October 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of ACS becoming the Trustee of the ACS Petroleum Research Fund (PRF). We celebrate the occasion by looking back at impactful ACS journal articles published in the last 25 years from researchers funded through ACS PRF.
The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF) is a grant program dedicated to advancing scientific education and fundamental research directly related to petroleum science. Originally established in 1944 with the assets of several oil companies involved in litigation with the US government, ACS has been using the funds to make awards to researchers in chemistry, engineering, and geosciences since 1954.
On October 25, 2000, the ACS entered a new era of stewardship over the fund with the formal transfer of the Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) from the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York to the ACS. This Agreement of Transfer of Trust gave ACS the direct management of the Fund, which was reestablished as The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund in Washington, DC. With this agreement, ACS became both the income recipient of the trust and the Trustee.
With over $750 million awarded in research grants since the original PRF in 1954, the Fund continues to foster groundbreaking work in chemistry, engineering, and geosciences. ACS PRF makes awards to early career researchers and established researchers embarking on a new direction in their lab at both doctoral degree granting institutions and primarily undergraduate departments and institutions through four different grant programs. To celebrate 25 years since the transfer of trust, several ACS journals have partnered with ACS PRF to highlight influential research published in their journals that was partially or fully funded by an ACS PRF grant.
Browse Research in ACS journals funded by ACS PRF
With nearly 200 grants awarded by ACS PRF each year, the impact of the funded research is far-reaching. We invite you to explore a small collection of highlighted research funded by ACS PRF below.
Coherent 2D IR Spectroscopy: Molecular Structure and Dynamics in Solution
M. Khalil, N. Demirdöven, and A. Tokmakoff
J. Phys. Chem. A 2003, 107, 27, 5258–5279
DOI: 10.1021/jp0219247
High-Pressure Phase Behavior of Carbon Dioxide with Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids
Sudhir N. V. K. Aki, Berlyn R. Mellein, Eric M. Saurer, and Joan F. Brennecke
J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108, 52, 20355–20365
DOI: 10.1021/jp046895+
Carbon Dots as Nontoxic and High-Performance Fluorescence Imaging Agents
Sheng-Tao Yang, Xin Wang, Haifang Wang, Fushen Lu, Pengju G. Luo, Li Cao, Mohammed J. Meziani, Jia-Hui Liu, Yuanfang Liu, Min Chen, Yipu Huang, and Ya-Ping Sun
J. Phys. Chem. C 2009, 113, 42, 18110–18114
DOI: 10.1021/jp9085969
Revised Damping Parameters for the D3 Dispersion Correction to Density Functional Theory
Daniel G. A. Smith, Lori A. Burns, Konrad Patkowski, and C. David Sherrill
J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2016, 7, 12, 2197–2203
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b00780
Metrical Oxidation States of 2-Amidophenoxide and Catecholate Ligands: Structural Signatures of Metal–Ligand π Bonding in Potentially Noninnocent Ligands
Seth N. Brown
Inorg. Chem. 2012, 51, 3, 1251–1260
DOI: 10.1021/ic202764j
Systematic Errors in Computed Alkane Energies Using B3LYP and Other Popular DFT Functionals
Matthew D. Wodrich, Clémence Corminboeuf, and Paul von Ragué Schleyer
Org. Lett. 2006, 8, 17, 3631–3634
DOI: 10.1021/ol061016i
Electronic and Steric Parameters of 76 N-Heterocyclic Carbenes in Ni(CO)3(NHC)
Dmitry G. Gusev
Organometallics 2009, 28, 22, 6458–6461
DOI: 10.1021/om900654g
Establishment of Broadly Applicable Reaction Conditions for the Palladium-Catalyzed Direct Arylation of Heteroatom-Containing Aromatic Compounds
Benoît Liégault, David Lapointe, Laurence Caron, Anna Vlassova, and Keith Fagnou
J. Org. Chem. 2009, 74, 5, 1826–1834
DOI: 10.1021/jo8026565
ACS PRF Grants
Explore how ACS PRF continues to support fundamental research and early-career scientists. Whether you're a new investigator or an established researcher, the Fund offers opportunities to launch bold new directions in science.
