Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Quantification Of Cocaine From The Erythroxylum Coca Plant And The Comparison On High Performance Liquid Chromatography And Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy As An Analytical Method., Tuesday James

Student Theses

Cocaine is derived from the Erythroxylum coca plant, is a highly addictive stimulant abused all over the world. There are two types of Erythroxylum coca plants that produce cocaine; the E. Coca and E. Novogranatense. Cocaine exists as the salt, and the freebase which is typically referred to as “crack” due to the crackling sound it makes when heated. It is popular because it is inexpensive and easily available on the streets, mainly in poor urban areas. The purpose of this project was to determine the amount of cocaine that can be extracted from E.coca and to assess which analytical …

From The Making To The Tuning To The Use Of Chlorins For Biomedical Applications, Junior Gonzales

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chlorins are porphyrins missing a double bond. These pigments are optimal platforms for the development of novel dyes that display drug-like attributes such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents. More recently, it was demonstrated that chlorins can serve both as a PDT agent and as a modality for fluorescence or PET imaging. Thus, multifunctional chlorins eliminate the differences that may occur in specificity, uptake, and distribution between separate compounds or constructs for imaging and therapy. The overall goal of this dissertation is to take advantage of the reputed intrinsic attributes of chlorins as a viable tool in biomedical applications. In this …

The Advanced Spectroscopic Analysis Of Organic Gunshot Residue And Explosives, Jennifer M. Leonard

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

With the prevalence of shooting cases and terrorist attacks/or threats that plague the current state of the criminal justice system, it is of paramount importance to be able to detect, identify and interpret the presence of gunshot residue or explosives material. This concern is seen in law enforcement agencies and the media throughout the United States and abroad.

Currently, the typical method of analyzing gunshot residue in most crime laboratories serves to identify the inorganic constituents of the primer residue, namely lead, barium and antimony. However, it is possible that the organic matter from the propellant could provide different information …

Chelating Ligands And Nanomaterials Based On Graphene Oxide For The Reduction And Sequestration Of Radiometals And Protein Purification, Sam Groveman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nuclear waste remediation and protein purification using immobilized metals can benefit enormously from the design and implementation of novel chelating nanomaterials. Available commercial resins capable of sequestering metals are based on bulk materials such as organic polymers, ceramics, and their composites. The use of two-dimensional nanoplatforms with large surface areas expands the horizon for the research and development of new systems with higher efficiency and lower cost. Fundamental science challenges remain in the synthesis and characterization of these nanomaterials and their integration with known or novel coordinating ligands.

Chemical exfoliation of graphite under strong oxidizing conditions yields graphene oxide (GO) …

Design Of Collagen-Mimetic Peptides, Parminder Jeet Kaur

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Collagen is the major component of the extracellular matrix and is involved in a wide range of cellular functions during tissue development and action. At the core of the diverse functions of this versatile protein is its remarkable ability to form supramolecular structures through self-assembly and/or through interactions with other biomolecules. One typical example of such supramolecular structure is the fibrils of collagen types I, II and III of the connective tissues. These fibrils have staggered arrangement of the laterally associated collagen triple helices – the structural unit of collagen – to form long, smooth fibrils with a characteristic 67 …