!
February, 2016. Ivana Brekalo won the Bruker poster prize at the 2016 Bruker/MIT Symposium in Boston, along with a travel grant for the same symposium from the Georgetown Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Congratulations!
