Research in Analytical Chemistry is essential to the development of new methods to address various qualitative and quantitative aspects of the biological, environmental, clinical, and other fundamental and applied sciences. It also provides critical tools for chemical analysis of living cells, biologically active molecules and various materials at trace and ultra-trace levels. As a result, there is great demand for well-educated analytical chemists in industry, academia, and government.

Particular areas of interest include:

• Archaeological science (Dr. Gülay Ertaş)
• Advanced analytical chemistry techniques for determining metal species, including metal containing nanoparticles, in environmental and biological matrices, and for investigating their interaction with biomolecules. To achieve this, separation techniques (HPLC) coupled on-line with mass spectrometry (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ICP-MS) are being developed and used. (Dr. Gülay Ertaş)
• Development of SERS substrates (Dr. Gülay Ertaş)
• Bioanalytical and environmental applications of various formats of solid phase microextraction (SPME) including in vivo metabolomics, in vivo cancer studies and toxicokinetic studies in cell lines. (Dr. Ezel Boyacı)
• Development of new extractive materials and new SPME formats. (Dr. Ezel Boyacı)
•  Qualitative and quantitative proteomics for clinical applications (Dr. Sureyya Ozcan Kabasakal)
•  Qualitative and quantitative proteomics for nutritional applications (Dr. Sureyya Ozcan Kabasakal)
•  Structural mass spectrometry for translational research (Dr. Sureyya Ozcan Kabasakal)

Biochemistry, the chemistry of life, is the foundation of all cellular processes and systems. The biochemical processes account for the functions of all cellular components and give rise to complexity of life.

Biochemistry is an exciting and evolving area of science that contributes to many areas as medicine, nutrition, agriculture, pharmacy, genetics, and immunology. The broad and diverse applications of biochemistry make career options nearly endless for biochemistry students.

Biochemistry research at METU is focused on numerous processes central to our understanding of life.

Dr. Çoruh's laboratory is fully equipped for phytochemical analysis of medicinal plants and herbs to study a whole array of experiments starting from a raw plant material, extraction and isolation of its pure compounds through bioactivity guidance. Antioxidant, antiaging and biochemical enzyme activity studies as well as cell-culture studies are being conducted in a clean-room equipped with the continuous cell growth monitoring system for the investigation of time dependent effects of the phytochemicals against the cancer cell.

The research in Dr. Çetinkol’s laboratory is focused on understanding the fundamental chemical and physical principles that govern small molecule (drug) - nucleic acid (RNA and DNA) interactions. Current projects at Dr. Çetinkol’s laboratory are directed to identify, design and synthesize new drug candidate molecules towards cancer therapy and elucidate their interactions with nucleic acids.

Research in Inorganic Chemistry at METU cover broad spectrum of research topics bridging design, synthesis and application. Our aim is not only synthesize new advanced materials but also discover their exciting properties and applications in technology. Examples of current topics include the investigations on heterogeneous catalysis, solid state and nanostructured functional materials, organometallic and coordination chemistry. Our recent research has found applications in energy storage and conversion (fuel and solar cells), sensing, drug delivery and release.

Organic Chemistry research at METU concentrates on a wide array of topics ranging from organic synthesis to materials chemistry. These topics include but not limited to development of new methods for the synthesis of biologically important heterocyclic compounds, the design and synthesis of new organometallic catalysts and organocatalysts for asymmetric synthesis, carborane chemistry, peptide chemistry and applications, computational chemistry, H-bond directed self-assembled supramolecular systems and nanotubes, organometallic chemistry, small molecule-polymer and peptide based material science and dyes & pigments. Design and synthesis being at the core of our research efforts at METU, organic chemistry as a central science is benefited by interdisciplinary fields such as advanced materials nanoscience and biological sciences.

Physical chemistry is a field where both macroscopic and microscopic phenomena of chemical systems are investigated with application of theories, principles, concepts and practices. It is a field where new methods and new theories are also developed when old ones are not enough to explain the observed phenomena. Over centuries of scientific studies physical chemists have attained many tools to be able to understand chemistry behind how matter behaves, from molecular level to macroscopic particles. These tools are also useful to characterize newly developed materials or to design new ones with superior properties. They enable scientists to follow a chemical reaction with its dynamics; to investigate mechanisms and dynamics in conductivity of materials; to monitor surface chemistry very closely or to observe heat and mass transfer during chemical processes.

Here at METU Chemistry Department nanocrystals, quantum dots, conducting and functional polymers, thin films, chemiluminescent polymer systems, biomaterials, hydrogels, and thermally reversible materials are under investigation. Advanced spectroscopic methods and computational studies are used to understand the role of molecular structure on both static and dynamic properties of materials which further lead to design of new systems. Several intriguing and inviting areas of studies are spectroscopy, optoelectronics, light emitting diodes, electrochromics, biosensors and tissue engineering.

Particular areas of research interests are;

• Surface modified nanocrystals, colloidal quantum dots and smart responsive metallo-polymers for optoelectronic applications such as solar cells and light emitting diodes. (Demet Asil Alptekin)

• Synthesis of -conjugated organic macromolecules and their usage for organic optoelectronics, electrochromic materials for switchable displays, charge carrying materials for supercapacitors, active materials for organic bulk heterojunction solar cells and organic light emitting diodes, investigation of morphological properties of constructed devices and effect of morphological change on performance of these devices (Ali Çırpan)

• Growth, experimental and computational characterization and applications of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and organic semiconductor thin films. (M. Fatih Danışman)

• Development and application of multi-scale molecular modelling approaches: QM, MM, QM/MM, molecular dynamics, molecular docking, protein/ligand interactions, DNA, enzymatic reactions, biomimetics, UV/vis spectroscopy, QM-based descriptors of reactivity. (Antoine Marion)

• Advanced spectroscopic techniques such as Fiber Loop Ring Down Spectroscopy, Sum Frequency and Second Harmonic Generation, Time Resolved Terahertz Spectroscopy, Time Domain Terahertz Spectroscopy to understand the molecular structure role on the properties of materials, either at surfaces or in the bulk. (Okan Esentürk)

• Preparation and Characterization of Functional Ultra-thin Polymer Films for Biomedical Applications (İrem Erel Göktepe)

• To develop and perform first principle calculations and classical simulation techniques to optimize the properties of soft materials and their composites at the nanoscale. Develop and apply simulation techniques to model and elucidate mechanism of self-assembly and self-organisation in polymer, supramolecular and colloidal systems. Model development, system construction, sampling, equilibration, data collection, analysis of the data to determine connection between simulations, theoretical methods and experimental results." (Erol Yıldırım)

• Conjugated polymers, structure-property relationships, electroanalytical techniques for functional organic and inorganic materials, spectroelectrochemistry, ESR, FTIR and UV-VIS, Spectroscopy (Ahmet M. Önal)

• Development of new techniques and materials for photovoltaics, OLED devices, electrochromics and enzyme studies. (Levent Toppare)

• Preparation and characterization of polymer composites involving organically modified nanoclays and boron compounds. Application of pyrolysis mass spectrometry to polymer characterization. (Jale Hacaloğlu)

• Synthesis of polymers for tissue engineering, biomaterials and biocompatibility studies. Application areas of the biomaterials include wound dressing, biodegradable scaffolds and responsive hydrogels (Nesrin Hasırcı)