The Singleton research group at Texas
A&M University has been using unique isotopic
analyses since 1995 to be world leaders in the experimental study of
organic reaction mechanisms. (See 'Literature Background' for the
development of analyses and diverse applications.) Dr. Singleton is currently Professor of Chemistry and Davidson Professor of Science at Texas A&M University, as well as being an Associate Editor for The Journal of Organic Chemistry. For 2008, Dr. Singleton's research in isotopic analysis and mechanistic chemistry will be honored by the American Chemical Society with an Arthur C. Cope Scholar award.
PROCESS ORIGINS applies and extends the methodologies of the Singleton group to the scientifically similar problem of investigating
manufacturing processes. A key idea in these analyses is that the
manufacturing process by which a chemical is made, including the
source of its starting materials and the detailed reaction sequence,
leaves behind a fingerprint in the distribution of isotopes in the
final material. Aspects of the isotopic fingerprints obtained on
analysis may then be uniquely associated with particular reactions or
processes.
