Professor Kampmeier’s research interests centered on the mechanisms of organic and organometallic reactions. Recent work focused on the reductive cleavage of sulfonium salts. Photochemical reductants are especially useful for mechanistic studies. For example, the excited singlet states of suitable photosensitizers react with sulfonium salts by electron transfer; the excited state is oxidized and the sulfonium salt is reduced. Careful studies of the quantum yields (F < 1) reveal intermediate sulfuranyl radicals that partition between productive cleavage and unproductive return electron transfer.

Studies of the direction of cleavage of unsymmetrical sulfonium salts are best interpreted in terms of isomeric, T-shaped σ-sulfuranyl radicals. Recent studies showed that the ratio of anyl/alkyl cleavage depended on the structure of the sulfuranyl radicals and on the driving force in the reduction step.

Professor Kampmeier had an active research interest in exploring and developing the use of an interactive peer-led team-learning model to help beginning students learn science. These "Workshops" are still a standard feature of organic chemistry instruction at Rochester and have propagated to other chemistry courses as well as to courses in several other disciplines in the College.