Jackson State University graduate chemistry student wins statewide competition

Jackson State University graduate chemistry student Musabbir A. Saeed won first place in the poster competition at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences held in February in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Saeed’s winning poster, titled “Trapping of Methanol by Polyaza Cryptand,” presented two unusual complexes of methanol with cryptand-based molecules. Such binding was a surprise because of the poor ability of neutral methanol to interact with a synthetic molecule. This represented the first examples of trapped methanol in solid states.

“Having the Mississippi Academy of Sciences recognize me and to be able to get something like this is really an honor,” said Saeed, who is working toward his Ph.D. at JSU. “I found Jackson State definitely has one of the best chemistry departments in the South.”

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The structures presented in the poster were solved by Douglas Powell at Oklahoma University, while the theoretical aspects were calculated by graduate student, Ganna Gryn’ova, working under the supervision of Jackson State chemistry professor Jerzy Leszczynski. Jackson State chemistry professor Alamgir Hossain is Saeed’s supervisor.

Saeed’s work is now under review for publication in Chemical Communications. The Mississippi Academy of Sciences awarded Saeed with a certificate and $375 for winning the competition.