James M. Riordan

Biography

Dr. James M. Riordan was trained as a synthetic organic chemist at The University of Georgia where he used 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopy to determine the structure of the compounds synthesized. Dr. Riordan had a postdoctoral fellowship in synthetic carbohydrate chemistry with Dr. D. E. Kiely at The University of Alabama at Birmingham's (UAB) Department of Chemistry, during which time he did extensive NMR work on a Varian EM390 NMR spectrometer and a Varian 220-MHz spectrometer.

Two years later, Dr. Riordan joined the NMR Core Facility of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB as a synthetic organic chemist. While working in the cancer center, Dr. Riordan had hands-on experience with a Bruker HFX-90, a CXP 200/300, and a WH 400. In addition to using the NMR spectroscopy for structure determinations on compounds synthesized, Dr. Riordan used NMR spectroscopy to study the interaction of analogs of the anticancer drug Bleomycin with calf-thymus DNA and with a poly dA-dT.

Since joining the Molecular Spectroscopy Group at Southern Research in 1984, Dr. Riordan has had the responsibility for the maintenance and operation of a NT 300 NB, a 300-MHz Nicolet spectrometer. In order to enhance his capabilities of maintaining the NMR spectrometer, in 1991 Dr. Riordan took the "Electronics and Troubleshooting" course taught by NMR Concepts and Dr. Daniel Traficante. At the EAS in 1991, he also took the NMR short course "Methods and Principles of 2D NMR" taught by Dr. LeRoy Johnson and Dr. Gheorghe Mateescu. In March, 1994, he took a more in-depth course, "Two Dimensional NMR" taught by NMR Concepts and Dr. Daniel Traficante.

Dr. Riordan utilizes the 600- and 400-MHz NMR spectrometers at UAB's Comprehensive Cancer Center when necessary. Recently, he has authored and co-authored several papers where the increased dispersion and sensitivity of a higher field NMR spectrometer were very necessary.

Dr. Riordan is currently supervising the work of the Spectroscopic and Analytical Laboratory which provides analytical services such as IR spectroscopy, U.V. spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, CHN analysis, and HPLC chromatography. He is also responsible for the SRI-database (a chemical structure database of compounds synthesized at Southern Research).