Contact Information

• pshivoke@unca.edu
• 232-5194
• 2500 University Heights

Courses Taught:

• CHEM 222 Organic Chemistry Laboratory
• CHEM 231 Organic Chemistry I
• CHEM 429 Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis

Education:

• PhD Inorganic Chemistry - The University of Virginia
• BS Chemistry - State University of New York Plattsburgh
• BA History - State University of New York Plattsburgh

About Me:

I grew up in the Adirondack region of upstate New York where I fostered my love of nature. I stayed in the mountains of northern New York and attended SUNY Plattsburgh. There I fed my diverse academic interests en route to dual bachelor's degrees in chemistry and history. After graduation I worked in the Dean's office and chemistry labs and decided that I never wanted to leave the university setting. In order to extend my stay in the academic world I went to the University of Virginia. Under the outstanding tutelage of W. Dean Harman I really began to understand the beauty and complexity of chemistry. During my graduate career I built chiral electron-rich metal complexes to further organometallic dearomatization chemistry, culminating in my PhD in inorganic chemistry.

After wrapping up my graduate studies I hopped around the country teaching general, organic, and inorganic chemistry at Lander University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and California State University Bakersfield. After all that traveling, I moved back to the Blue Ridge Mountains and joined the faculty at UNCA in 2022 to teach organic and organometallic chemistry.

When I'm not in the classroom or lab I like to get out of my head and work with my hands. I enjoy woodworking and fancy myself an amateur furniture and boat builder. I love to get out and explore nature whenever possible on the trail or on the water. I also continue to feed my inner humanities nerd with an ever growing library of various scientific and historical topics.

Teaching Interests:

My teaching interests are aligned with my research background at the interface of organic and inorganic chemistry. I also enjoy exploring the fundamentals and vast possibilities of chemistry through general chemistry courses. In addition to chemistry, I would love to connect my science and humanities interests in a course that examines the many intersections of science and society throughout history.

Research Interests:

During my formal training at UVA in organometallic dearomatization chemistry I dabbled in many chelating ligands. My current research interests build from this foundation and intersect with metallic enzyme models, catalysis, and chemical sensors. Among these interests are the synthesis of pH sensitive chelators to provide improved active site models and offer applications to control catalyst behavior. These projects will incorporate pH active functional groups into traditional chelators and metal complexes to explore modulation of their chemical and physical properties. Stereochemistry is another important aspect of both enzyme modeling and catalyst activity. The manipulation of chiral metal complexes will be explored by the introduction of chirality within the framework of chelating ligands. Controlling chelation properties also allows for more advanced detection of chemicals of interest in biological and environmental settings.

Selected Publications:

Jia, X.; Tian, S; Shivokevich, P.J.; Harman, W.D.; Dickie, D.A.; Gunnoe, T.B. “Electron Deficient Ru(II) Complexes as Catalyst Precursors for Ethylene Hydrophenylation” Inorganics. 2022, 10(6), 76.

Heyer, A.J.†*; Shivokevich, P.J.†; Hooe, S.L.; Welch, K.D.; Harman, W.D.; Machan, C.W. “Reversible Modulation of the Redox Characteristics of Acid-Sensitive Molybdenum and Tungsten Scorpionate Complexes.” Dalton Trans. 2018, 47, 6323-6332.

         † Co-first authors with equal contribution, *Mentored undergraduate researcher

Shivokevich, P.J.†; Myers, J.T.†; Smith, J.A.; Pienkos, J.A.; Dakermanji, S.J.; Pert, E.J.; Welch, K.D.; Trindle, C.O.; Harman, W.D. “Enantioenriched Molybdenum Dearomatization: Dissociative Substitution with Configurational Stability.” Organometallics, 2018, 37, 4446-4456.

         † Co-first authors with equal contribution

Myers, J.T.; Smith, J.S.; Dakermanji, S.J.; Wilde, J.H.; Wilson, K.B.; Shivokevich, P.J.; Harman, W.D. “Molybdenum(0) Dihapto-Coordination of Benzene and Trifluorotoluene: The Stabilizing and Chemo-Directing Influence of a CF3 Group.” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139, 11392-11400.

Myers, J.T.; Dakermanji, S.J.; Chastanet, T.R.; Shivokevich, P.J.; Strausberg, L.J.; Sabat, M.; Myers, W.H.; Harman, W.D. “4-(Dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) as an Acid-Modulated Donor Ligand for PAH Dearomatization.” Organometallics, 2016, 36, 543-555.

Myers, J.T.; Shivokevich, P.J.; Pienkos, J.A.; Sabat, M.; Myers, W.H.; Harman, W.D. “Synthesis of 2-Substituted 1,2-Dihydronaphthalenes and 1,2-Dihydroanthracenes Using a Recyclable Molybdenum Dearomatization Agent.” Organometallics, 2015, 34, 3648-3657.

Pienkos, J.A.; Kinsely, A.T.; MacLeod, B.L.; Myers, J.T.; Shivokevich, P.J.; Teran, V.; Sabat, M.; Myers, W.H.; Harwman, W.D. “Double Protonation of Amino-Substituted Pyridine and Pyrimidine Tungsten Complexes: Friedel-Crafts like Coupling to Aromatic Heterocycles.” Organometallics, 2014, 33, 5464-5469.

Nifiatis, F.; Athas, J.C.; Gunaratne, D.D.; Gurung, Y.; Monette, K.M.; Shivokevich, P.J. “Substituent Effects of Porphyrin on Singlet Oxygen Generation Quantum Yields.” The Open Spectroscopy Journal, 2011, 5, 1-12.