Anatole Sarko
Professor Emeritus
219 Jahn Laboratory
470-6824
asarko@esf.edu
Ph.D., 1966, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Visiting Scientist, University of Freiburg, West Germany, 1978; Visiting Scientist, Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolecules Vegetales, Grenoble, France, 1978; Chairman, Tenth Cellulose Conference, Syracuse, 1982; Visiting Scientist, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan, 1986. Member, Program Committee of ACS Cellulose, Paper, and Textile Division, 1984-1987. Associate Member of Polymer Research Institute, Acting Director of Cellulose Research Institute; Chairman, Faculty of Chemistry, 1984-1997. Anselme Payen Award, American Chemical Society, 1989; Fellow, International Academy of Wood Science, 1993; Sigma Xi; Phi Lambda Upsilon.
The interests of Anatole Sarko center on the molecular structure and morphology of biopolymers - in particular, polysaccharides - in their solid and solution states. For example, it is known that polysaccharides in nature possess biological and physical properties that are determined by their molecular conformation. The latter, in turn, can be determined by diffraction methods, such as X-ray and electron, and often predicted by computer modeling. The development and refinement of the predictive modeling methods constitutes a large part of this research. He has, in addition, studied the effects of conformation on the morphology, or the supermolecular organization of these biopolymers in their solid state by light scattering methods. Similarly, he has studied the effects of macromolecular conformation on the solution properties of the polysaccharides, through methods such as optical rotatory dispersion and circular dichroism. Computer application is particularly stressed in all of Sarko's research, and his most recent interests center on supercomputer assisted efforts to study the quantum mechanical and dynamic molecular properties of polymers.
Representative Publications
- Mercerization of Cellulose. V. The Crystal Structure of Na-Cellulose I, H. Nishimura and A. Sarko, Macromolecules 24, 759 (1991).
- Mercerization of Cellulose. VI. The Crystal Structure of Na-Cellulose IV, H. Nishimura and A. Sarko, Macromolecules 24, 771 (1991).
- Molecular and Crystal Structure of Konjac Glucomannan in the Mannan II Polymorphic Form, T. Yui and A. Sarko, Carbohydr. Res. 229, 57 (1992).
- Conformational Analysis and Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Cellobiose and Larger Oligomers, B.J. Hardy and A. Sarko, J. Comp. Chem. 14, 831-847 (1993). Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Cellobiose in Water, B.J. Hardy and A. Sarko, J. Comp. Chem. 14, 848-857 (1993).
- Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Diffraction-based Analysis of the Native Cellulose Fibre: Structural Modelling of the I- and I- Phases and their Interconvesion, B.J. Hardy and A. Sarko, Polymer 37, 1833-1839 (1996).