Chemistry Commons^™

Nanoscale Thin Films, Rob Snyder

Nanotechnology Teacher Summer Institutes

An activity that makes a nanoscale film of oleic acid on water. The student will

• Learn about Ben Franklin’s observations of a thin film that had a nanoscale dimension.

• Create a very thin film with a very dilute solution of oleic acid.

• Use data you collect to determine if you made a thin film with a nanoscale dimension that formed on the surface of water.

• Learn about the molecular interactions that resulted in the formation of the thin film.

• Be introduced to the Big Ideas of Nanoscale Self-Assembly

Seeing At The Nanoscale: New Microscopies For The Life Sciences, Jennifer Ross

Nanotechnology Teacher Summer Institutes

Visualizing single modules with fluorescence microscopy

Ozone, Uv, And Nanoparticles, Morton Sternheim, Jennifer Welborn

Nanotechnology Teacher Summer Institutes

•Ultraviolet light causes skin damage and cancer •Ozone in the stratosphere blocks UV •Sunscreen blocks UV, partly •Nanoparticles in sunscreen improve blocking Sunscreen PowerPoint and activities based on NanoSense web site:

http://nanosense.sri.com/activities/clearsunscreen/index.html

Powers Of Ten: From Meters To Nanometers And Beyond, Rob Snyder

Nanotechnology Teacher Summer Institutes

The goal of this activity is to guide students toward an understanding of nanoscale dimensions by:

• Making a number of measurements using meter sticks, magnifiers, microscopes and spectrometers so students can make observations and generate their own data.

• Using scientific notation to compare the measurements they have made with the dimensions of very small structures

Self Assembly, Mark Tuominem, Jennifer Welborn, Rob Snyder

Nanotechnology Teacher Summer Institutes

No abstract provided.

Nanomedicine, Mark Tuominen

Nanotechnology Teacher Summer Institutes

An overview of nanomedicine. The end goal of nanomedicine is improved diagnostics, treatment and prevention of disease. Nanotechnology holds key to a number of recent and future breakthroughs in medicine.

Integrating Arsenic-Related Environmental Topics Into The Education Of The Next Generation Of Citizens For Arsenic-Hit Communities: Awareness And Mobilization, Julian Tyson

Chemistry Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Immobilization Of Scandium And Other Chemical Elements In Systems With Aquatic Macrophyte, S. A. Ostroumov, M. E. Johnson, Julian Tyson, B. Xing

Chemistry Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Unhindered Triangulene Salt Pairs: Substitution-Dependent Contact Ion Pairing And Complex Solvent-Separated Discotic Ions In Solution, Subrahmanyam Modekrutti

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

This work sought to enforce aromatic interactions between compatible π-molecular orbital systems with ionic bonding. In this case the interacting partners are oppositely charged discotic triangulene derivatives. The observed properties of the heterodimeric ion-pairs likely arise due to a hypothetical synergy between electrostatics and π-interactions. The work presented here describes investigation of putative covalency arising from this hypothetical synergy in the electrostatics driven π-stacking. In order to probe this, various hypotheses were made and experiments were designed to test their validity. The results from the experiments show existence of contact ion-pairs and complex solvent-separated discotic ions in solution. The formation …

Temperature And Ph Responsive Microfibers For Controllable And Variable Ibuprofen Delivery, Toan Tran, Mariana Hernandez, Dhruvil Patel, Ji Wu

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Electrospun microfibers (MFs) composed of pH and temperature responsive polymers can be used for controllable and variable delivery of ibuprofen. First, electrospinning technique was employed to prepare poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-methacrylic acid) (pNIPAM-co-MAA) MFs containing ibuprofen. It was found that drug release rates from PCL MFs cannot be significantly varied by either temperature (22–40°C) or pH values (1.7–7.4). In contrast, the ibuprofen (IP) diffusion rates from pNIPAM-co-MAA MFs were very sensitive to changes in both temperature and pH. The IP release from pNIPAM-co-MAA MFs was highly linear and controllable when the temperature was above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) …

Chemical Analysis, Databasing, And Statistical Analysis Of Smokeless Powders For Forensic Application, Dana-Marie Dennis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smokeless powders are a set of energetic materials, known as low explosives, which are typically utilized for reloading ammunition. There are three types which differ in their primary energetic materials; where single base powders contain nitrocellulose as their primary energetic material, double and triple base powders contain nitroglycerin in addition to nitrocellulose, and triple base powders also contain nitroguanidine. Additional organic compounds, while not proprietary to specific manufacturers, are added to the powders in varied ratios during the manufacturing process to optimize the ballistic performance of the powders. The additional compounds function as stabilizers, plasticizers, flash suppressants, deterrents, and opacifiers. …

Synthesis Of Fluorene-Based Derivatives, Characterization Of Optical Properties And Their Applications In Two-Photon Fluorescence Imaging And Photocatalysis, Grace Githaiga

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The two-photon absorption (2PA) phenomenon has attracted attention from various fields ranging from chemistry and biology to optics and engineering. Two of the common NLO applications in which organic materials have been used are three-dimensional (3D) fluorescence imaging and optical power limiting. Two-photon absorbing materials are, therefore, in great demand to meet the needs of emerging technologies. Organic molecules show great promise to meet this need as they can be customized through molecular engineering, and as the development of two-photon materials that suit practical application intensifies, so does research to meet this need. However, there remains some uncertainty in the …

Fabrication And Study Of Graphene-Based Nanocomposites For Sensing And Energy Storage, Matthew Mcinnis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graphite is an allotrope of carbon made up of atomically thin sheets, each covalently bound together, forming a π-conjugated network. An individual layer, called graphene, has extraordinary electrical, thermal and physical properties that provide the opportunity for innovating new functional composites. Graphene can be produced directly on a metallic substrate by chemical vapor deposition or by chemical oxidation of graphite, forming a stable aqueous suspension of graphene oxide (GO), which allows for convenient solution processing techniques. For the latter, after thermal or chemical reduction, much of the properties of the starting graphene re-emerge due to the reestablishment of π-conjugation. The …

Development Of A Nano-Sensing Approach And A Portable Prototype For Real-Time Detection And Quantification Of Free Mercury In Stream-Flow: Combining Science And Engineering In Pro Of The Environment, Warinya Chemnasiri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mercury (Hg) is a well-known hazardous environmental contaminant existing in several forms, but all are toxic to human in one way or the others. Since Hg usually settles into water polluting the environment and accumulating in living organisms, it is crucial to monitor Hg levels in the aquatic ecosystem. Although there are many well established techniques currently used to detect Hg, most of them require elaborate and time-consuming sample preparation and pre-concentration procedures, as well as costly and bulky equipment that limit their practical application in the field. In order to overcome the existent limitations in Hg determination methods, Hernandez …

A Dangerous Polymer: Organic Synthesis Of Poly(Glutamine), Corbain Swain

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Development Of New Algorithms For Exploring The Potential Energy Landscape Of Chemical Reactions, Adam Benjamin Birkholz

Wayne State University Dissertations

The research presented in this dissertation is divided into 5 chapters. In Chapter 2, a method for reducing the number of coordinates required to accurately reproduce a known chemical reaction pathway by applying principal component analysis to a number of geometries along the pathway (expressed in either Cartesian coordinates or redundant internal coordinates) is described and applied to 9 example reactions. Chapter 3 introduces new methods for estimating the structure of and optimizing transition states by utilizing information about the atomic bonding in the reactants and products. These methods are then benchmarked against a standard transition state optimization approach utilizing …

Substrate-Assisted And Enzymatic Pretransfer Editing Of Nonstandard Amino Acids By Methionyl-Trna Synthetase, Grant B. Fortowsky, Daniel J. Simard, Mohamed M. Aboelnga, James W. Gauld

Chemistry and Biochemistry Publications

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are cen- tral to a number of physiological processes, including protein biosynthesis. In particular, they activate and then transfer their corresponding amino acid to the cognate tRNA. This is achieved with a generally remarkably high fidelity by editing against incorrect standard and nonstandard amino acids. Using docking, molecular dynamics (MD), and hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics methods, we have inves- tigated mechanisms by which methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MetRS) may edit against the highly toxic, noncognate, amino acids homocysteine (Hcy) and its oxygen analogue, homo- serine (Hse). Substrate-assisted editing of Hcy-AMP in which its own phosphate acts as the mechanistic …

Aspirin Inhibits Formation Of Cholesterol Rafts In Fluid Lipid Membranes, Richard J. Alsop, Laura Toppozini, Drew Marquardt, Norbert Kučerka, Thad A. Harroun, Maikel C. Rheinstädter

Chemistry and Biochemistry Publications

Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have a high affinity for phospholipid membranes, altering their structure and biophysical properties. Aspirin has been shown to partition into the lipid head groups, thereby increasing membrane fluidity. Cholesterol is another well known mediator of membrane fluidity, in turn increasing membrane stiffness. As well, cholesterol is believed to distribute unevenly within lipid membranes leading to the formation of lipid rafts or plaques. In many studies, aspirin has increased positive outcomes for patients with high cholesterol. We are interested if these effects may be, at least partially, the result of a non-specific interaction between aspirin …

Preparation Of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Tips Using Pulsed Alternating Current Etching, Victor A. Valencia, Avesh A. Thaker, Johnathan Derouin, Damian N. Valencia, Rachael G. Farber, Dana A. Gebel, Daniel Killelea

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

An electrochemical method using pulsed alternating current etching (PACE) to produce atomically sharp scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) tips is presented. An Arduino Uno microcontroller was used to control the number and duration of the alternating current (AC) pulses, allowing for ready optimization of the procedures for both Pt:lr and W tips using a single apparatus. W tips prepared using constant and pulsed AC power were compared. Tips fashioned using PACE were sharper than those etched with continuous AC power alone. Pt:lr tips were prepared with an initial coarse etching stage using continuous AC power followed by fine etching using PACE. …

Design, Synthesis, And Biological Evaluation Of Folate Targeted Photosensitizers For Photodynamic Therapy, Laura Jean Donahue

Dissertations

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is used to treat cancer, and involves a highly conjugated molecule, called a photosensitizer (PS), which is excited by wavelengths of light from visible to infrared. Photosensitizers that are highly conjugated will absorb longer wavelengths (600 – 900 nm), and have the potential to destroy cells of deeper tissue cancers. In PDT, a PS is administered to the patient, and after an appropriate time delay, the tissue is then exposed to light of a specific wavelength necessary for excitation of the PS. A transfer of energy can take place between the excited PS and oxygen that is …