Ursula Simonis

Education

Diploma (1982) Westfalishce Wilhelms-Univ., Munster, Chemistry
Ph.D. (1985) Westfalishce Wilhelms-Univ., Munster, Chemistry

Bioinorganic Chemistry

Investigations of biologically relevant paramagnetic iron porphyrin, chromium, zinc, and organocobalt complexes to mimic the active sites of important heme proteins, the glucose tolerance factor, zinc enzymes, and vitamin B12. Synthesis of new model complexes and solution structure analysis by spectroscopic methods, primarily by modern multi-dimensional NMR spectroscopy to obtain new insights into the structure-function relationships of the corresponding biomolecules. Investigations and structural characterization of small organic molecules, porphyrins and metalloporphyrins embedded in model membranes aimed at synthesizing clinically useful drugs for cancer detection and therapy. Development of the multi-dimensional NMR methodology for the resonance assignment and structural characterization of paramagnetic molecules to determine the scope and limits of multi-nuclear and multi-dimensional NMR spectroscopy for the structural analysis of paramagnetic molecules.