Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Boron And Metal Catalyzed C-C And C-H Bond Formation, Adam Barret Pippin

Doctoral Dissertations

Research efforts focused on the use of boron and metals to form new carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen bonds are summarized in this dissertation. Several novel reactions have been developed. These include: the deoxygenation of benzylic alcohols using chloroboranes; alkenylation of benzylic alcohols using boron trichloride; and dialkynlation of aryl aldehydes using dialkynylboron chloride. Numerous applications of these novel reactions have been developed. These include alternate routes to diphenylmethanes and 1,4-diynes from easily prepared dialkynylboron chlorides. In addition, E and Z alkenyl halides can now be prepared using boron trichloride without the use of butyllithium. The stereochemistry of the alkenyl halide can …

Controlling Nanoparticle Dispersion For Nanoscopic Self-Assembly, Nathan S. Starkweather

Master's Theses

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter and devices on the nanometer scale. Below the critical dimension length of 100nm, materials begin to display vastly different properties than their macro- or micro- scale counterparts. The exotic properties of nanomaterials may trigger the start of a new technological revolution, similar to the electronics revolution of the late 20^th century. Current applications of nanotechnology primarily make use of nanoparticles in bulk, often being made into composites or mixtures. While these materials have fantastic properties, organization of nano and microstructures of nanoparticles may allow the development of novel devices with many unique properties. …

Covalent Modification That Enhances Protein Properties And Functions And Folds Random Coil Into Alpha-Helix, Deepali Prashar

Chemistry - Dissertations

Understanding the fundamental science of aggregation and surface adsorption of proteins is critical for developing protein-based drugs, understanding aggregation-induced diseases and for preventing biofouling that impacts a wide range of industries. In spite of the advances in sensitive and high-throughput analytical methods, the commercialization of protein drugs has been impeded by poor solubility, inevitable aggregation, and difficulty in purification. The primary aim of this dissertation is to modify proteins covalently to induce folding in random coil sequences, prevent aggregation, surface adsorption and for increasing the thermal stability against aggregation of proteins.

The first chapter describes the chemistry for modifying the …

Synthesis Of 1,1-Dialkyhydrazines And Their Hydroxyl Radical Degradation In Aqueous Environments, Benjamin F. Strong

Masters Theses

Determination of hydroxyl radical rate constants are essential to ensure adequate degradation of contaminants in wastewater. Hydrazines are an important class of organic contaminants and are the focus of this research. Ten 1,1-dialkylhydrazines are synthesized by the zinc reduction of the corresponding N-nitrosamines. Their hydroxyl radical rate constants are determined using the linear accelerator at the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory at pH 4, 7, and 10.

Their rate constants are found to depend on the protonation state of the molecule. At pH 4 the molecules are fully protonated and hydrogen atom abstraction is favored from the alkyl chains. At …

Development Of Nano-Scale Featured Materials For Electrode Modification And Solid Supports., Amy Rue

Theses and Dissertations

This work utilized the sol-gel process in two ways. First, macroporous silica thin films were developed using a combination of casting techniques and templating. Macroporsity was introduced to the silica thin films by either doping the silica sol before casting or by ordering the template on a substrate and then casting a sol over it. These techniques were first used to create silica thin films with long microchannel pores (200 nm x 60 µm) from a doped sol with the bacteria, B. Megaterium, as the template for nanomaterial formation. To enable the formation long microchannels, the flexible bacteria chains were …

Analysis Of Biodiesel Quality Using Reversed Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Kellyann M. Murphy

Pomona Senior Theses

The alternative fuel biodiesel is produced from the transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fat to fatty acid methyl esters. Pomona has a reactor on campus that can be used to run this reaction and produce biodiesel. The use of biodiesel has been found to lower air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions, but can be potentially harmful to the engines if it contains impurities. This paper proposes a method using high-performance liquid chromatography to test the quality of biodiesel. This method utilizes instrumentation and materials that are available in Pomona College's Chemistry Department, requires very little sample preparation, and is …

Ferrocene Constrained Helical Peptides Via On-Resin Cyclization, Thomas A. Mcteague

Senior Theses and Projects

Previous research within the Curran group has demonstrated that ferrocene may be used as an organometallic constraint to induce the formation of α-helices in short peptides which traditionally possess undefined conformations. Through strategic placement of lysine residues at the i and i+3 positions within the peptide, such a constraint was accomplished via the crosslinking of the lysine side chains to ferrocene dicarboxylic acid chloride in solution phase synthesis. The aim of this work was to develop a method for solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) for the synthesis of these ferrocene-constrained helices. In particular, we seek to develop a method in …

Design And Synthesis Of Antithrombotic Liposomal Protein Conjugate, Hailong Zhang

ETD Archive

Recent advances in the molecular bases of haemostasis have highlighted that endothelial thrombomodulin (TM) plays a critical role in local haemostasis by binding thrombin and subsequently converting protein C to its active form (APC). In addition, the binding of thrombin to TM drastically alters the thrombin's procoagulant activities to anticoagulant activities. The lipid bilayer in which it resides serves as an essential 'cofactor', locally concentrating and coordinating the appropriate alignment of reacting cofactors and substrates for protein C activation. On the other hand, liposomes have been extensively studied as cell membrane model as well as carrier for delivering certain vaccines, …

Methylation Markers In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Avinash Gavicharla

ETD Archive

Hepatocellular Carcinoma is one of the major causes for mortality in the world and is usually asymptomatic until late stage decreasing the survival rate. There is an increase of incidence every year and current diagnostic and prognostic bio markers like AFP have their limitations in the wider context. Therefore, it is important to develop novel biomarkers. The aim of the Research is to understand the cytosine methylation and investigate the role of the p16 and SLIT-2 genes as biomarkers in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. The methylation profiles of the genes were assessed on bisulfite modified DNA samples with the aid of Real …

Multi-Configurational Investigation Of Thermolytic Pathways Of Highly Strained Ring Systems, Jeffrey Dwayne Veals

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The isomerization pathways of model high energy structures are of interest because of their relation to high energy density fuels. Electron resonance has been found to greatly affect the relative activation barriers for several isomerization pathways, and the major goal of this research is to accurately describe its role in determining the relative barriers for strain energy release pathways. This research is centered around the potential energy surfaces (PES's) for ? bond breaking and ? bond rotation in these highly strained structures. Of particular interest was how would resonance and or electronegativity affect the allowed/disallonature of the activation barriers in …

Progress Towards Heterocycles As Inhibitors Of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1, Gregory Alan Abernathy

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Fractional Comparison Of Arson Accelerants Using Advanced Distillation, Sarah Clickner

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Detection of accelerants is often critical in proving a fire was intentional. Establishing a fire was intentionally set is not an easy task and hinges on the preservation of accelerant present in fire debris. Various accelerants have previously been studied using the advanced distillation method to get fractional composition information. The resulting fractions from advanced distillations were compared to evaporation and burn samples to determine if there were any similarities.

Statistical Analysis Of Gasoline As An Accelerant Using Principal Component Analysis, Carolyn Frantz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Arson is one of the most difficult crimes to investigate, as much of the physical evidence is destroyed by the fire. Evidence of an accelerant at a scene is often vital in determining whether a fire was intentional or accidental. Gasoline is one of the most commonly used accelerants, due to its wide availability and low cost. Neat gasoline samples were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to identify the components present in each gasoline and differentiate between gasoline samples based on their seasonal blend and grade. Advanced distillations were executed to compare regular and premium grade gasolines and determine …

Synthesis Of Mixed Metal Trinuclear Cluster Of Molybdenum And Tungsten And Their Electrochemistry In Ionic Liquids, Jessica Ann Davis

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Research is being done to find a material to improve the efficiency of the ethanol fuel cell by using a platinum free catalyst. Mo2WO2(O2CCH3)6 cluster was synthesized using Mo2(O2CCH3)4 dimer and Na2WO4. One ionic liquid, EMImBF4, was synthesized using methylimidazolim and chloroethane in the first step, and EMImCl and NaBF4 in the second step. The electrochemical properties of the ionic liquid and the metal cluster were studied. A potential window for the EMImBF4 was found to be 3.2 V. The ionic liquid has a wider potential window, and allowed for the observation of the redox properties of Mo2WO2(O2CCH3)6. The electrochemistry …

Facile Synthesis Of Functionalized Poly (Arylene Ether Sulfone)S, Mehmet Tatli

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The synthesis of poly(arylene ether sulfone)s, with a pendant aryl iodide, was achieved via nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) polycondensation of 3-iodo-3',5'-difluoro-diphenylsulfone (2) with Bisphenol-A. Monomer 2 was prepared by the reaction of 3, 5-difluorodiphenylsulfone with N-iodosuccinimide (NIS). Model reactions indicated that the iodo group was stable to NAS conditions. Both GC/MS analysis and NMR spectroscopy indicated quantitative displacement of the two fluorine atoms while the iodo group remained untouched. Furthermore, the modification of the iodo polymer was achieved via Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction with phenyl, naphthyl, and phenylacetyl boronic acids. The thermal properties of the polymers were evaluated via DSC and …