COLLABORATION IN BASIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (COBASE)

Gregory Korshin with his primary host at Kazan State University, Andrey Kuznetsov (left) and Larisa Rzhechitskaya (center).

Gregory Korshin with (from left) Roza Romanova, Tatyana Gorbunova, and Nelly Umarova of Kazan State Technological University

Gregory Korshin traveled to Russia in September 1999. The scientific objectives of his visit were to discuss the preliminary experiments and simulations carried out with the participation of his colleagues in Kazan State Technological University (KSTU) and Kazan State University (KSU), and to initiate or continue writing joint proposals to American institutions issuing grants for scientific research. His primary host while in Russia was Andrey Kuznetsov of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at Kazan State University. Korshin feels that the preliminary quantum-chemical calculations carried out by Kuznetsov’s research group are highly promising. So far they have performed calculations on the modeling of the halogenation path for resorcinol and calculations of the structure of the inner complexation shell of copper with selected organic ligands. Korshin reports that an extensive review of research activities at KSTU and KSU is difficult to give, since both organizations are fairly large and have diverse educational and research programs. In KTSU, there seems to be active research in the field of petrochemical technology, design of equipment for the chemical industry, areas of synthetic and polymeric chemistries and explosive technology. Colloquially, the explosive technology department is referred to as the "special department." In KSU, there is a very prominent laboratory of quantum electronics and radio spectroscopy. However, research activities are somewhat hindered at both universities primarily due to lack of funds, equipment, and collaboration with Western colleagues. Fortunately communication with colleagues in the West has grown recently due to the availability of e-mail communication. This research team has plans for collaborating in the future on a project centered on quantum chemical simulations of halogenation/dehalogenation reactions of selected aromatic compounds.