Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Analysis Of Structural Stability Of Human Prosecretory Mitogenic Lacritin By Circular Dichroism, Anna P. Desmarais, Casey Q. Ramirez Cortes

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Purpose: Lacritin is a human tear glycoprotein that has high thermal stability. When cleaved, lacritin has antimicrobial activity resulting from the C-terminus amphipathic alpha helical region. The alpha helices contain three salt bridges; ionic bonds between neighboring oppositely charged amino acids. The purpose of this research was to investigate the hypothesis that the salt bridges within the alpha helices contribute to the high thermal stability.

Methods: To determine the role of salt bridges in the thermal stability of lacritin, point mutants were prepared for each salt bridge by site directed mutagenesis that replaced the oppositely charged amino acids with serine. …

Real Time Monitoring Of Photocatalysis: An Application And Expansion Of The Quartz Crystal Microbalance, Perrin Godbold

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

There are many applications of photocatalytic chemistry, with hundreds of researchers investigating photocatalytic materials. Another method of investigation could aid these researchers and contribute significantly to this field. This study attempts to develop a new method of analysis by expanding the capabilities of the Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) into the realm of photocatalysis. We coated QCM crystals with the stable and well-known photocatalyst, titanium dioxide, and utilized these coated crystals to begin to develop an analysis procedure for our modified instrument. Some indication of the QCM’s sensitivity was seen, but the UV irradiation elicited a frequency change independent of the …

Elucidation Of Active Sites For The Reaction Of Ethanol On Tio2/Au(111), David T. Boyle

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Obtaining a molecular-level understanding of the reaction of alcohols with heterogeneous model catalysts is critical for improving industrial catalytic processes, such as the production of H₂ from alcohols. Gold has been shown to be an excellent oxidation catalyst once oxygen is added to it. The use of reducible oxides provides a source of oxygen on Au(111) for the reaction of ethanol, which is easily regenerated in the presence of an oxygen background. In this work, ethanol operates as a probe molecule to investigate the role of Au(111), TiO₂ nanoparticles, and TiO₂/Auinterfacial surface sites on the catalytic …