He completed a predoctoral fellowship (1958-1959) and earned his PhD in physical chemistry (1959-1960) at the University of California, Berkeley, advised by Kenneth Pitzer.
[12] His final projects were focused on the development of his valency interaction formula (VIF) theory, a method for predicting energy level patterns for compounds from the manipulation of graphs (1983).
[13][14] He intended for chemists to be able to use his system to predict the ways in which complex chemical reactions would proceed, using only a chalkboard or pencil and paper.
He continued to develop the VIF method, which he sometimes referred to as "Sinanoğlu Made Simple," and other problems related to graph theory and quantum mechanics for the rest of his career.
[19] During his time at Yale, Sinanoğlu served as a consultant to Turkish universities, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
[3] In 1962, the Board of Trustees of Middle East Technical University in Ankara granted him the title of "consulting professor.
"[4] After his retirement from Yale, Sinanoğlu was appointed to the chemistry department of Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, serving until 2002.
[26] His body was transferred to Turkey, where he was buried in Karacaahmet Cemetery, Üsküdar following the religious funeral service at Şakirin Mosque.