Dr. Thrasher's research interests are in the areas of preparation, characterization, and utility of novel sulfur-fluorine compounds; industrial fluorine chemistry including fluoropolymer chemistry and electrochemistry; fluorine-containing molten salts/ionic liquids; fluorous media for improved separations and catalysis; fuel cell technology; development of new analytical methodologies in fluorine chemistry; and computational chemistry.
- Synthetic and theoretical studies of hypervalent sulfur-fluorine compounds, including tris(pentafluorosulfanyl)amine and its derivative chemistry.
- New pentafluorosulfanyl benzenes: precursors for novel monomers, explosives, and biologically-active compounds.
- A study of the utility of the pentafluorosulfanyl group in medicinal chemistry including SF5-containing amino acids as enzyme inhibitors, etc.
- Preparation and characterization of the sulfur tetrafluoride derivatives SF3CF2H and SF3CH2F: potential precursors to SF2=CF2 and SF2=CHF, respectively.
- The use of the SF5 group in materials applications.
- Thiapyrylium fluoride: a computational and preparative study.
- Pentafluorosulfanyl anion, radical, and cation and the related chlorotetrafluorosulfanyl species: approaches to the synthesis of SF4Cl2.
- Novel catalysts and halogen exchange media for CFC alternatives and related chemistry.
- Surface spectroscopic investigations of perfluoroalkylpolyethers in terms of solving research problems in materials for information technology.
- The analysis of fluoro and oxo-fluoro anions by ion chromatography.
- Applications of microscopy (optical to scanning tunneling) and other modern ex-situ and in-situ techniques to the study of Simons electrochemical fluorination.
- Photoabsorption and variable-energy photoelectron spectroscopy of highly oxidized phosphorus and sulfur compounds: exploration of bonding in hypervalent species.
