Dr Ford joined the UCSB after earning his Ph.D. at Yale and a NSF postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Henry Taube at Stanford. He is a Fellow of the AAAS and was a Senior Fulbright Fellow. His awards include a Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Award (1972) Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior U.S. Scientist Award (1992), the Richard C. Tolman Medal of the ACS (1993) and the Inter-American Photochemical Society Award in Photochemistry (2008). More than 60 UCSB Ph.D.s have earned their degrees while working in his research group.

Inorganic & Organometallic/Molecular Design & Synthesis/Biomedical Sciences/Biology-Inspired Chemistry & Physics/Energy/Catalysis & Green Chemistry/Structural Chemistry/Spectroscopy & Advanced Analysis

Our research is concerned with three long-term interests: catalysis, the photochemistry and photophysics of transition metal complexes, and the chemistry of NO and other small molecule bioregulators. A common theme is our interest in reaction mechanisms and in applications of quantitative spectroscopic techniques to investigate these systems.Our catalysis research is focused on sustainable methodologies for the conversion of biomass to fuels and chemical precursors. We have developed new methods to convert waste materials such as woodchips directly to liquid fuels. The successful utilization of such renewable resources will lower the carbon dioxide burden on the environment.Photochemical studies in the Ford lab involve the application of nanomaterials such as quantum dots as antennas to collect light and to transfer energy to metal complexes that release certain bioactive agents. The ability to stimulate and control the delivery of such compounds to physiological targets is crucial to the design and implementation of photochemically activated drugs.The third area of research is concerned with evaluating the quantitative chemical reactivities of small molecule bioregulators such NO, CO, etc with biologically relevant metal centers. Understanding the mechanisms of such systems will provide guidelines for evaluating the known roles and discovering new roles for these species in mammalian physiology.

Nitrite reduction by CoII and MnII substituted myoglobins. Towards understanding necessary components of Mb nitrite reductase activity. Heinecke J, Yi J, Pereira JCM, Richter-Addo GB, Ford PC. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 2012, 107, 47-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2011.10.006. Photochemically Activated Carbon Monoxide Release for Biological Targets. Developing Air-Stable Group 6 PhotoCORMs Labilized by Visible Light. Rimmer RD, Pierri AE, Ford PC. Coord. Chem. Rev. 2012, 256, 1509-1519. DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2011.12.009 Quantum Dot Photoluminescence Quenching by Cr(III) Complexes. Photosensitized Reactions and Evidence for a FRET Mechanism. Burks PT, Ostrowski AD, Mikhailovsky AA, Chan EM, Wagenknecht PS, Ford PC. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 13266-13275. DOI: 10.1021/ja300771w One-Pot Reduction of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural via Hydrogen Transfer from Supercritical Methanol. Hansen TS, Barta K, Anastas P, Ford PC, Riisager A. Green Chemistry, 2012, 14, 2457-61. DOI: 10.1039/c2gc35667h Quantum Dot Photosensitizers. Interactions with Transition Metal Centers. Burks PT & Ford PC. Dalton Trans. 2012, 41, 13030-42. DOI: 10.1039/C2DT30465A Liposome Encapsulation of a Photochemical NO Precursor for Controlled Nitric Oxide Release and Simultaneous Fluorescence Imaging. Ostrowski AD, Lin BF, Tirrell MV, Ford PC. Molecular Pharmaceuticals. 2012, 9, 2950-2955. DOI: 10.1021/mp300139y Lanthanide Modification of CdSe/ZnS Core/Shell Quantum Dots. Dethlefsen JR, Mikailovsky AA, Burks PT, Døssing A, Ford PC. J. Phys. Chem. C. 2012, 116, 23713-23720. DOI: 10.1021/jp306915p A Luminescent and Biocompatible PhotoCORM. Pierri AE, Pallaoro A, Wu G, Ford PC. J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 18197-18200. DOI: 10.1021/ja3084434 Step-Economical and Robust One-Pot Synthesis of Benzothiazoles From Carboxylic Acids Including those with Hydroxyl and Amino Substituents. Meghdadi S, Amirnasr M, Ford PC. Tetrahedron Letters. 2012, 53, 6950-6953. DOI: 10.1016/j.tetlet.2012.10.035 Nitrosyl Isomerism in Amorphous Mn(TPP)(NO) solid. Kurtikyan TS, Hayrapetyan VA, Matirosyan GG, Ghazaryan RK, Iretskii AV, Zhao H, Pierloot K, Ford PC. Chemical Communications. 2012, 48(99), 12088-12090. DOI: 10.1039/C2CC37337H Near-Infrared Triggered Release of Caged Nitric Oxide using Upconversion Nanostructured Materials. Garcia JV, Yang J, Shen D, Yao C, Li X, Stucky GD, Zhao D, Ford PC, Zhang F. Small, 2012, 8, 3800-3805. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201201213 Flash and Continuous Photolysis Kinetic Studies of the Iron−Iron Hydrogenase Model (μ-pdt)[Fe(CO)3]2 in Different Solvents, Jon Marhenke, Agustin E. Pierri, Melanie Lomotan, Peter L. Damon, Peter C. Ford, Carmen Works, Inorganic Chemistry, 2011, 50, 11850-11852. DOI:10.1021/ic201523 One-Pot Catalytic Conversion of Cellulose and of Woody Biomass Solids to Liquid Fuels, Theodore D. Matson, Katalin Barta, Alexei V. Iretskii, Peter C. Ford, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133, 14090-14097. DOI:10.1021/ja205436c Mononuclear copper(I) complexes of O-t-butyl-1,1-dithiooxalate and of O-t-butyl-1-perthio-1-thiooxalate, David F. Zigler, Elisa Tordin, Guang Wu, Alexei V. Iretskii, Elena Cariati, Peter C. Ford, Inorganica Chimica Acta, 2011, 374, 261-268. DOI:10.1016/j.ica.2011.02.037 {N,N\'-[2,2\'-(Ethane-1,2-diyldisulfanediyl)di-o-phenylene]bis(quinoline-2-carboxamidato)}copper(II). Meghdadi, Soraia; Mirkhani, Valiollah; Ford, Peter C. Acta Cryst., Section E: Structure Reports Online, 2011, E67(6), m820-m821. DOI:10.1107/S1600536811019581 Ruthenium-nitrite complex as pro-drug releases NO in a tissue and enzyme-dependent way, Amanda de C. Pereira, Peter C. Ford, Roberto S. da Silva, Lusiane M. Bendhack, Nitric Oxide, 2011, 24, 192-198. DOI:10.1016/j.niox.2011.03.001 The Photochemistry of trans-Cr(cyclam)(ONO)2+, a Nitric Oxide Precursor, Alexis D. Ostrowski, Ryan O. Absalonson, Malcolm A. De Leo, Guang Wu, James G. Pavlovich, Janet Adamson, Bilal Azhar, Alexei V. Iretskii, Ian L. Megson, Peter C. Ford. Inorg. Chem., 2011, 50, 4453-4462. Correction: Inorganic Chemistry, 2011, 50, 5848. DOI:10.1021/ic200094x Metal Centered Ligand Field Excited States: Their Roles in the Design and Performance of Transition Metal Based Photochemical Molecular Devices, Paul S. Wagenknecht, Peter C. Ford, Coord. Chem. Rev. 2011, 255 591–616. DOI:10.1016/j.ccr.2010.11.016 Hexacoordinate Oxy-Globin Models Fe(Por)(NH3)(O2) React with NO to form the Nitrato Analogs Fe(Por)(NH3)(η1-ONO2), even at ~100K, Tigran S. Kurtikyan and Peter C. Ford, Chem. Comm., 2010, 46, 8570-8572. DOI: 10.1039/C0CC02665D Water Gas Shift Reaction--Homogeneous, Peter C. Ford. Encyclopedia of Catalysis. 2nd Ed., J. Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ, Published Online: 5 Mar 2010. DOI:10.1002/0471227617.eoc202