Chemistry Commons^™

Fundamental And Applied Studies Of Metal Ion Extraction By Crown Ethers Into Imidazolium-Based Room Temperature Ionic Liquids, Cory Hawkins

Theses and Dissertations

Growing recognition of the extraordinary physicochemical properties and unique solvation environment afforded by ionic liquids (ILs) has drawn increasing attention to these solvents as media for chemical separations. Until recently, little was known about how ionic liquids behave as solvents in this application, particularly in the extraction of ionic solutes such as metal ions. In contrast to the single pathway observed using molecular diluents (i.e., neutral complex extraction), metal ion extraction in these systems has been shown to proceed through as many as three competing pathways over a wide range of conditions. Despite this added complexity, the favorable physicochemical characteristics …

Molecular Forensic Science Analysis Of Nuclear Materials, Dallas Reilly

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Concerns over the proliferation and instances of nuclear material in the environment have increased interest in the expansion of nuclear forensics analysis and attribution programs. A new related field, molecular forensic science (MFS) has helped meet this expansion by applying common scientific analyses to nuclear forensics scenarios. In this work, MFS was applied to three scenarios related to nuclear forensics analysis. In the first, uranium dioxide was synthesized and aged at four sets of static environmental conditions and studied for changes in chemical speciation. The second highlighted the importance of bulk versus particle characterizations by analyzing a heterogeneous industrially prepared …

Sample Preparation Techniques For The Improvement Of Analytical Measurements: Capillary-Channeled Polymer Fibers Employed In Protein Solid Phase Extraction Applications And Characterization Of Active Components In Botanical Dietary Supplements, Carolyn Burdette

All Dissertations

The task of sample preparation encompasses many challenges and demands for analytical techniques. Appropriate preparative steps can be the determining factor between successful measurements and failures. Too little preparation can lead to the inability to detect analytes due to low concentrations, insufficient extraction of analytes, and/or strong matrix effects; exhaustive preparation steps increases analysis times, the potential for analyte losses, and the difficulty to obtain consistent reproducible results. Discussed here are several examples of analytical techniques where sample preparation is critical and can be used to improve existing techniques. Capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) fibers used for solid phase extraction (SPE) protein …

Studies Of Microscopic Scale Strains In Nickel Alloys Resulting From Mechanical And Chemical Forces, Jing Chao

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The nickel-based Alloy 600, also known as Inconel 600 has been found to be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in high temperature aqueous environments. Despite extensive research, the mechanisms by which this process occurs remain in question. It is known that SCC results from the simultaneous effects of a chemically corrosive environment and a tensile stress. Many studies have been conducted on the microscopic chemical changes associated with SCC. There have been fewer studies of the microscopic stress/strain process. The main objective of this thesis is to use the new x-ray based diffraction technique – polychromatic x-ray microdiffraction (PXM) …

Literature Search On Using Dendrimer Nanoparticles As Drug Delivery Vehicles, Sivateja Kasaraneni

All Capstone Projects

The architectural design of dendrimers, multivalency, well-defined molecular weight and higher degree of branching differentiates them as unique and excellent nanocarriers in therapeutic applications such as drug delivery, gene transfection, tumor therapy, imaging and diagnostics. Nanoparticle drug-delivery systems are well known to increase the stability and selectivity of therapeutic agents. However immunogenicity, reticuloendothelial system uptake, drug leakage, cytotoxicity, hemolytic toxicity, poor aqueous solubility restrict the use of these drug delivery systems. These defects are overcame by surface engineering of the dendrimer molecule.

Drug molecule can be efficiently conjugated or encapsulated into the interior of the dendrimer or physically adsorbed onto …

Quality Assurance Plan Project For Copper Determination Using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Bharath Raparthi

All Capstone Projects

This study developed a method for determination of Copper by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) from the soil samples and mine tailings using Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 800 atomic absorption spectrometer. A detailed procedure has been developed with a detection limit of 0.12 mg/L. In the recent decades, pollution from heavy metals has been increased. Copper is one of the trace metals that has a significant impact and carries risk to the human health. Calibration curve was established with working range 0.1 ppm to 5 ppm with a correlation coefficient of 0.9994. Over 50 environmental samples from the historic Copper mining …

A Novel Microfluidic Enrichment Technique For Carbonylated Proteins, Bryant C. Hollins

Doctoral Dissertations

Proteins are the building blocks of cells in living organisms, and are composed of amino acids. The expression of proteins is regulated by the processes of transcription and translation. Proteins undergo post-translational modifications in order to dictate their role physiologically within a cell.

Not all post-translational modifications are beneficial for the protein or the cell. One type of post-translational modification, called carbonylation, irreversibly places a carbonyl group onto an amino acid residue, most commonly proline, lysine, arginine, and threonine. This modification can have severe consequences physiologically, including loss of solubility, loss of function, and protein aggregation.

Carbonylated proteins have commonly …

Evaluation And In Vitro Studies Of Folate Peg Biotin And Other Peg Agents, Syed Zahid Hussain

All Capstone Projects

Folate is a member of vitamin B family and plays an essential role in cell survival by participating in the biosynthesis of nucleic and amino acids. Receptors folic acid are frequently over expressed on epithelial cancer cells. These receptors are believed to serve as a receptor-mediated transport system of folic acid into cancer cells and cells associated with inflammation. Interesting, most normal cells in the body have lower frequency of these receptors. Based on these attributes, folate based drug delivery, imaging systems, and diagnostic systems are in several stages of development worldwide.

In this current project, we have characterized the …

Method For Arsenic Detection In Mine Samples From The Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Vinay Babu Yalamanchili

All Capstone Projects

Arsenic is the 20th abundant element in the earth crust. High concentrations of Arsenic is seen in mine operating countries which can affect public health and biological environment. This may reach to drinking water through ground or surface run-off water. Long term exposure to arsenic causes cancer of bladder, skin, and lungs. So detecting the amount of arsenic in soil and drinking has been an analytical challenge. Arsenic is found in variety of chemical forms in organic and inorganic compounds which results in chemical and physical interferences in the analysis. Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (GFAAS) was used to measure …

Purification And Analysis Of Folate-Dye Conjugate, Sravya Mothe

All Capstone Projects

Folate receptor has achieved great importance for use in targeted drug delivery and in vitro and in vivo diagnostic assays. Folate receptor (FR) is over expressed on several cancer cell types and activated macrophages, but exists in relatively low abundance on the surface of non-cancerous tissue and non-inflammatory cells. This unique attribute is the hallmark of folate – targeted methodologies allowing the diagnostic agent and/or drug to be ferried to the specific disease sites while preventing “off target” effects in normal tissues. Although several folate-based dyes have been reported, simple and detailed synthetic and purification methods for these conjugates have …

Project Synthesis Of N Acetyl L Histidine Ethyl Amide And Standard Operating Procedure For Fractional Collector, Maneesha Jakkampudi

All Student Theses

Photo oxidation of proteins leads to the formation of cross links of the amino acids in the proteins and leads to induction of cataracts, photo aging of the skin and in the Photodynamic therapy of tumors.

Oxidation of proteins involves significant modification of particular amino acids residues with consequent photodynamic damage. Studies show that tryptophan, tyrosine and histidine side chains gives rise to semi stable peroxides on exposure to singlet oxygen these oxidized structures are studied with low temperature NMR. These peroxides or species derived from them have been postulated as key intermediates in subsequent reactions such as cross linking …

Quantitative Determination Of Acetylsalicyclic Acid And Acetaminophen By Q-Nmr (Quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) Technique, Gouthami Kanduri

All Student Theses

The pharmaceutical industry mainly uses chromatographic techniques such as High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Gas Chromatography (GC), to determine the quantity of the active ingredient and other material in the drugs. A large effort goes into developing methods using chromatography techniques. The method development and running HPLC and GC are time consuming. Methods need to be updated as the chromatographic columns and the instruments wear out. On the other hand, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technique is mainly used for qualitative analysis to determine the identity of compounds. However, Proton-NMR technique does provide quantitative information of compounds but to develop …

In-Capillary Reduction And Digestion Of Proteins At Nano-Liter Volume Using Capillary Electrophoresis, Thasneen Naina Nazeema

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

To analyze the proteins present in biological samples several major steps are involved. One of the crucial steps in proteomics has been sample preparation. Prior to mass spectral analysis proteins containing disulfide bonds must be reduced which is followed by digestion. In this work, a novel way of performing protein reduction and digestion at nano-liter volume using capillary electrophoresis is presented. In this work, zone passing CE technique was utilized to analyze the reduction products in CE. After the successful in-capillary reduction, digestion of protein was also performed. A pH mediated stacking was used to bring the reduced protein and …

Fundamental Studies And Bioanalytical Applications Of Nanostructured-Initiator Mass Spectrometry (Nims), Jin Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Nanostructured-Initiator Mass Spectrometry (NIMS), which uses ‘initiator’ molecules trapped within a nanostructured material to assist the release and ionization of intact molecules adsorbed on that material's surface upon laser or ion irradiation, is a new soft desorption/ ionization technique with several positive attributes including extraordinarily high detection sensitivities, relatively simple sample preparation protocols, and can be initiated using photon or ion irradiation sources. As result NIMS has a great deal of potential for the ready detection of small molecules from complex biofluids including metabolites, and for tissue imaging.

In the thesis, a variety of nanostructured materials including porous silicon (pSi), …

Analysis Of Adp-Ribosylation And Protein Sample Preparation By Capillary Electrophoresis, Ming Huang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

ADP-ribosylation is one of many biologically important protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) that received considerable research interest in the past decade. The first part of this work presents the analysis of ADP-ribosylation, with special focus on the catalytic domain of an enzyme ARTD-10. The application of capillary electrophoresis (CE) is proposed in this work to separate the in vitro enzymatic mono-ADP-ribosylated ARTD-10 catalytic domain and its unmodified form. Another exciting aspect of CE application with growing interest is the sample preparation. The effectiveness and efficiency for in-vial reaction, in-capillary mixed reaction and on-capillary-tip reaction by performing methyl esterification on phophopeptides were …

Investigations Of Zeolite Growth By Atomic Force Microscopy (Afm), Donghan Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Zeolites are microporous materials that have been used extensively in various fields. A better understanding on their crystallization process is important for their investigations. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool for studying the growing traces on the crystal surface, providing information regarding the relation between surface events and framework structure. This thesis mainly focuses on the surface investigation of several zeolites and microporous materials. ZSM-11 single crystals were synthesized under hydrothermal conditions, and their crystallization process was monitored by AFM, PXRD, SEM, and SSNMR. SAPO-34 prepared under both HTS and DGC conditions showed morphological differences that are related …

Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy Studies Of Nickel Surfaces And T24 Single Live Cells, Yu Sun

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Scanning electrochemical microscopy offers a good insight into nickel surface analysis and human bladder cancer cell studies.

The surface microstructures are related with chemical reactivity by superimposing SECM, SEM and Tof-SIMS images together. Depth scans were exploited for studying chemical reactivity quantitatively by comparison with COMSOL simulation results. Simulation models are described.

Extracellular reactive oxygen species are detected by SECM. Quantitative results were demonstrated by simulation, and concentrations of H₂O₂ and O₂ were acquired. The interaction between cancer cells and vitamin C was investigated. The switch-type behaviour of vitamin C on the PMA-induced ROS burst of …

Migration Behaviour Of Discontinuous Buffers In Capillary Electrophoresis During Protein Enrichment, Ting Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

To enrich protein at sub-microliter sample volumes, our group has developed a discontinuous buffer system which consists of an acid and a base inside a capillary. Upon voltage application, the protein moves towards and stacks at the pH junction. Prior to this work, we only focused on the protein enrichment and have not investigated the migration behaviour of various ions in this system. However, it is important to understand the mechanism of the migration of these ions, because the pH junction formation and further the protein enrichment are based on it. In this work, the ion migration patterns at the …

Surface Structuring Strategies For Micro-Cantilever Sensing Platforms And Applications For Hydrogen Related Issues, James F. Patton

Doctoral Dissertations

Recent developments in microelectro-mechanical systems have enabled the exploration of transduction modes that involve mechanical energy and are based primarily on mechanical phenomena. As a result an innovative family of chemical and biological sensors has emerged which utilize a transducer in the form of microcantilevers (MCs). MCs offer greater sensitivity than comparable mass-responding sensors due in large part to their small dimension. These low cost devices can be deployed for remote testing, providing real-time information for the analyst. An additional advantage is the ability to employ MCs in an arrayed fashion adding a unique selectivity not available to many sensing …

New Approaches To Electroanalysis Of Metals And Pretreatment Of Biological And Environmental Samples, Stefanie Bragg

Doctoral Dissertations

Biological and environmental sample pretreatment followed by electrochemical sensing are the focus of this dissertation. The Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) treatment using aqueous hydrogen peroxide and UV irradiation with acid deactivation of the enzyme catalase in blood has been developed and optimized. The kinetics of whole blood AOP in a single-cell reactor was studied, and the effect of pH on the AOP process has been investigated. A new method of dry ashing whole blood has been developed and optimized for trace metal analyses. The new method and subsequent metal analyses in the blood samples has been used to confirm results …

Characterization Of Polymeric Phthalocyanine Nanoparticles Using Dynamic Light Scattering Laser, Satish Kumar Murarishetty

All Capstone Projects

The objective of this study is to use DLS (Dynamic Light Scattering) to analyze polymeric copper phthalocyanine nanoparticles (CuPcNPs). CuPcNPs are synthesized in order to facilitate drug penetration of bacterial biofilms for the treatment of chronic wounds. Microorganisms that reside inside the biofilms of chronic wounds are very resistant to any kind of treatment, even to the host’s own immune system. Therefore we have proposed an alternative method to destroy the microorganisms existing within the biofilms. Photodynamic anti-bacterial chemotherapy (PACT) has received much attention for the past decade due to the multi-drug resistant strands. PACT uses photons, a photosensitizer, and …

Nano Encapsulated Drug Delivery For Biofilms, Arunakanth Chavala

All Capstone Projects

Biofilms are now considered ubiquitous in the natural world. Bacterial biofilms have been observed to be extremely heterogeneous, both structurally and with regard to the physiology of the bacterial cells within them. The prevailing conceptual model depicts bacterial biofilms as being made up of microcolonies, which serve as the basic unit of the greater biofilm structure. A major concern with this approach is the frequently observed development of resistance to antimicrobial compounds. A number of elements in the process of biofilm formation have been studied as targets for novel drug delivery technologies. The present study aimed to penetrate biofilm by …

Analysis Of Barbiturates By Gc/Ms, Hplc And Chemical Ionization, Deepthi Ravipati

All Capstone Projects

Barbiturates are derivatives of barbituric acid. They act as central nervous depressants. These drugs are frequently used as sedatives or anesthetics. It is a simple and reproducible method for the analysis of barbiturates.

Usage of these drugs is increased in recent days and the analysis of barbiturates by GC/MS is very fast. As they are used as sedatives their usage has been increased to relieve the stress. But the over usage of these drugs may lead to death. Different barbiturates like phenobarbital, pentobarbital can be analyzed by their molecular weights. Because of the over usage of the drugs the interest …

Nanoencapsulated Copper Pthalocyanine As Photodynamic Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Prathima Arrabelly

All Capstone Projects

The growing resistance developed by microbes towards antimicrobial agents has driven our focus on developing alternative treatment modalities such as Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT). It would be difficult for the microbes to develop resistance towards singlet oxygen generated during the PACT process. Photosensitizers are the vehicles of the transfer and translation of light energy into a type II chemical reaction (singlet oxygen generation) in photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy. PACT is proposed as a potential, low cost approach to treatment of locally occurring infection.

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus has been studied in cultures treated with photoactivated copper …

Nanoparticlated Drug Delivery System For Vitreous Humor, Kartheek K. Suragoni

All Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to develop a unique nanoparticulated system that has the capability of providing sustained drug delivery into the eyes. In ophthalmic preparations, poor ocular drug delivery of ocular dosage form is due to the production of tears and impermeability through corneal epithelium. The usage of liposomes in ophthalmic disorders shows promising results in ocular drug delivery. Liposomes are bilayered, microscopic vesicles surrounded by the aqueous compartments. Liposomes have the ability to encapsulate both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. This unique property of liposomes helps in delivering the drug at specific site. This invention involves three major …

Nih Shift Literature Search, Nicole Owens

All Capstone Projects

The NIH shift is a chemical shift of substituents in aromatic hydroxylation reactions. The substituents that undergo this shift are hydrogen, halogens, acyl and alkyl groups. It is an important aspect that is a requirement in the hydroxylation of aromatic compounds by monooxygenase enzymes.

The NIH shift or the National Institute of health shift gets its name from the founders of this mechanism. The National Institute of Health was the first to observe this phenomenon in there studies and are the first to report this chemical shift.

Spectroscopic Characterization Of Dissolved Organic Matter: Insights Into Composition, Photochemical Transformation And Carbon Cycling, John Robert Helms

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores processes affecting the composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and how DOM composition changes in sunlit surface waters and in the dark interior ocean. Simulated solar irradiations were used to investigate the impact of photochemistry on terrestrial waters and deep ocean DOM. The photochemically mediated processes observed in Dismal Swamp samples included (i) light induced flocculation of up to 12% of the organic matter and 84% of the dissolved iron originally present; (ii) 74-88% mineralization of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and 95-99% bleaching of chromophoric DOM (CDOM) during 110 days of irradiation; and (iii) nearly complete loss …

Enhancement In Degradation Of Environmental Pollutants: Fenton Degradation Of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene And Photodegradation Of Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil, Sarah M. King

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Pollution poses serious threats to both the environmental and the organisms that depend on their environment for survival. Due to the toxicity of most contaminants, there is a dire need for remediation of polluted sites. Remediation studies were conducted on two high priority pollutants: 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and crude oil.

TNT was the most common explosive used in the 20^th century. Continuous contamination has resulted in an urgent need for remediation. Fenton reagent provides an advanced oxidation process that is capable of remediating recalcitrant explosives, such as TNT. One drawback of Fenton chemistry is that the reaction requires acidic pH …

Analysis Of Biodiesel Quality Using Reversed Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Kellyann M. Murphy

Pomona Senior Theses

The alternative fuel biodiesel is produced from the transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fat to fatty acid methyl esters. Pomona has a reactor on campus that can be used to run this reaction and produce biodiesel. The use of biodiesel has been found to lower air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions, but can be potentially harmful to the engines if it contains impurities. This paper proposes a method using high-performance liquid chromatography to test the quality of biodiesel. This method utilizes instrumentation and materials that are available in Pomona College's Chemistry Department, requires very little sample preparation, and is …

A Novel Approach To Assess Environmental Changes In Marine Ecosystems Via Spectroscopic Analyses Of Microalgae, Rebecca Burke Horton

Doctoral Dissertations

Chemical analyses for environmental monitoring encounter many challenges which are imposed by a multitude of chemically complex and interrelated processes. For such investigations, innovative analytical methodologies must be developed which characterize chemical shifts of key environmental parameters in order to deduce insights into their ecological relevance. This dissertation is driven by an analytical chemistry perspective to develop chemical sensing techniques with the ultimate goal of gaining a deeper understanding of environmental changes and their chemical origins.

In order to overcome limitations inherent to any chemical sensor designed for a specific task, new paths are pursued which are based on the …