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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Facilitating Conceptual Learning In Quantitative Chemistry, Sarah R. Johnson May 2016

Facilitating Conceptual Learning In Quantitative Chemistry, Sarah R. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditional chemistry laboratory courses have a manual consisting of “step-by-step” experiments; instructions are given to complete experiments, requiring minimal information/concepts processing to be successful. This experience leaves students unprepared for the real-world, where critical thinking skills are needed to conduct research. This study focused on building analytical techniques, conceptual knowledge, and critical thinking skills used to solve research problems. A new quantitative chemistry laboratory manual was developed to transition students from traditional to inquiry-based experiments, requiring analytical method development. Data showed students having less difficulty using the new manual (0.8281 average difficulty) on method development exam questions and experiments, compared …


Immobilization Of Heteropolyacids In Silica Gel, Opeyemi Adetola May 2016

Immobilization Of Heteropolyacids In Silica Gel, Opeyemi Adetola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Silica gels containing incorporated heteropolyacids (HPAs) were synthesized in acidic media by co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) with phosphotungstic or phosphomolybdic acids using sol-gel technique. Effect of the synthesis conditions on their structure and morphology was studied. Yields of modified materials were some lower as compared to non-modified silica gels. All materials were mesoporous but contained micropores in their structures. Presence of bands of Keggin’s structures in FT-IR spectra along with absence of XRD patterns of crystalline HPAs confirmed their fine incorporation into silica network. Particle sizes of modified materials were 800-1100 nm excepting for W-containing sample obtained with trimethylstearylammonium chloride. …


Chemoselective Reactions And Their Applications In Metabolite Isolation And Analysis., Sadakatali Shokatali Gori May 2016

Chemoselective Reactions And Their Applications In Metabolite Isolation And Analysis., Sadakatali Shokatali Gori

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chemoselectivity is the preferential reaction of a reagent with a select functional group among other plausible reactions. This dissertation describes chemoselective reagents and methods explored to develop more accurate, efficient and high-throughput means to quantify metabolites containing either thiol, carboxylic acid or 1,2-diol moieties directly from biological mixtures. Chapter 1 discusses how dysregulation of thiol- or carboxylic acid-containing metabolites is either the cause or effect of cellular dysfunction. Quantifying such metabolites is important in discovery of pathways to understand etiology of diseases. Chapter 1 also discusses the need for sustainable syntheses using renewable resources and describes the traditional methods for …