Chemistry Commons^™

Using Ftir-Atr And Chemometric Methods To Detect Sucrose Adulteration In Commercial Honey Samples, Dylan T. Roberts, Kevin Kittredge

Virginia Journal of Science

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR–ATR) was used to analyze pure and adulterated honey samples. The FTIR spectra was analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis to determine if these methods could differentiate between pure, commercial, and sucrose-adulterated honey samples. PCA showed a clear distinction between pure and adulterated honey samples. Commercial honey samples showed clustering around the unadulterated samples. PLS regression analysis correctly identified 81.8% of the standards and samples used in the PCA analysis. The five commercial samples were tested and shown to have a concentration of less than 3% adulterant, …

Clostridioides Difficile Biofilm And Spore Production In Response To Antibiotics And Immune Stress, Adenrele M. Oludiran

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

The development of new therapeutic options against Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infection is a critical public health concern, as the causative bacterium is highly resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics. C. difficile, an anaerobic spore-forming Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium, is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. C. difficile persists in the environment and spreads the infection to new hosts in the form of dormant spores and can persist within hosts as surface-attached biofilms. These studies investigate bacterial vegetative cell survival, biofilm formation, and sporulation in response to stress. Antimicrobial host-defense peptides (HDPs) are highly effective at simultaneously modulating …

Development Of High Quantum Efficiency Strained Superlattice Spin Polarized Photocathodes Via Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition, Benjamin Belfore

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Spin polarized photocathodes are necessary to examine parity violations and other fundamental phenomena in the field of high energy physics. To create these devices, expensive and complicated growth processes are necessary. While integral to accelerator physics, spin polarized electrons could have other exciting applications in materials science and other fields of physics. In order to explore these other applications feasibly, the relative supply of spin polarized photocathodes with a high rate of both polarization and photoemission needs to be increased. One such way to increase this supply is to develop the means to grow them faster and at a larger …

Implications Of Metal Coordination In Damage And Recognition Of Nucleic Acids And Lipid Bilayers, Ana Dreab

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Metal ions have a myriad of biological functions from structural stability to enzymatic (de)activation and metabolic electron transfer. Redox-active metals also mediate the formation of reactive oxygen species which may either cause oxidative damage or protect cellular components. Computational modeling is used here to investigate the role of (1) metal-ion binding to antimicrobial peptides, (2) metal-ion removal and disulfide formation on zinc finger (ZF) proteins, and (3) coordination of thiones/selones for the prevention of metal-mediated redox damage.

Piscidins, natural-occurring antimicrobial peptides, efficiently kill bacteria by targeting their membranes. Their efficacy is enhanced in vitro by metal-binding and the presence of …

Clostridioides Difficile Spore Production In Response To Antibiotic And Immune Stress, Adenrele Oludiran, Erin B. Purcell

College of Sciences Posters

Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile, an anaerobic, spore-forming Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium, is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and can persist as surface-attached biofilms for protection from antibiotic and immune stress. C. difficile can form biofilms as a single species or with other anaerobic intestinal bacteria. The environmental signals that cause individual cells to secrete toxins, form biofilms, or develop into spores that can spread the infection to new patients are unknown. In these studies, we investigate bacterial responses to different stress. Antimicrobial host-defense peptides (HDPs) produced by animal immune systems are promising candidates to develop novel therapies for bacterial infection …

Odu’S Peter Bernath Participates In Study That Reveals Damage To Ozone Layer From Extreme Wildfires, Tiffany Whitfield

News Items

No abstract provided.

Access To Nitrogen Heterocycles Via Borrowing Hydrogen Catalysis, Robert P. Reynolds, Kellen P. Mcguire, Conor T. Mccormick, Kyle M. Lambert

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Nitrogen heterocycles are ubiquitous motifs which occur as the core structure of several alkaloid natural products exhibiting inherent biological activity against an array of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and cancer cell lines. These azacycles serve as key synthetic building blocks for medicinal chemists to access more structurally complex and diverse compounds with tunable biological properties. A synthetic approach to these valuable motifs employing intramolecular borrowing hydrogen catalysis has been developed. The utility of the developed chemistry will be applied to synthetic efforts towards the recently isolated Cylicomorphins A-E.

Oxidation Of Thiols To Disulfides Using An Environmentally “Green” Organocatalyst And New Mechanistic Insights, Kosta V. Vlasakakis, Olivia M. White, Robert P. Reynolds, Shayne M. Weierbach, Shannon M. Weaver, Ramsey T. Ritter, Nishi H. Patel, Eric C. Hayes, Sydney Dunmire, Kyle M. Lambert

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The selective oxidation of thiols to disulfides is an area of great importance in the areas of materials and medicinal chemistry research. The production of polymers, rubber, pharmaceuticals, and the folding of proteins in biological systems all rely on the formation of disulfide bonds. Herein, we introduce a stoichiometric and electrocatalytic method for the oxidation of various pharmaceutically and biologically relevant thiols into their respective disulfides in more environmentally benign solvents such as water and alcohol solvents. The scope of the transformation was evaluated and a detailed mechanistic study involving control experiments, experimental kinetic studies, and computational investigations led to …

4,6-O-Phenylethylidene Acetal Protected D-Glucosamine Carbamate-Based Gelators And Their Applications For Multi-Component Gels, Pooja Sharma, Guijun Wang

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The self-assembly of carbohydrate-based low molecular weight gelators has led to useful advanced soft materials. The interactions of the gelators with various cations and anions are important in creating novel molecular architectures and expanding the scope of the small molecular gelators. In this study, a series of thirteen new C-2 carbamates of the 4,6-O-phenylethylidene acetalprotected D-glucosamine derivatives has been synthesized and characterized. These compounds are rationally designed from a common sugar template. All carbamates synthesized were found to be efficient gelators and three compounds are also hydrogelators. The resulting gels were characterized using optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, …

Natural Phaeosphaeride A Derivatives Overcome Drug Resistance Of Tumor Cells And Modulate Signaling Pathways, Victoria Abzianidze, Natalia Moiseeva, Diana Suponina, Sofya Zakharenkova, Nadezhda Rogovskaya, Lidia Laletina, Alvin A. Holder, Denis Krivorotov, Alexander Bogachenkov, Alexander Garabadzhiu, Anton Ukolov, Vyacheslav Kosorukov

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

n the present study, natural phaeosphaeride A (PPA) derivatives are synthesized. Anti-tumor studies are carried out on the PC3, K562, HCT-116, THP-1, MCF-7, A549, NCI-H929, Jurkat, and RPMI8226 tumor cell lines, and on the human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cell line. All the compounds synthesized turned out to have better efficacy than PPA towards the tumor cell lines listed. Among them, three compounds exhibited an ability to overcome the drug resistance of tumor cells associated with the overexpression of the P-glycoprotein by modulating the work of this transporter. Luminex xMAP technology was used to assess the effect of five synthesized compounds …

Nrlmsis 2.1: An Empirical Model Of Nitric Oxide Incorporated Into Msis, J. T. Emmert, M. Jones Jr., D. E. Siskind, D. P. Drob, J. M. Picone, M. H. Stevens, S. M. Bailey, S. Bender, P. F. Bernath, B. Funke, M. E. Hervig, K. Pérot

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

We have developed an empirical model of nitric oxide (NO) number density at altitudes from ∼73 km to the exobase, as a function of altitude, latitude, day of year, solar zenith angle, solar activity, and geomagnetic activity. The model is part of the NRLMSIS® 2.1 empirical model of atmospheric temperature and species densities; this upgrade to NRLMSIS 2.0 consists solely of the addition of NO. MSIS 2.1 assimilates observations from six space-based instruments: UARS/HALOE, SNOE, Envisat/MIPAS, ACE/FTS, Odin/SMR, and AIM/SOFIE. We additionally evaluated the new model against independent extant NO data sets. In this paper, we describe the formulation and …

Visible Opacity Of M Dwarfs And Hot Jupiters: The Tio B³Π-X³Δ Band System, W. Doug Cameron, Peter Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The TiO B³Π−X³Δ electronic transition (𝛾' system) is an important opacity source in the atmospheres of M dwarfs and hot Jupiter exoplanets. The 0–0, 1–0, and 2–1 bands of the B³Π−X³Δ band system have been analyzed using a TiO emission spectrum recorded at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, operated by the National Solar Observatory at Kitt Peak, Arizona. Improved spectroscopic and equilibrium constants were determined. Line strengths were calculated from an ab initio transition-dipole moment function scaled using an experimental lifetime. A new line list for v' = 0–2 and v′′ = 0–4 …

Marcadores Moleculares Subrogados A La Repelencia Al Agua En Suelos Afectados Por El Fuego, Nicasio T. Jiménez-Morillo, Gonzalo Almendros, Nuno Guiomar, Ana Z. Miller, Cristina Barrocas-Dias, José M. De La Rosa, Patrick G. Hatcher, José A. González-Pérez

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Soil water repellency (SWR) is often attributed to the accumulation of hydrophobic organic compounds, mainly lipids. Nonetheless, lipid extraction not always suppress SWR and unextractable soil constituents may be related with residual SWR. Burnt (B) and unburnt (UB) soils (Doñana National Park, Huelva) under two vegetations (cork oak and heather) and two soil fractions, coarse (1–2 mm) and fine (

Unique Features Of Alarmone Metabolism In Clostridioides Difficile, Asia Poudel, Astha Pokhrel, Adenrele Oludiran, Estevan J. Coronado, Kwincy Alleyne, Marrett M. Gilfus, Raj K. Gurung, Surya B. Adhikari, Erin B. Purcell

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The “magic spot” alarmones (pp)pGpp, previously implicated in Clostridioides difficile antibiotic survival, are synthesized by the RelA-SpoT homolog (RSH) of C. difficile (RSH_Cd) and RelQ_Cd. These enzymes are transcriptionally activated by diverse environmental stresses. RSH_Cd has previously been reported to synthesize ppGpp, but in this study, we found that both clostridial enzymes exclusively synthesize pGpp. While direct synthesis of pGpp from a GMP substrate, and (p)ppGpp hydrolysis into pGpp by NUDIX hydrolases, have previously been reported, there is no precedent for a bacterium synthesizing pGpp exclusively. Hydrolysis of the 5′ phosphate or pyrophosphate from GDP …

Insights Into The Deglacial Variability Of Phytoplankton Community Structure In The Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean Using [231Pa/230Th]Xs And Opal-Carbonate Fluxes, Danielle Schimmenti, Franco Marcantonio, Christopher T. Hayes, Jennifer Hertzberg, Matthew Schmidt, John Sarao

OES Faculty Publications

Fully and accurately reconstructing changes in oceanic productivity and carbon export and their controls is critical to determining the efficiency of the biological pump and its role in the global carbon cycle through time, particularly in modern CO₂ source regions like the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP). Here we present new high-resolution records of sedimentary ²³⁰Th-normalized opal and nannofossil carbonate fluxes and [²³¹Pa/²³⁰Th]xs ratios from site MV1014-02-17JC in the Panama Basin. We find that, across the last deglaciation, phytoplankton community structure is driven by changing patterns of nutrient (nitrate, iron, and silica) availability which, in …

Calcification, Dissolution And Test Properties Of Modern Planktonic Foraminifera From The Central Atlantic Ocean, Stergios D. Zarkogiannis, Shinya Iwasaki, James William Buchanan Rae, Matthew W. Schmidt, P. Graham Mortyn, George Kontakiotis, Jennifer E. Hertzberg, Rosalind E.M. Rickaby

OES Faculty Publications

The mass of well-preserved calcite in planktonic foraminifera shells provides an indication of the calcification potential of the surface ocean. Here we report the shell weight of 8 different abundant planktonic foraminifera species from a set of core-top sediments along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The analyses showed that near the equator, foraminifera shells of equivalent size weigh on average 1/3 less than those from the middle latitudes. The carbonate preservation state of the samples was assessed by high resolution X-ray microcomputed tomographic analyses of Globigerinoides ruber and Globorotalia truncatulinoides specimens. The specimen preservation was deemed good and does not overall explain …

Microbial Labilization And Diversification Of Pyrogenic Dissolved Organic Matter, Aleksandar I. Goranov, Andrew S. Wozniak, Kyle W. Bostick, Andrew R. Zimmerman, Siddhartha Mitra, Patrick G. Hatcher

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

With the increased occurrence of wildfires around the world, interest in the chemistry of pyrogenic organic matter (pyOM) and its fate in the environment has increased. Upon leaching from soils by rain events, significant amounts of dissolved pyOM (pyDOM) enter the aquatic environment and interact with microbial communities that are essential for cycling organic matter within the different biogeochemical cycles. To evaluate the biodegradability of pyDOM, aqueous extracts of laboratory-produced biochars were incubated with soil microbes, and the molecular changes to the composition of pyDOM were probed using ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry (Fourier transform–ion cyclotron resonance–mass spectrometry). Given that solar irradiation …

Application Of Chemostratigraphic Methods To Floodplain Alluvial Deposits Within The Big Harris Creek Basin, North Carolina, Samantha N. Sullivan, Jerry R. Miller, Carmen L. Huffman

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Big Harris Creek, North Carolina, possesses a geomorphic history and alluvial stratigraphic record similar to many drainages in southern Appalachian Piedmont. An approximately 1 km reach of Upper Stick Elliott Creek, a tributary to Big Harris Creek, was used herein to (1) explore the use of chemostratigraphic methods to define and correlate late Holocene alluvial deposits along this relatively uncontaminated rural stream containing legacy sediments (historic, anthropogenically derived deposits), and (2) interpret depositional floodplain processes within small (<10 km²), headwater drainages. The lithofacies within four floodplain sections were described in channel banks and sampled at about 5 cm intervals. …

S-Type Stars: Lao Line List For The B²Σ⁺-X²Σ⁺ Band System, P. F. Bernath, Randika Dodangodage, J. Liévin

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

LaO bands are a characteristic feature in the spectrum of cool S-type stars. La is made primarily by the s-process during the asymptotic giant branch phase of stellar evolution. The B²Σ⁺–X²Σ⁺ and A²Π–X²Σ⁺ band systems can be used to determine the La abundances in cool S stars. The bands of the B²Σ+–X²Σ⁺ with v' and v" ⩽ 5 have been rotationally analyzed from an emission spectrum from a carbon furnace. Line strengths are calculated using an ab initio transition dipole …

Mechanism For Selective Binding Of Aromatic Compounds On Oxygen-Rich Graphene Nanosheets Based On Molecule Size/Polarity Matching, Heyun Fu, Bingyu Wang, Dongqiang Zhu, Zhicheng Zhou, Shidong Bao, Xiaolei Qu, Yong Guo, Lan Ling, Shourong Zheng, Pu Duan, Jingdong Mao, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, Shu Tao, Pedro J.J. Alvarez

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Selective binding of organic compounds is the cornerstone of many important industrial and pharmaceutical applications. Here, we achieved highly selective binding of aromatic compounds in aqueous solution and gas phase by oxygen-enriched graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets via a previously unknown mechanism based on size matching and polarity matching. Oxygen-containing functional groups (predominately epoxies and hydroxyls) on the nongraphitized aliphatic carbons of the basal plane of GO formed highly polar regions that encompass graphitic regions slightly larger than the benzene ring. This facilitated size match–based interactions between small apolar compounds and the isolated aromatic region of GO, resulting in high binding …

Stratospheric Aerosol Composition Observed By The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Following The 2019 Raikoke Eruption, Chris D. Boone, Peter F. Bernath, Keith Labelle, Jeff Crouse

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Infrared aerosol spectra derived from Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment measurements following the June 2019 Raikoke volcanic eruption are used to evaluate the composition of stratospheric aerosols in the Arctic. A blanket of aerosols, spanning an altitude range from the tropopause (8–11 km) to 20 km, persisted in the stratosphere over northern latitudes for many months. The aerosols within this blanket were almost exclusively sulfates. The percentage of sulfuric acid in the aerosols decreased over time, dropping below 50% H₂SO₄ concentration at some altitudes by March 2020. Contrary to previous reports, the aerosol blanket was not comprised of smoke …

A Local Mode Study Of Ring Puckering Effects In The Infrared Spectra Of Cyclopentane, Edwin L. Sibert Iii, Peter F. Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

We report and interpret recently recorded high-resolution infrared spectra for the fundamentals of the CH₂ scissors and CH stretches of gas phase cyclopentane at −26.1 and −50 ^○C, respectively. We extend previous theoretical studies of this molecule, which is known to undergo barrierless pseudorotation due to ring puckering, by constructing local mode Hamiltonians of the stretching and scissor vibrations for which the frequencies, couplings, and linear dipoles are calculated as functions of the pseudorotation angle using B3LYP/6-311++(d,p) and MP2/cc-pVTZ levels of theory. Symmetrization (D_5h) of the vibrational basis sets leads to simple vibration/pseudorotation Hamiltonians whose solutions …

On The Stratospheric Chemistry Of Midlatitude Wildfire Smoke, Susan Soloman, Kimberlee Dube, Kane Stone, Pengfei Yu, Doug Kinnison, Owen B. Toon, Susan E. Strahan, Karen H. Rosenlof, Robert Portmann, Sean Davis, William Randel, Peter Bernath, Chris Boone, Charles G. Bardeen, Adam Bourassa, Daniel Zawada, Doug Degenstein

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Massive Australian wildfires lofted smoke directly into the stratosphere in the austral summer of 2019/20. The smoke led to increases in optical extinction throughout the midlatitudes of the southern hemisphere that rivalled substantial volcanic perturbations. Previous studies have assumed that the smoke became coated with sulfuric acid and water and would deplete the ozone layer through heterogeneous chemistry on those surfaces, as is routinely observed following volcanic enhancements of the stratospheric sulfate layer. Here, observations of extinction and reactive nitrogen species from multiple independent satellites that sampled the smoke region are compared to one another and to model calculations. The …

Design And Synthesis Of Α-Anomeric Diacetylene-Containing Glycosides As Photopolymerizable Molecular Gelators, Guijun Wang, Dan Wang, Anji Chen, Ifeanyi S. Okafor, Lalith Palitha Samankumara

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Glycolipids with diacetylene functional groups are fascinating compounds with many practical uses. Among these, diacetylene-containing gelators are especially important because they can form photopolymerizable gels, which are useful stimuli-responsive materials. Inspired by the unique properties of diacetylene-containing gelators and to understand the structural influences especially the location of the diacetylene functional groups on the self-assembling properties, a series of 15 novel N-acetyl-d-glucosamine derivatives with the diacetylene functional group introduced at the anomeric position were designed and synthesized. The diacetylene function is attached to the sugar through α-glycosylation with the distance from the anomeric oxygen being varied from one, two, …

The Hitran2020 Molecular Spectroscopic Database, I. E. Gordon, L. S. Rothman, R. J. Hargreaves, R. Hashemi, E. V. Karlovets, F. M. Skinner, E. K. Conway, C. Hill, R. V. Kochanov, Y. Tan, P. Wcisło, A.A. Finenko, K. Nelson, P. F. Bernath, M. Birk, V. Boudon, A. Campargue, K. V. Chance, A. Coustenis, B. J. Drouin, J.-M. Flaud, R. R. Gamache, J. T. Hodges, D. Jacquemart, E. J. Mlawer, A. V. Nikitin, V.I. Perevalov, M. Rotger, J. Tennyson, G. C. Toon, H. Tran, V. G. Tyuterev, E. M. Adkins, A. Baker, A. Barbe, E. Canè, A. G. Császár, A. Dudaryonok, O. Egorov, A. J. Fleisher, H. Fleurbaey, A. Foltynowicz, T. Furtenbacher, J. J. Harrison, J.M. Hartmann, V.- M. Horneman, X. Huang, T. Karman, J. Karns, S. Kassi, I. Kleiner, V. Kofman, F. Kwabia-Tchana, N.N. Lavrentieva, T. J. Lee, D. A. Long, A. A. Lukashevskaya, O. M. Lyulin, V. Yu Makhnev, W. Matt, S. T. Massie, M. Melosso, S. N. Mikhailenko, D. Mondelain, H.S.P. Müller, O. V. Naumenko, A. Perrin, O. L. Polyansky, E. Raddaoui, P. L. Raston, Z. D. Reed, M. Rey, C. Richard, R. Tóbiás, I. Sadiek, D. W. Schwenke, E. Starikova, K. Sung, F. Tamassia, S. A. Tashkun, J. Vander Auwera, I.A. Vasilenko, A.A. Vigasin, G.L. Villanueva, B. Vispoel, G. Wagner, A. Yachmenev, S. N. Yurchenko

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The HITRAN database is a compilation of molecular spectroscopic parameters. It was established in the early 1970s and is used by various computer codes to predict and simulate the transmission and emission of light in gaseous media (with an emphasis on terrestrial and planetary atmospheres). The HITRAN compilation is composed of five major components: the line-by-line spectroscopic parameters required for high-resolution radiative-transfer codes, experimental infrared absorption cross-sections (for molecules where it is not yet feasible for representation in a line-by-line form), collision-induced absorption data, aerosol indices of refraction, and general tables (including partition sums) that apply globally to the data. …

Toxic Effects Of Silver Ions On Early Developing Zebrafish Embryos Distinguished From Silver Nanoparticles, Martha S. Johnson, Preeyaporn Songkiatisak, Pavan Kumar Cherukuri, Xiao-Hong Nancy Xu

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Currently, effects of nanomaterials and their ions, such as silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and silver ions (Ag⁺), on living organisms are not yet fully understood. One of the vital questions is whether nanomaterials have distinctive effects on living organisms from any other conventional chemicals (e.g., their ions), owing to their unique physicochemical properties. Due to various experimental protocols, studies of this crucial question have been inconclusive, which hinders rational design of effective regulatory guidelines for safely handling NPs. In this study, we chronically exposed early developing zebrafish embryos (cleavage-stage, 2 hours post-fertilization, hpf) to a dilution series of …

Ozonized Biochar Filtrate Effects On The Growth Of Pseudomonas Putida And Cyanobacteria Synechococcus Elongatus Pcc 7942, Oumar Sacko, Nancy L. Engle, Timothy J. Tschaplinski, Sandeep Kumar, James Weifu Lee

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Background

Biochar ozonization was previously shown to dramatically increase its cation exchange capacity, thus improving its nutrient retention capacity. The potential soil application of ozonized biochar warrants the need for a toxicity study that investigates its effects on microorganisms.

Results

In the study presented here, we found that the filtrates collected from ozonized pine 400 biochar and ozonized rogue biochar did not have any inhibitory effects on the soil environmental bacteria Pseudomonas putida, even at high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations of 300 ppm. However, the growth of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 was inhibited by the ozonized biochar filtrates at …

Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopic Detection Of Aliphatic Alcohol Vapors With Surface-Mounted Hkust-1 Mofs As Sensing Media, Papa K. Amoah, Zeinab Mohammed Hassan, Rhonda R. Franklin, Helmut Baumgart, Engelbert Redel, Yaw S. Obeng

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We leveraged chemical-induced changes to microwave signal propagation characteristics (i.e., S-parameters) to characterize the detection of aliphatic alcohol (methanol, ethanol, and 2-propanol) vapors using TCNQ-doped HKUST-1 metal-organic-framework films as the sensing material, at temperatures under 100 °C. We show that the sensitivity of aliphatic alcohol detection depends on the oxidation potential of the analyte, and the impedance of the detection setup depends on the analyte-loading of the sensing medium. The microwaves-based detection technique can also afford new mechanistic insights into VOC detection, with surface-anchored metal-organic frameworks (SURMOFs), which is inaccessible with the traditional coulometric (i.e., resistance-based) measurements.

Efficient Removal Of Lead Ions From Aqueous Media Using Sustainable Sources On Marine Algae, Hannah Namkoong, Erik Biehler, Gon Namkoong, Tarek M. Abdel-Fattah

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The goal of this project is to explore a new method to efficiently remove Pb(II) ions from water by processing Undaria pinnatifida into immobilized beads using sodium alginate and calcium chloride. The resulting biosorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Using immobilized U. pinnatifida, we investigated the effect of various factors on Pb(II) ion removal efficiency such as temperature, pH, ionic strength, time, and underlying biosorption mechanisms. For Pb(II) ion biosorption studies, Pb(II) ion biosorption data were obtained and analyzed using Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. It …

Hybridization From Guest-Host Interactions Reduces The Thermal Conductivity Of Metal-Organic Frameworks, Mallory E. Decoster, Hasan Babaei, Sangeun S. Jung, Zeinab M. Hassan, John T. Gaskins, Ashutosh Giri, Emma M. Tiernan, John A. Tomko, Helmut Baumgart, Pamela M. Norris, Alan J.H. Mcgaughey, Christopher E. Wilmer, Engelbert Redel, Gaurav Giri, Patrick E. Hopkins

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We experimentally and theoretically investigate the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of polycrystalline HKUST-1 metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) infiltrated with three guest molecules: tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ), and (cyclohexane-1,4-diylidene)dimalononitrile (H4-TCNQ). This allows for modification of the interaction strength between the guest and host, presenting an opportunity to study the fundamental atomic scale mechanisms of how guest molecules impact the thermal conductivity of large unit cell porous crystals. The thermal conductivities of the guest@MOF systems decrease significantly, by on average a factor of 4, for all infiltrated samples as compared to the uninfiltrated, pristine HKUST-1. This reduction in thermal conductivity goes in …