Chemistry Commons^™

An Overview Of Dynamic Heterogeneous Oxidations In The Troposphere, Elizabeth A. Pillar-Little, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Due to the adverse effect of atmospheric aerosols on public health and their ability to affect climate, extensive research has been undertaken in recent decades to understand their sources and sinks, as well as to study their physical and chemical properties. Atmospheric aerosols are important players in the Earth’s radiative budget, affecting incoming and outgoing solar radiation through absorption and scattering by direct and indirect means. While the cooling properties of pure inorganic aerosols are relatively well understood, the impact of organic aerosols on the radiative budget is unclear. Additionally, organic aerosols are transformed through chemical reactions during atmospheric transport. …

Oxidation Of N-Doped Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes And Formation Of Discontinuous Spiraled Carbon Nanoribbons, Aman Preet Kaur, Mark S. Meier, Rodney Andrews, Dali Qian

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The effects of five commonly used wet chemical oxidations were studied for the extent of oxidation of graphitized nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs). KMnO₄/ H₂SO₄ was the most potent oxidant, as it produced the highest fraction of oxygen-containing functional groups. Electron microscopy studies showed that the treatment of annealed N-MWCNTs (G-N-MWCNTs) with H₂SO₄/HNO₃ and H₂SO₄/KMnO₄ mixtures leads to interesting spiraled ribbon textures. A structural model, involving the stacking of coiled subunits to form a discontinuous carbon nanoribbon rather than a continuous ribbon is proposed to …

Aqueous Photochemistry Of 2-Oxocarboxylic Acids, Alexis Eugene

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Atmospheric aerosols affect climate change by altering the energy balance of the atmosphere, and public health due to their variable chemical composition, size, and shape. While the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from gas phase precursors is relatively well understood, it does not account for the abundance of SOA observed during field measurements. Recently it has become apparent that in-aerosol aqueous chemical reactions likely provide some of the missing sources of SOA production, and many studies of aqueous phase processes are underway.

This work explores the fates of the simplest 2-oxocarboxylic acids, glyoxylic acid (GA) and pyruvic acid (PA), …

Investigation Of Volatile Organic Compounds (Vocs) Detected At Vapor Intrusion Sites, Mohammadyousef Roghani

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This dissertation investigates unexplained vapor intrusion field data sets that have been observed at hazardous waste sites, including: 1) non-linear soil gas concentration trends between the VOC source (i.e. contaminated groundwater plume) and the ground surface; and, 2) alternative pathways that serve as entry points for vapors to infiltrate into buildings and serve to increase VOC exposure risks as compared to the classic vapor intrusion model, which primarily considered foundation cracks as the route for vapor entry. The overall hypothesis of this research is that theoretical knowledge of fate and transport processes can be systematically applied to vapor intrusion field …

Catalytic Conversion Of Monosaccharides Into 5-(Hydroxymethyl)Furfural In Ionic Liquids Using Aluminum Complexes Bearing Bidentate (Aminomethyl)Phenolate Ligands, Daudi Sayialel Saang'onyo

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Currently, the major sources of fuel, energy, and chemicals are nonrenewable fossil resources such as petroleum, natural gas, and coal. Additionally, petroleum is used for the production of most transportation fuels and for the production of about 95% of organic chemicals. However, the production and use of non-renewable fossil fuels are unsustainable. For economic and environmental sustainability, there is a need to search for new and/or renewable resources and technologies for energy, fuels, and chemicals production that have the potential of effectively substituting fossil resources. In this context, lignocellulosic biomass is one of the candidates that meet these requirements due …

Oxidation Of Β-O-4 Lignin Model Compounds And Application To Lignin Linkage Degradation Facilitated By Mechanochemical Treatment And Two-Step Oxidative Depolymerization, Soledad G. Yao

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The oxidation of lignin model compounds was studied in conventional solvents in parallel with oxidations in ionic liquid solvents. Catalyst systems were investigated in ionic liquid solvents to determine how reaction rates and the selectivity for benzylic carbon oxidation were affected. Oxidation rates were often lower in ionic liquids than in conventional solvents ‒ as indicated by lower conversion in a standard reaction time ‒ likely due, at least in part, to the higher viscosity of ionic liquids. Mechano chemical treatment of Indulin AT kraft lignin by ball milling with KOH and toluene produced significant carbonyl functionality, among other changes. …

Study Of The Effect Of Steric Bulk Of Side Chains On The Properties Of Conjugated Polymers, Bei Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Donor-acceptor conjugated polymers opened a new era for conjugated polymer research due to the abundant selection and combination of different conjugated units. This class of polymers function as semiconductor materials with potential application in plastic consumer electronics. The frontier molecular orbital energies of the polymers are generally determined by the selection of donor and acceptor units in the backbone structure, and their substituents. The side chains attached to the backbone not only affect the solubility of the materials, but also their self-assembly and morphological characteristics, which indirectly govern optoelectronic properties. It is important therefore to consider backbone architectures and the …

Design And Synthesis Of Functional Organic Materials, Anthony Joseph Petty Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Control of solid state ordering in conjugated small molecules is paramount to the continued development and implementation of organic materials in electronic devices. However, there exists no reliable method on which to predicatively determine how a change to the molecular structure will impact the solid-state packing. As such, the molecule must be synthesized before its solid-state packing can be definitively evaluated. However, once the packing structure of a material is known there exist both qualitative structure- function relationships derived from the literature, as well as quantitative computational methods that can be employed to suggest if a material will perform well …