We are interested in the interdisciplinary areas between organic chemistry, nanotechnology, and photodynamics.
Currently our research is focused on the three following projects:

1. Dark- and phototoxicity of quinone-porphyrin conjugates, controlled by the intramolecular photoelectron transfer.
2. Relationship between nanoscale morphology of carbonaceuos materials and their catalytic activity toward alkylation and oxidation of aromatic compounds.
3. Controlled modification of fluorescent nanocrystals with organic functionalities.

     Recent individual awards

2011 Northern Plains Undergraduate Research Center (NPURC) Grant

2010 Northern Plains Undergraduate Research Center (NPURC) Grant

2009 USD Research Excellence Development Grant

2009 Northern Plains Undergraduate Research Center (NPURC) Grant

2008 Faculty and Students Research Teams Award from the US Department of Energy for reseacrh at the Argonne National Laboratory

     Selected Publications

      1. Sereda, G.; Marshall, C.; Grady, A.; Dreessen, J.; Turner, M.; Libera, J. Effect of Atomic Layer Deposition Support Thickness on Structural Properties and Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane on Alumina- and Titania-Supported Vanadia Catal. Lett., 2012, 142, 4, 399-407

      2. Sereda, G.; Moorthy, R.; Basa, P.; Sykes, A.; Purohit, K.; Rajpara, V.; Becht, D. Unexpected Diastereoselective Acetylation of 1,8-Dimethoxyanthracene Adducts with Maleic Anhydride and Dimethyl Maleate Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2012, 4, 810-816

      3. Sereda, G.; Kim, T.; Aubrey, J.; Khatri, H.; Marshall, C.; Subramanian, H.; Koodali, R. Phthalocyanine- and Calixarene-Templating Effect on the Catalytic Performance of Solid Supported Vanadates Catal. Lett., 2011, 141 (8), 1086-1096

      4. Banerjee, S.; Khatri, H.; Balasanthiran, V.; Koodali, R.T.; Sereda, G. Synthesis of substituted acetylenes, arylealkyl ethers, 2-alkene-4-ynoates and nitriles using heterogeneous mesoporous Pd-MCM-48 as reusable catalyst Tetrahedron, 2011, 67, 5717-5724

      5. Sereda, G.; Horn, A.; Rajpara, V.; Koodali, R.; Urness, M.; Kruse, A.; Stewart, M.; Schloss, J.; Rodriguez, A.; Amundson, M.; Stegmair, A.; Zimmerman, A.; Woodring, R.; McInerney, K. Benzylic Photooxidation Catalyzed by Carbon-Supported Iron Oxides J. Und. Chem. Res.., 2011, 10 (3), 81-84

      6. Sereda, G.; Rajpara, V. Selective and Clean Cyclohexene-Promoted Oxidation and Photooxidation by Air Green and Sustain. Chem., 2011, 1, 26-30

      7. Banerjee, S.; Horn, A.; Khatri, H.; Sereda, G. A green one-pot multicomponent synthesis of 4H-pyrans and polysubstituted aniline derivatives of biological, pharmacological, and optical applications using silica nanoparticles as reusable catalyst Tetrahedron Lett., 2011, 52, 1878-1881

      8. Sereda, G.; Rajpara, V. Photoactivated and photopassivated benzylic oxidation catalyzed by pristine and oxidized carbons Catal. Commun., 2011, 12, 669-672

      9. Banerjee, S.; Balasanthiran, V.; Koodali, R.; Sereda, G. Pd-MCM-48: A Novel Recyclable Heterogeneous Catalyst for Chemo- and Regioselective Hydrogenation of Olefins and Coupling Reactions Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, 8, 4316-4321

      10. Sereda, G.; Rajpara, V. Exploration of Solid-Supported Reactions with Gold Nanoparticles J. Chem. Educ., 2010, 87, 9, 978-980

      11. Rajpara, V.; Banerjee, S.; Sereda, G. Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Grown on Carboxy-Functionalized Graphite: An Efficient Reusable Catalyst for Alkylation of Arenes. Synthesis, 2010, 16, 2835-2840

      12. Sereda, G.; Pothula, S.; Dreessen, J. Sodium Borohydride-Mediated Transesterification Synth. Commun., 2010, 40 (9), 1312-1321

      13. Banerjee, S.; Sereda, G. One-Step, Three-Component Synthesis of Highly Substituted Pyridines Using Silica Nanoparticle as Reusable Catalyst Tetrahedron Letters, 2009, 50, 6959-6962 Featured in SYNFACTS, 2010, 1, 119

      14. Sereda G. Organic Solvent-Free Synthesis of Cy39 Iodide Tetrahedron Letters, 2009, 50, 973-974

      15. Sereda G., Rajpara, V., Slaba R. The Synthetic Potential of Graphite-Catalyzed Alkylation Tetrahedron, 2007, 63, 34, 8351-8357

  Chemistry Department                  The University of South Dakota