Green Chemistry & Materials
Modelling (GCMM) Laboratory
Sustainable synthesis of functional crystalline materials powered computational insight
Dr. Sharmarke Mohamed
Dr. Sharmarke Mohamed (MSci, PhD, MRSC) is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and PI of the Green Chemistry and Materials Modelling Laboratory (GCMM). Dr. Sharmarke has extensive research, teaching, mentoring, supervision and leadership experience within the higher education sector. He has interdisciplinary research interests covering green chemistry, computational chemistry and chemical crystallography. Since 2014, he has been serving on the faculty at Khalifa University (KU). Key highlights of his achievements to date during his tenure at KU include:
- Dr. Mohamed is Co-Founder and Vice-President of the Emirates Crystallographic Society.
- In 2022, Dr. Mohamed was elected as Chair of the American Chemical Society (ACS) UAE Chapter where he has previously served as Treasurer and Secretary since 2019.
- In 2022, Dr. Mohamed also established the first student chapter of the ACS in the Chemistry Department of KU.
- He has extensive program (BSc. Chemistry and BSc. Chemical Engineering) and course-curriculum development experience and is a keen advocate of using technology and data to enhance student assessment and learning.
- In 2021, Dr. Mohamed was one of 24 early-career researchers and the only academic from the Middle East and Africa region, to be recognized in the 2021 “Emerging Investigators” list published by the ACS Journal, Crystal Growth & Design in recognition of his contributions to the field of Crystal Engineering.
- Also in 2021, Dr. Mohamed was appointed to the Advisory Board of the RSC Journal, CrystEngComm.
- Currently in Abu Dhabi, where he trains the next generation of scientists and engineers and plays an important role in helping to shape the transformation of the Emirate into a knowledge-based economy.
A Full Services
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A Full Services
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Research Focus
Our laboratory, which is based in the Chemistry Department of KU brings together a diverse group of synthetic organic chemists, crystallographers, materials scientists and computational chemists. We are interested in the development of green mechanochemical methods for the development of new optoelectronic, energy storage and smart materials. Probing the solid-state properties such materials using computational modelling methods such as density functional theory (DFT) is an important part of understanding the “big picture” in solid-state transformations. Broadly speaking our research focusses on three main strands: 1) Materials Modelling. 2) Green Chemistry. 3) Functional Materials. See the links below for more information in each area.
Research Focus
Our laboratory, which is based in the Chemistry Department of KU brings together a diverse group of synthetic organic chemists, crystallographers, materials scientists and computational chemists. We are interested in the development of green mechanochemical methods for the transformation and remediation of persistent organic pollutants. Probing the reaction mechanisms of such transformations using computational modelling methods such as density functional theory (DFT) is an important part of understanding the “big picture” in solid-state transformations. Broadly speaking our research focusses on three main strands: 1) Materials Modelling. 2) Green Chemistry. 3) Functional Materials. See the links below for more information in each area.
Crystal Engineering
We aim to design, synthesize and characterize new crystal forms of organic molecules ranging from polymorphs, salts, solvates, cocrystals and ionic cocrystals of organic molecules. Chemical crystallography is a key technique for our group as it allows us to determine with analytical precision the composition and extended 3D structures of our crystals
Computational Crystal Structure Prediction
We use a range of computational methods for predicting the crystal structures of organic single-component and multi-component systems. The value of such techniques is that they provide useful data on the packing preferences and intermolecular forces present in our systems and such data is complementary to our experimental efforts.
Mechanochemical Functionalization & Transformation of Persistent Organic Pollutants
One of the challenges currently faced within the "Waste-to-Energy" (WTO) industry is that there are a range of organic pollutants produced by different industrial and domestic processes which are inherently difficult to degrade or that lead to more pollutants if burnt in traditional incinerators.
Isolation of UAE-native Microbial Organisms Capable of the Biotransformation of PAHs
We are pioneering not just the use of mechanochemistry to solve a major unmet industrial need within the UAE – namely the lack of efficient techniques for the functionalization
- About Us
Dr. Sharmarke Mohamed
Our Research
Materials Modelling
We apply computational materials modelling methods to predict, design and realize new solid-state structures of organic molecules. Crystal structure prediction, DFT and molecular mechanics methods are all areas of particular interest for our group.
Green Chemistry
Our work in this area focuses on the development of mechanochemical methods for the synthesis and functionalization of new organic molecules, complexes and materials with useful properties.
Functional Materials
We work with chemists and engineers to support the discovery of functional 2D and 3D materials with desirable mechanical and optoelectronic materials. We do this by using a range of custom python workflows we developed using data generated from VASP or CASTEP.