Research Interests:

Crystalline materials for environmental and energy applications
Solid-state organic chemistry
Molecular and ion recognition
Supramolecular chemistry
Crystallography
Chemical separations

Awards:

 Margaret Etter Early Career Award,
    American Crystallographic Association, 2008

Harold Hart Endowed Fellowship, Michigan State University, 2000

 Third Prize, National Chemistry Olympiad  (Romania, 1990)

Professional Societies:

American Chemical Society, Member

American Crystallographic Association, Member

Selected Publications:

1. Custelcean, R.; Bosano, J.; Bonnesen, P. V.; Kertesz, V.; Hay, B. P., "Self-Assembled Cages Made to Order: Deliberate Design of a Sulfate Encapsulating Receptor", Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., in press.
2. Custelcean, R.; Remy, P., "Selective Crystallization of Urea-Functionalized Capsules with Tunable Anion-Binding Cavities", Cryst. Growth Des., in press.
3. Custelcean, R.; Remy, P.; Bonnesen, P. V.; Jiang, D.-E.; Moyer, B. A. "Sulfate Recognition by Persistent Crystalline Capsules with Rigidified Hydrogen Bonding Cavities", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 1866.
4. Custelcean, R. "Crystal Engineering with Urea and Thiourea Hydrogen-Bonding Groups", invited Feature Article, Chem. Commun. 2008, 295 (top 10 most accessed papers, 01/2008).
5. Custelcean, R.; Jiang, D.; Hay, B. P.; Luo, W.; Gu, B. "Hydrogen-Bonded Helices for Anion Binding and Separation", Cryst. Growth Des. 2008, 8, 1909, (featured on the cover).
6. Custelcean, R.; Moyer, B. A. "Anion Separation with Metal-Organic Frameworks", invited review, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2007, 10, 1321 (featured on the cover, most accessed paper in 03/07).
7. Custelcean, R.; Sellin, V.; Moyer, B. A. "Sulfate Separation by Selective Crystallization of a Urea-Functionalized Metal-Organic Framework", Chem. Commun. 2007,1541.
8. Custelcean, R.; Moyer, B. A.; Bryantsev, V. S; Hay, B. P. "Anion Coordination in Metal-Organic Frameworks Functionalized with Urea Hydrogen-Bonding Groups", Cryst. Growth Des. 2006, 6, 555 (top 10 most cited papers in 2006).
9. Custelcean, R.; Gorbunova, M. G. "A Metal-Organic Framework Functionalized with Free Carboxylic Acid Sites and its Selective Binding of a Cl(H2O)4- Cluster", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 16362.
10. Custelcean, R.; Moyer, B. A.; Hay, B. P. "A Coordinatively Saturated Sulfate Encapsulated in a Metal-Organic Framework Functionalized with Urea Hydrogen-Bonding Groups", Chem. Commun. 2005, 5971 (featured on the cover).
11. Custelcean, R.; Delmau, L. H.; Moyer, B. A.; Sessler, J. L.; Cho, W.-S.; Gross, D.; Bates, G. W.; Brooks, S. J.; Light, M. E.; Gale, P. A. "Calix[4]pyrrole: An Old yet New Ion-Pair Receptor", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44, 2537 (featured on the cover)