Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Development Of Novel Protein Digestion And Quantitation Methods For Mass Spectrometic Analysis, Yongling Ai

Dissertations

Proteins are the workhorses of biology, playing multifaceted roles in maintaining cellular function, signaling, and response to environmental cues. Understanding their abundance and dynamics is pivotal for unraveling the complexities of biological processes, which underpins the foundations of molecular and cellular biology. Accurate measurement of protein quantities provides insights into cellular homeostasis, facilitates the discovery of biomarkers, and sheds light on the molecular mechanisms of diseases, bridging the gap between the molecular intricacies of proteins and their functional consequences in health and disease. The evolution of protein quantitation methodologies, from classical colorimetric assays to sophisticated mass spectrometry-based approaches, has expanded …

Development Of Novel Mass Spectrometric Methods For Reaction Screening, Oligosaccharide Detection, And Nitrosamine Quantitation, Qi Wang

Dissertations

Benefitting from its high detection sensitivity and specificity, mass spectrometry (MS) has become a powerful technique in academia and industry. The aim of this dissertation study is to develop new mass spectrometric methods for organic reaction screening, detection of oligosaccharide/glycan in complex matrices, and nitrosamine absolute quantitation.

First, an electrochemistry/mass spectrometry (EC/MS) platform is built to generate an N-cyclopropylaniline radical cation electrochemically and to monitor its reactivity toward alkenes, which leads to the discovery of a new redox neutral reaction of intermolecular [3 + 2] annulation of N-cyclopropylanilines and alkenes. Net redox neutral electrosynthesis is quite rare in synthetic organic …

Novel Applications Of Mass Spectrometry For Quantitation And Reaction Mechanism Elucidation, Pengyi Zhao

Dissertations

Mass spectrometry (MS) has been growing as one of the most widely used tools in the field of analytical chemistry. Various applications have been developed to harness the high sensitivity and specificity of mass spectrometric analysis. In this dissertation, two major challenges are addressed. By developing mass spectrometric-based methods, absolute quantitation of proteins/peptides have been achieved. Elucidation of various reaction mechanisms are also enabled. These are the focuses of this dissertation.

In Chapters 2 to 4, a novel quantitation method is developed, titled as coulometric mass spectrometry (CMS). The strength of this method is that no reference standard or isotope-labeled …

Reduction In Salt Deposition On Carbon Nano-Tube Immobilized Membrane During Desalination Via Membrane Distillation, Madihah Saud Humoud

Dissertations

As water scarcity increases globally under the stresses of increasing demand, aquifer depletion, and climate change, the market for efficient desalination technologies has grown rapidly to fill the void. One such developing technology, membrane distillation (MD), has found much interest in the scientific community. MD has also been powered by solar energy and waste heat resources because it can be operated at relatively low temperatures. Recent studies indicate that MD could potentially achieve the efficiencies of state-of-the-art mature thermal desalination technologies, although additional engineering and scientific challenges must first be overcome.

MD can be used to treat high salinity water …