About

Professor Matthew Platz is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University. He received his B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Mathematics from the State University of NY at Albany in 1973, and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale University in 1977 under Professor Berson. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago with Professor Closs before joining Ohio State University in 1978. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1984 and to Professor in 1989, eventually serving as the chair of the Chemistry Department in 1995. Professor Platz has been recognized with numerous awards, including being elected Melvin S. Newman Professor of Chemistry and appointed Distinguished University Professor in 2001. He is an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar, and has received the College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Award, the Cope Scholar Award, and the Remsen Award. His research focuses on physical organic chemistry and photochemistry, particularly the chemistry of short-lived, high-energy reactive molecules such as radicals, biradicals, carbenes, nitrenes, and reactive oxygen species. His laboratory synthesizes new precursors to reactive intermediates and studies their photochemistry using advanced spectroscopic and computational methods. His work aims to understand elementary rearrangement reactions, quantum mechanical tunneling processes, interactions of reactive intermediates with solvents, and the molecular mechanisms of anti-cancer drugs, employing ultrafast spectroscopic techniques to directly observe excited states and decomposition pathways of reactive molecules.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Photochemistry
• Computer science
• Information retrieval
• Computational chemistry

Selected publications

• An Ultrafast Infrared and UV–Vis Study of the Photochemistry of 2-Naphthaloxycarbonyl Azide

  The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · 2025-11-19

  articleSenior author

  )-one formation, which, in turn, slowly converts to 3-isocyanatonaphthalen-2-ol. The singlet nitrene decays by intersystem crossing (ISC) to produce the corresponding triplet nitrene with a time constant of ∼100 ps. The results are consistent with prior electron spin resonance and ultrafast time-resolved experiments positing that the lowest-energy singlet state of aryloxycarbonylnitrenes is closed-shell and that the singlet state undergoes rapid ISC via spin-orbit coupling to the triplet ground state.

  PublisherDOI

• On the Mechanism of Ozonolysis of Glyphosate

  The Journal of Organic Chemistry · 2025-12-19

  articleSenior author

  Glyphosate is a commonly used herbicide. This compound is considered a probable human carcinogen; thus, an efficient and inexpensive method for promoting its facile decomposition into simpler and safer compounds is highly desirable. Ozone, a known disinfectant for aqueous solutions, is known to promote the degradation of glyphosate. The reaction between glyphosate and ozone under alkaline conditions was studied by a variety of spectroscopic techniques. We find that a glyphosate–ozone adduct is initially cleaved primarily into aminomethylphosphonic acid, AMPA, and glycine via an imine intermediate. Investigation of the pH dependence of the reaction, study of a quaternary amine derivative of this herbicide, and NMR analyses of 13C- and 15N-labeled glyphosate analogues support our proposed mechanism. Finally, AMPA and glycine undergo a mechanistically similar degradation as glyphosate and are converted to inorganic products.

  PublisherDOI

• Cover Image

  Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry · 2024-01-01

  paratextOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Dichlorocarbene: From Jack Hine to Robert Moss

  Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry · 2023-08-10 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract A select history of dichlorocarbene chemistry between 1950 and 2010 will be presented. This is not a comprehensive review; rather, it is a personal perspective on the contributions of two respected colleagues, the reactive intermediate that spanned their research efforts, and their important contributions to organic synthesis and mechanistic thinking.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Investigation of phenyl azide photochemistry by conventional and time-resolved spectroscopy. Elucidation of intermediates and reaction mechanisms

  Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology · 2022-05-27 · 13 citations

  articleOpen access

  Early studies of the photochemistry of parent phenyl azide concerned the products obtained under specific experimental conditions. Depending on the products, various mechanisms and intermediates were proposed. Later work involving conventional spectroscopic studies in low temperature matrices allowed the direct detection and identification of several intermediates. Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy allowed the determination of a ground triplet phenyl nitrene and IR spectroscopy allowed the direct observation of ketenimine and bicyclic azirine. However, low temperature spectroscopy studies gave contradictory results with the formation of secondary photochemical intermediates and products. Recent studies using-time resolved spectroscopy allowed the direct observation of singlet phenyl nitrene. Furthermore, modern computational tools helped to corroborate experimental spectra of intermediates and to determine electronic structure of other possible intermediates, relative energies and mechanistic pathways. A unified picture of the photochemistry of phenyl azide has emerged from experimental, spectroscopic and theoretical studies. In this review, the results presented in each methodology are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Larvicidal Efficacy of Ozone and Ultrasound on Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Rat Lungworm) Third-Stage Larvae

  Foods · 2022-03-25 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  The parasitic nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis (rat lungworm) is the leading cause of human eosinophilic meningitis worldwide. Most human infections occur through the accidental consumption of A. cantonensis hidden within produce as infectious third-stage larvae (L3), yet little research has been published addressing possible methods to mitigate this means of transmission. Here, we describe our tests of ozone gas—an oxidizing agent—and ultrasound, both used for disinfection of food and municipal water supplies and in industrial cleaning. We found that exposure to ozone, produced using two different commercially available ozone generators over varying durations of time and concentrations, was capable of achieving 100% larval mortality. In addition, we evaluated the impact of different sound frequencies on A. cantonensis L3 survival using two different commercially available ultrasonic cleaners, and found that 60 s of 40 kHz produced 46% mortality within 2 h. The combined use of ultrasound and ozone gas simultaneously resulted in a minimum of 89% normalized mean percent mortality within 2 h of treatment. Our study suggests that both ozone and ultrasound show high larvicidal efficacy, both independently and together, and thus show promise as methods for reducing the risk of rat lungworm infection via accidental consumption.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Wavelength‐dependent photochemistry of 1‐phenyl‐1‐diazopropane

  Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry · 2021-11-18 · 2 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract 1‐Phenyl‐1‐diazopropane ( PDP ) was photolyzed in acetonitrile/methanol mixtures using either 520‐nm light or 350‐nm light. The main photoproducts were 1‐methoxypropylbenzene and E , Z ‐1‐phenylpropene. With 520‐nm light, a plot of (1‐methoxypropylbenzene)/( E , Z ‐1‐phenylpropene) versus methanol concentration was linear. These results are consistent with the visible light induced fragmentation of PDP to dinitrogen and closed shell singlet (S 0 ) ethyl, phenylcarbene ( 1 EPC ) which partitions between 1,2 hydrogen migration to form alkene, and reaction with methanol to form ether. The same plot generated with 350‐nm light significantly deviates from linearity. It is proposed that 350‐nm light generates the carbene in a vibrationally excited, open shell S 1 excited state ( 1 EPC* ). This state rearranges to E , Z ‐1‐phenylpropenes in competition with relaxation to ground state 1 EPC over a few tens of ps. As a result, methanol cannot completely suppress alkene formation upon photolysis of PDP with 350‐nm light. The carbene excited state is a “non‐trappable carbene” route to alkenes.

  PublisherDOI

• Carbene Spin Multiplicity in Solution Probed Using Time-Resolved EPR Spectroscopy

  UNC Libraries · 2021-08-14

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Time-resolved (CW) EPR spectroscopy at X-band has been used to detect free radicals created by H-atom abstraction reactions of photochemically generated carbenes in n-hexadecane solutions at room temperature. Three different carbenes were studied, formed via loss of nitrogen after photo-excitation of a substituted biphenyl diazo precursor. The TREPR signals from two different alkyl radicals and the benzylic-type radical from the carbene are detected for two of the three diazo substrates. The radicals were unambiguously identified by spectral simulation using literature parameters (g-factors and hyperfine coupling constants). Previous transient optical absorption spectroscopy experiments have concluded that these two carbenes have triplet ground states, which is confirmed by the low field emissive, high field absorptive phase of the TREPR signals reported here. The spectra are strongly spin polarized by the Radical Pair Mechanism of CIDEP, and their overall intensities track with the measured quantum yields for carbene production. A third substrate, known to react via a concerted Wolff reaction or excited state rearrangement via a singlet state, showed no TREPR signal, as expected. Reactions run in acetonitrile, where the spin multiplicity is reversed to give a singlet ground state, did not lead to detectable TREPR signals for all three substrates. The observations are consistent with previously published laser flash photolysis results.

  PublisherDOI

• Fluoro Aryl Azides: Synthesis, Reactions and Applications

  Current Organic Chemistry · 2020-06-08 · 16 citations

  article

  Background: The complex photochemistry of aryl azides has fascinated scientists for several decades. Spectroscopists have investigated the intermediates formed by different analytical techniques. Theoretical chemists have explained the intrinsic interplay of intermediates under different experimental conditions. Objective & Method: A complete understanding of the photochemistry of a given fluoro aryl azide is a basic requisite for its use in chemistry. In this review, we will discuss the synthesis of several fluoro substituted aryl azides and the reactions and intermediates generated upon photolysis and thermolysis of these azides and some examples of their applications in photoaffinity labeling and organic synthesis. Conclusion: In spite of the extensive research on the photochemistry of fluoro aryl azides, there are some areas that remain to be investigated. The application of this reaction in the synthesis of novel heterocyclic compounds has not been fully studied. Since fluorophenyl azides are known to undergo C-H and N-H insertion reactions, they could be used to prepare new fluorinated molecules or in the biochemical process known as photoaffinity labeling.

  PublisherDOI

• Thermolysis of 2-azido-3-(R-anilino)-1,4-naphthoquinones. Nitrene insertion versus hydrogen abstraction

  Tetrahedron Letters · 2020-02-12 · 6 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Excited and Ground State Hydrogen Migration

  NSF · $394k · 2019–2023

• NIH Grant R01GM073666

  NIH · $877k · 2011

• NIH Grant R01GM034823

  NIH · $679k · 1995

• Rearrangements of Carbenes and Diazirine Excited States

  NSF · $573k · 1997–2000

• Studies of Reactive Intermediates

  NSF · $1.1M · 2003–2008

Frequent coauthors

• Nina P. Gritsan

  170 shared

• Gotard Burdziński

  Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

  165 shared

• Christopher M. Hadad

  The Ohio State University

  113 shared

• Jin Wang

  Zhejiang University

  105 shared

• Jacek Kubicki

  Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

  80 shared

• Yunlong Zhang

  Changchun University of Chinese Medicine

  71 shared

• Weston Thatcher Borden

  60 shared

• William L. Karney

  University of San Francisco

  58 shared

Labs

• Organic Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryPI

Education

• PhD, Chemistry

  Yale University

  1977

Awards & honors

• Melvin S. Newman Professor of Chemistry
• Distinguished University Professor (2001)
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar
• The Distinguished Scholar Award (Ohio State University)