Our research group is involved in two major research areas: 1. Macrocyclic chemistry. Includes synthesis and analytical application of macrocyclic compounds for complex formation with metal, non-metal ions and molecules. Our most current project involves design of chromo-and fluoroionophores for chiral recognition of amino acids. Chromo- and fluoroionophores include a macrocyclic part responsible for complex formation, as well as chromo- and fluorophoric part responsible for the changes in the absorption and emission properties of the molecules upon complex formation. The analysis is performed by means of UV/Vis and Fluorescence spectroscopy. 2. Design and synthesis of anti-cancer compounds incorporating coumarin, and guanine or uracil units. These compounds are expected to selectively bind the C-terminus of the Heat Shock Protein HSP90 thus inhibiting its protein folding ability. The latter is expected to selectively inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

1. Walker, Winter C.,Mateeva, N.N Spectrofluorimetric Determination of Aluminum in Liquid Antacids by Complexation with Morin, FAME 2008, May 8-10, 2008, Orlando, FL 2. Eaton, Teresa M., Mateeva, N.N., Quantitative Determination of Methanol in Acetone Using Gas-less GC – CCD, FAME 2008, May 8-10, 2008, Orlando, FL 3. Eaton, Teresa M., Mateeva, N.N., Determination of Vapor Pressures Using Gas Chromatography Retention Times, FAME 2008, May 8-10, 2008, Orlando, FL 4. Mateeva, Nelly N, Deiab, Sh., Redda, K.K., Aza-macrocyclic derivatives: synthesis, structure and metal ion complexation properties, FAME 2008, May 8-10, 2008, Orlando, FL 5. Mateeva, Nelly N, Macrocyclic ligands for molecular recognition of amino acids, FAME 2007 6. Mills, Chavonda J.; Mateeva, Nelly N.; Redda, Kinfe K. Synthesis of novel substituted flavonoids. Journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry (2006), 43(1), 59-64. 7. Mills, Chavonda J.; Mateeva, Nelly N.; Redda, Kinfe K. Synthesis of substituted flavonoids and evaluation of their COX-1/COX-2 inhibitory activity. Abstracts of Papers, 229th ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States, March 13-17, 2005 . 8. Mateeva, N., Winfield, L., and Redda, K., The Chemistry and Pharmacology of Tetrahydropyridines, Current Medicinal Chemistry, 12(3), (2005). 9. Mateeva, Nelly N.; Mills, Chavonda J.; Redda, Kinfe K. Inhibition of COX1/COX2 activity by substituted chalcones and flavones. Abstracts of Papers, 229th ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States, March 13-17, 2005