Dr. Matthew R. Gronquist
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
207a Houghton Hall
SUNY College at Fredonia
Fredonia, NY 14063
Tel: (716) 673-4842
Fax: (716) 673-3347
Schedule
Matthew.Gronquist@Fredonia.edu

The field of Chemical Ecology deals with ecological interaction at the molecular level. From a chemist’s perspective, the focus is generally on the mechanisms by which small- molecule natural products (secondary metabolites) are produced, regulated, and deployed in the natural world. The number of currently known natural products may only represent a small fraction of the total chemical diversity collectively encoded in the genomes of all living organisms. Furthermore, an understanding of the ways in which these secondary metabolites function ecologically is even less complete. Two examples of current interest will be discussed. The first involves the defensive chemistry of a diurnal species of firefly, Lucidota atra, while the second example deals with chemical communication among bacteria. These analyses are of considerable interest, both in terms of understanding the general ecology of the involved species, as well as in terms of the larger goal of identifying new bioactive compounds in nature. Such compounds have the potential for anthropic use in such varied applications as medicines and pest control agents.