Emmanuel Dongala

Chemistry

Division: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Year Appointed: 1998

Education:
B.A.; Oberlin College;
M.S., Rutgers University;
Doctorat de Specialité, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg (France);
Doctorat-es-Sciences, Université des Sciences et Tchniques, Montpellier (France)

Research:
Stereochemistry and asymetric syntheses, Envionmental toxicology

Positions:
Worked at Universite Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg where he taught students preparing for the Agrégation in physical sciences while doing research on chiral molecules. He then moved to the Ecole Normale Superieure de Chimie in Montpellier as a research assistant working on the synthesis of small polymers while supervising second year students' organic chemistry laboratory. He was appointed chairman of the chemistry department at the Universite de Brazzaville (Congo) His main research work was devising a cheap, fast and reliable way for the evaluation of toxic cyanogenic glucosides in cassava (manioc), the main food staple of the country. He was appointed Dean of Academic Affairs in 1985.

Professional Activities:
Dr. Dongala was vice-president of the Math and Physical Sciences section of the Conseil Africain et Malgache de l'Enseignement Suoerieure (CAMES) 1995-1997, the only institution accredited to evaluate and promote professors in all Francophone African universities. His research has been published among others in Tetrahedron Letters, Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences(Paris), Journal of Fluorine Chemistry, European Journal of Polymers.

Dr. Dongala is also a writer of fiction and a Guggenheim Fellow.

An online interview "Across the Cosmos" is on the Q magazine website, and a copy of his National Public Radio interview on the "Fresh Air" program is available on the NPR website.

Publications:

• Synthese asymetrique de beta-hydroxyacides par condensation aldolique, Tetrahedron Letters (50) 4983-4986, 1973
• Syntehse de telomeres optiquement actifs, Tetrahedron Letters (49) 4315-4316, 1977
• Telomerisation par catalyse redox, European Polymer Journal Vol 13, 929-934, 1977
• Polyesterification of Halogen Containing Difunctional Compounds, Journal of Fluorine Chemistry, (17) 113-126, 1980
• Contribution a l'Etude des Micronutriments du manioc: les acides gras, Journal de la Societe Chimique de Tunisie, Vol II, number 8, December 1988
• Dr Dongala's novels are listed on the New York State Writers Institute website.

Contact Information:
Office: Fisher Science and Academic Center, Room 207
Phone: (413)-528-7439
Fax: (413)-528-7334
Email: edongala@simons-rock.edu