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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Assessing Interatomic Potentials For Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of Soybean Oil Pyrolysis, Tanner Garrett Rust Jan 2024

Assessing Interatomic Potentials For Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of Soybean Oil Pyrolysis, Tanner Garrett Rust

MSU Graduate Theses

The world today relies on hydrocarbon combustion for many reasons, including its high energy density that provides ease of transportation. However, hydrocarbons sourced from fossil fuels are not expected to last forever. Biodiesel, a renewable alternative, has many attractive benefits but comes with other downsides. Biodiesel can gel in cold environments and may leave residue in an engine. Pyrolysis of biodiesel has shown promise in addressing these common detriments. Inducing pyrolysis on biodiesel feedstock (commonly soybean oil in the USA) would be an attractive option presuming it continues to produce fossil fuel analogs similar to biodiesel pyrolysis. Herein, Langevin molecular …


Renewable Fuels: Molecular Dynamics Investigations Into Pyrolysis Of Methyl Linoleate, Elson Osakpolor Eguaosa Jan 2023

Renewable Fuels: Molecular Dynamics Investigations Into Pyrolysis Of Methyl Linoleate, Elson Osakpolor Eguaosa

MSU Graduate Theses

With the rapid depletion of the world’s supply of fossil fuels, especially petroleum products, petroleum prices have risen by approximately 800% between the 1970s and now and are projected to continue rising. It is also expected that the world’s consumption of energy will increase commensurate with its growing population. Although biodiesel is a good renewable alternative, it has its limitations including high production costs and poor low-temperature performance. We seek to improve conventional biodiesel with pyrolysis to produce low molecular-weight compounds with high energy densities. Understanding the pyrolysis path on the atomic scale is key as it will allow us …


Synthesis And Characterization Of Chitosan Derivatives Intended For Gene Delivery Applications, Alex M. Mcmullen Jan 2022

Synthesis And Characterization Of Chitosan Derivatives Intended For Gene Delivery Applications, Alex M. Mcmullen

MSU Graduate Theses

Chitosan has been studied as a non-viral vector capable of efficient gene delivery due to its favorable properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, and is non-toxic to mammalian cells. Incorporating electrostatic interactions in non-viral vectors enhance the vector permeability. This work focuses on two parts. Firstly, cationic chitosan derivatives were synthesized using quarternary ammonium and phosphonium groups. This was achieved by coupling carboxylic acid ligands with these quarternary groups to chitosan through an amide bond. The carboxylic acid ligands were synthesized from 4-methylbenzoic acid and either triethyl phosphine or triethyl amine. The ligand was then attached to chitosan through an amide …


Identification Of Chemical Structures And Substructures Via Deep Q-Learning And Supervised Learning Of Ftir Spectra, Joshua D. Ellis Aug 2021

Identification Of Chemical Structures And Substructures Via Deep Q-Learning And Supervised Learning Of Ftir Spectra, Joshua D. Ellis

MSU Graduate Theses

Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of organic compounds can be used to compare and identify compounds. A mid-FTIR spectrum gives absorbance values of a compound over the 400-4000 cm-1 range. Spectral matching is the process of comparing the spectral signature of two or more compounds and returning a value for the similarity of the compounds based on how closely their spectra match. This process is commonly used to identify an unknown compound by searching for its spectrum’s closes match in a database of known spectra. A major limitation of this process is that it can only be used to identify …


In Silico Investigation For The Conversion Of Methyl Oleate To Gasoline, Arkanil Roy Aug 2020

In Silico Investigation For The Conversion Of Methyl Oleate To Gasoline, Arkanil Roy

MSU Graduate Theses

Petroleum products are found in all walks of life. From the plastic casing on a cell phone to the gasoline that runs most vehicles, a lot is derived from petroleum. Ubiquitous use of petroleum has adversely affected the environment. Toxic substances such as SOx and NOx are released into the atmosphere during the processing and usage of petroleum products, which contributes to global warming. Inevitable oil spills cause devastating effects to marine ecosystems. The rate of regeneration of petroleum is much slower than the rate of usage that would lead to it being exhausted in the recent future. Hence, a …


Improving Biodiesel Through Pyrolysis: Direct Dynamics Investigations Into Thermal Decomposition Of Methyl Linoleate, Michael Bakker May 2020

Improving Biodiesel Through Pyrolysis: Direct Dynamics Investigations Into Thermal Decomposition Of Methyl Linoleate, Michael Bakker

MSU Graduate Theses

Dependence on petroleum and petrochemical products is unsustainable as it is both a finite resource and environmentally hazardous. Biodiesel is a proposed alternative, but has complications including possessing poor cold weather operability and lacking the ability to supplement other petrochemical products (e.g., ethylene, hexane, etc.) relied upon in society. Pyrolysis of biodiesel has demonstrated the formation of smaller hydrocarbons comprising many of these petrochemical products. Our aim is to computationally simulate the pyrolysis of methyl linoleate, the most prevalent component in biodiesel formed in the US (from soybean). We make use of unimolecular direct dynamics describing intramolecular processes, introducing Temperature …


Nmr Spectroscopic Properties Of Nucleotides, And A New Method Of Numeric Calculation Of Raman Intensities For Organic Molecules, William R. Ehrhardt Aug 2018

Nmr Spectroscopic Properties Of Nucleotides, And A New Method Of Numeric Calculation Of Raman Intensities For Organic Molecules, William R. Ehrhardt

MSU Graduate Theses

General and accurate computational methodologies are currently lacking for large chemical systems. This is primarily due to the computational expense required to perform calculations on systems with one hundred or more atoms. Calculated spectroscopic properties could aid in the process of elucidating structural features of large biologically relevant molecules if accurate and inexpensive methods are developed. Towards this end the first steps were taken to design a general methodology for predicting NMR chemical shifts of large nucleic acid systems. It was found that HF and semi-empirical methods were not sufficient for optimization of nucleobases, and therefore larger nucleotide or nucleic …


Synthesis, Characterization, And Applications Of Ammonium/Phosphonium Chitosan Derivatives For Investigative Dna Interactions, Quinton Kirk Wyatt Aug 2018

Synthesis, Characterization, And Applications Of Ammonium/Phosphonium Chitosan Derivatives For Investigative Dna Interactions, Quinton Kirk Wyatt

MSU Graduate Theses

Chitosan is examined as a non-viral vector capable of efficient gene delivery due to its favorable properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, and is non-toxic to mammalian cells. Cell modifications and vector permeability are enhanced in non-viral vectors that incorporate electrostatic interactions. This work synthesizes cationic (N+, P+) chitosan derivatives, to enhance electrostatic interactions towards nucleotides, using amide coupling agents EDC and HOBt. The final chitosan derivatives will bear cationic functional groups (N+, P+) with various alkyl groups (Me, Et, Pr, Ph) to examine their affinities to nucleotides and antifungal properties. mPEG grafted …


Synthesis And Characterization Of Block Copolymers For Shear Force Responsive Materials And Sugar Conjugated Fluorescent Probes, Jacob Ryan Blankenship Aug 2018

Synthesis And Characterization Of Block Copolymers For Shear Force Responsive Materials And Sugar Conjugated Fluorescent Probes, Jacob Ryan Blankenship

MSU Graduate Theses

Herein, I present my work towards two goals: shear force-responsive materials and sugarconjugated fluorescent probes for bacterial identification applications. The first work is on the development of stimuli-responsive polymers that allow for precise control over the release of encapsulated material. Stimuli-responsive polymers are becoming increasingly important in drug delivery and other applications. However there have been few reports on shear force-responsive micellar systems. I show the synthesis, and characterization by 1H and 13C NMR of four macro-chain transfer agents (macro-CTAs), one of which has not been previously reported. The resulting macro-CTAs were used in polymerization of vinyl acetate …


Computational Study Of Lawesson’S Reagent Mediated Fluorenone Dimerization Forming 9,9’-Bifluorenylidene, Andrew Jourdan Eckelmann May 2018

Computational Study Of Lawesson’S Reagent Mediated Fluorenone Dimerization Forming 9,9’-Bifluorenylidene, Andrew Jourdan Eckelmann

MSU Graduate Theses

The ambition of this work is to start a path to the a priori rational design of high yield production for electron acceptors with finely tuned band gaps, from the comfort of an armchair. To this end, organic photovoltaics offer a cheap and sustainable means of manufacture using readily available materials and avoids the toxicity of some of the heavy metals used in first and second-generation solar cells such as cadmium. The microwave assisted Lawesson’s reagent mediated one-pot one-step solventless synthesis takes less than 3 minutes and results in an 84% yield of 9,9’-bifluorenylidene from two equivalents of fluorenone. While …


Electronic Structure Evaluation Of Competing Pathways In The Gold(Iii)-Catalyzed Ohloff-Rautenstrauch Cyclosimerization Converting Propargylic Acetates To Carene-Like Natural Products, Jeremy M. Hines Aug 2017

Electronic Structure Evaluation Of Competing Pathways In The Gold(Iii)-Catalyzed Ohloff-Rautenstrauch Cyclosimerization Converting Propargylic Acetates To Carene-Like Natural Products, Jeremy M. Hines

MSU Graduate Theses

Propargylic acetates can lead to complex transformations upon exposure to a gold catalyst. Gold catalyzed transformations also allow for simple synthesis of a number of natural products. Gold (III)-cycloisomerization of a 5-acetoxy-1,6-enyne is reported to proceed through two pathways that differ in the order of major events: cyclization followed by ester migration (“cyclization first”) or the reverse (“migration first”). Both pathways could theoretically proceed in either order. This rearrangement is called the Ohloff-Rautenstrauch rearrangement and has high regio- and stereocontrol affording a bicylo[4.1.0]heptane carbon substructure. This rearrangement allows for the synthesis of the carene class of natural products. Computational modeling …


Ab Initio Methyl Linoleate Bond Dissociation Energies: First Principles Fishing For Wise Crack Products, Zachary Ryan Wilson Aug 2017

Ab Initio Methyl Linoleate Bond Dissociation Energies: First Principles Fishing For Wise Crack Products, Zachary Ryan Wilson

MSU Graduate Theses

With the prices of petroleum reflecting demand for this finite resource, attention has been turned to alternative sources of energy. Biodiesel, defined as fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), exhibits many of the same properties as conventional diesel but is derived from biological sources. FAMEs are subsequently thermally cracked to form more light-weight petrochemical products. I aim to further understand the thermal cracking procedure, at an atomic-level, in hopes that this may aid in future engineering of viable fuels. I studied the effective computational modeling of bond disassociations in the FAME methyl linoleate. Bond dissociation in a 44-reaction database with known …