Email: kmnd@chem.cmb.ac.lk , desilva@lsu.edu

    Phone: (9411) 2503 367   

    Fax : (9411) 2503 367

    Office: 116

Academic Record:

• Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK - 1998.

• B.Sc. (Special in Chemistry, First Class) (Justin Samarasekera Award - Most Outstanding Science Student of the Year- 1992), University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Research Experience:

• Academic Visitor - Prof. Jeremy Sanders, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge January 1998 – October 1998.

• Academic Visitor - Dr. Nick Bampos, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge. Also worked at Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics with Dr. Jonathan Goodman, April 2003 – June 2003.

• Postdoctoral Fellow - Prof Evgueni Nesterov, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, USA, March 2005 - Feb 2006

• Postdoctoral Fellow - Prof. Andrew Maverick, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, USA, March 2006 - Feb 2007.

• NSF-TWAS Young Scientist of the Year 2004.

Research Interests:

(1)   Metal Organic Frameworks, Hydrogen storage, Catalysis

(2)   Organic Photovoltaic Cells based on EDOT  oligomers. (Organic Synthesis, Photophysics, Electrochemistry, AFM and STM)

(3) Investigations of iron nanoparticles and their applications.

(4)   Synthesis and photophysics of [2]Catenanes, [2]Rotaxanes, [3]rotaxanes and other supramolecular architecture using donor acceptor interactions.

(5)   Non Linear Optical (NLO) properties of organic and organometallic molecular systems: Ab initio quantum chemical calculations

(6)   Molecular modelling and quantum chemical calculations (NLO properties) of  [2]Catenanes and [2]Rotaxanes and other macromolecular systems

(7)   Molecular modelling of proteins: Binding of metal ions to Human Serum Albumin (HSA)

Selected Publications:

(1)  Dramatic enhancement of efficiency and stability of organic polymer photovoltaic devices prepared by self-assembled monolayer initiated electropolymerization. J. Am. Chem. Soc.,  Euiyong Hwang, K. M. Nalin de Silva, Chad A. Seevers, Jie-Ren Li, Jayne C. Garno, and Evgueni E. Nesterov (Submitted, 2007)

(2) Design, synthesis and properties of highly processable novel p-conjugated oligo-3-4-ethylenedioxythiophenes (EDOT) for electronic applications.  K.M. Nalin de Silva, Frank Fronczek and Evgueni E. Nesterov Adv. Mater., (2007).

(3) Mechanistic Investigation of the Influence of Surfactants on the Formation of Cobalt Nanoparticles, Rohini M. de Silva, Vadim Palshin, K. M. Nalin de Silva,  Laurence L. Henry, Josef Hormes, and Challa S. S. R. Kumar, Chem. Mater (2007)

(4)  What is the smallest saturated acyclic alkane that cannot be made, K. M. Nalin de Silva and Jonathan Goodman, Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling (Published by the American Chemical Society) J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2005, 45, 81-87. (one of the most accessed articles in 2005 at ACS)

(5)  Meso-β doubly linked and meso-meso, β-β, β-β triply linked oligoporphyrin molecular tapes as potential non linear optical (NLO) materials: Quantum chemical calculations, K. M. Nalin de Silva, Journal of Molecular Structure: THEOCHEM, 726/1-3 (2005), 39-45.

(6) Investigations of nonlinear optical properties of organometallic complexes using high accuracy Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, Ireshika C. de Silva, Rohini M. de Silva and K. M. Nalin de Silva, Journal of Molecular Structure: THEOCHEM, 728/1-3 (2005), 141-145.

(7) Molecular Mechanics (MM), Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Semi-empirical study of Co²⁺, Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Cd²⁺ binding to N-terminal of Human Serum Albumin (HSA), Suresh de Silva, Rohini M. de Silva and K. M. Nalin de Silva, Journal of Molecular Structure: THEOCHEM, 711/1-3 (2004) 73-81.

(8)  Nonlinear Optical Properties of Novel Fluorenyl Derivatives – Ab initio Quantum Chemical Calculations, Kanchana S. Thanthiriwatte and K. M. Nalin de Silva, J. Mol. Structure: THEOCHEM, 617/1-3 (2002), 169 – 175.

(9) Gel phase MAS ¹H NMR as a probe for supramolecular interactions at the solid-liquid interface. Yolanda de Miguel, Nick Bampos, K. M. Nalin de Silva, Steven   Richards and Jeremy K. M. Sanders, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1998, 2267.

(10)  Absolute rate data for reactions of atomic caesium Cs (6²S_1/2), determined by  time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence following pulsed irradiation. K. M. Nalin de Silva and D. Husain, Z. Phys. Chem., 216 (2002) 775 - 789.

(11) Kinetic measurements of fluorine, bromine and iodine atom-abstraction reactions at elevated temperatures by ground-state atomic rubidium, Rb(5²S_1/2), studied by time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence. E. Martinez, J. Albaladejo, E. Jimenez, A. Notario, D. Husain and K. M. Nalin de Silva.  J. Photochem. Photobiol., A:Chem. 142, 1-8, 2001.