Chemistry Commons^™

The Roaring Lion Of Berlin: The Life, Thought, And Influence Of Eugen Dühring, Arden Roy

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The life and influence of 19th-century German polymath Eugen Dühring remain but a mere footnote in the history of ideas, being primarily relegated to the status of little more than a theoretical rival to Marxism in the German socialist movement and the occasional object of Freidrich Nietzsche's rhetorical flogging. Despite the current consensus on the subject, Eugen Dühring was a scholar of vast, remarkable learnedness, contributing greatly to philosophy, economics, and the natural sciences. The aim of this talk will be to clear the fog surrounding the life and work of the controversial blind scholar and give an account of …

Etherification Of Propargylic Alcohol Using Ferrocenium Ions, Cody Amann, Sai Anvesh Bezawada, Eike B. Bauer

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Etherification of Propargylic Alcohol using Ferrocenium Ions

Cody Amann, Sai Anvesh Bezawada and Eike B. Bauer*

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Missouri-St.Louis, MO 63121

Our research efforts are directed toward the improvement of iron-based catalyst systems. The Bauer research group recently found that the ferrocenium cation is a catalytically active in the etherification of propargylic alcohols. My research was to compare the effect of two different counteranions of the ferrocenium cation on the catalytic activity. Etherification test reactions were performed using 2-methyl-2-phenol-propargylic alcohol and n-butanol to afford the corresponding propargylic ether substitution products. The complexes used …

Determination Of Antibody Affinity For The Alzheimer’S Amyloid-Β Protein, Bree Carlton

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a common form of dementia that is characterized by inflammation, loss of brain mass, and loss of motor function and memory. One of the pathological hallmarks of AD is the accumulation of Amyloid-β (Aβ) in the brain as senile plaques. Aβ is formed from a large protein called Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) when specific enzymes cut a segment of the protein into a shorter polypeptide chain, Aβ. Different aggregation species were used in this project, specifically monomers and protofibrils. Monomers are naturally occurring and nontoxic, while protofibrils are neurotoxic and neuroinflammatory. One way that Aβ can …

Heavy Metals Analysis And Physicochemical Characterization Of Groundwater At A Battery Recycling Site In South-Western Nigeria, Adeniyi T. Adeleke, Rasaki K. Odunaike, Shamsideen K. Alausa, Idris O. Olayiwola, Adetoro T. Talabi, Qasim A. Adeniji, Adejumobi C. Adeniyi

Tanzania Journal of Science

Indiscriminate dumping of battery waste is a huge issue that endangers human health and the environment. This study aimed at analysing the health impacts of exposure to pollution from spent battery recycling in Ogun State, which houses a diverse range of battery recycling industries. At this study site, forty water samples were studied over the Wet and Dry seasons to assess the impact of battery recycling waste on groundwater. Except for the TSS, the physiochemical parameters of the groundwater vary with season and are within the permissible limits. The electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, Phosphorus, Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), Dissolve oxygen …

Turmeric Dyeing Of Cotton Fabrics Using Tie-Dyeing Techniques, Pendo Bigambo, Happiness Wellah, Hadija Ngaga, Safina Kimbokota, Mbonea Mrango

Tanzania Journal of Science

Tie-dyeing is a resist-dyeing technique which for years has been used by SMEs to produce attractive textile fabrics. However, the technique is challenged by the use of synthetic dyes which are not environmentally friendly and the growing consumers’ environmental awareness. Accordingly, researchers and industrialists are forced to explore the alternative natural dyes in response to the above challenges. Among the natural source of dyes available abundantly in Tanzania, but are yet to be fully exploited for applications via tie-dyeing technique are turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) roots commonly used for food coloring. In this study turmeric roots were investigated for their …

Synthesis Of Template-Free Flower-Like Zno Nanorods Using A Simple Chemical Bath Technique, Benard S. Mwankemwa

Tanzania Journal of Science

Flower-like ZnO nanorods were successfully synthesised using a template-free, low-temperature chemical bath deposition method. The effects of growth time on the structural, morphological, and vibrational properties of flower-like zinc oxide were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the crystallite size and density of flower-like ZnO nanorods increased with increasing growth time. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the existence of specific Raman modes that correspond to the wurtzite structure of ZnO. In addition, Raman measurements revealed that increased growth time increases the Raman modes intensity of the flower-like ZnO nanorods. Moreover, the measurements of the Au/ZnO nanorods/FTO Schottky …

Thin-Film Nanocomposite Membranes With Alumina Nanoparticles For Textile Wastewater Treatment Applications, Amr Mohamed Tayel

Theses and Dissertations

Thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes are gaining great interest in industrial wastewater treatment due to their superior performance, especially for higher water flux and pollutants’ rejection, as well as improved chemical, thermal and mechanical stabilities, compared to other types of membranes. The performance of TFN membranes can be enhanced using different types of nanofillers, among which ceramic nanomaterials, such as Al2O3, offer a promising potential for applications involving treatment of industrial wastewater such as textile effluents, and this is due to their stability, hydrophilicity, and relative low cost. The study of the TFN membrane properties and structure allows the optimization and …

On The Exact Helium Wave Function Expansion, Ii, An Exponential Modulated Form, Carl W. David

Chemistry Education Materials

A 1¹S wave function’s expansion for 2 electron atoms and ions is proposed employing an appropriate exponential factor and Fock’s logarithmic terms. The leading coefficient’s are presented.

Adapting Chiral Gas Chromatography Into Existing Undergraduate Laboratories To Emphasize The Importance Of Stereochemistry, Ken Overway, Barnabas Otoo, Nicholas Griffin, Marshall Ritchie, Tyler Lynn, Kate Dear, Tyler Deutsch, Leigha Dillard

Chemistry Faculty Scholarship

Owing to the critical role of stereochemistry in biotechnology, medicine, and industry, it must be well represented in undergraduate lab curricula. To achieve these stereochemical laboratory requirements without sacrificing existing lab techniques, we modified two standard laboratory experiments to include chiral GC analysis as follows. (1) The extraction of carvone from spearmint leaves and caraway seeds via steam-distillation or other extraction methods is widely used in laboratories for analyzing the stereochemistry of the extracted products. The experiment was modified to include a GC method using a β-DEX 225 column. This allowed the students to compare the retention times of the …

Aromatic Residue Positioning Influences Helical Peptoid Structure In Aqueous Solution, Jwwad M. Javed, Katherine Scukas, Michelle T. Nguyen, Amelia A. Fuller

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Water-soluble peptidomimetics, including peptoids, are promising functional surrogates for biologically relevant, amphiphilic, helical peptides. Twenty amphiphilic peptoid hexamers with predicted helical structures were designed, prepared, and studied using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The site-specific contributions of aromatic and charged residues to the helical structure of peptoid hexamers in aqueous solution was evaluated, revealing that aromatic residue positioning most significantly impacts structure.

Fluorescent Ph Indicators For Classroom Demonstration Of Buffer Action, Mark Muyskens, Mariana Dykstra, Yejin Chung

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

We report an attractive update to the demonstration of acid−base buffer action that is appropriate for ease of use and getting attention in the classroom. The twist is based on new fluorophore information and the recent availability of UV flashlights serving as an ideal, portable excitation light source. The pH-dependent fluorescence comes from a choice among three natural sources, namely narra tree wood extract, kidneywood extract, and scopoletin, which is a purchasable coumarin, that all perform equally well. We provide practical details for performing the buffer demonstration at scales of 100 and 1000 mL and give background information for context

Easy, Bright, Fluorescence Demonstration Of Buffer Action, Mariana Dykstra, Yejin Chung, Mark Muyskens

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

We report an attractive update to the demonstration of acid–base buffer action that is appropriate for ease of use and getting attention in the classroom. The twist is based on new fluorophore information and the recent availability of UV flashlights serving as an ideal, portable excitation light source. The pH-dependent fluorescence comes from a choice among three natural sources, namely narra tree wood extract, kidneywood extract, and scopoletin, which is a purchasable coumarin, that all perform equally well. We provide practical details for performing the buffer demonstration at scales of 100 and 1000 mL and give background information for context.

Rational Design Of Heterostructured Nanomaterials For Accelerating Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Kinetics In Alkaline Media, Hai-Bin Ma, Xiao-Yan Zhou, Jia-Yi Li, Hong-Fei Cheng, Ji-Wei Ma

Journal of Electrochemistry

Owing to the merits of high energy density, as well as clean and sustainable properties, hydrogen has been deemed to be a prominent alternative energy to traditional fossil fuels. Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has been considered to be mostly promising for achieving green hydrogen production, and has been widely studied in acidic and alkaline solutions. In particular, HER in alkaline media has high potential to achieve large-scale hydrogen production because of the increased durability of electrode materials. However, for the currently most prominent catalyst Pt, its HER kinetics in an alkaline solution is generally 2–3 orders lower than that …

Monodispersed Cu-Tcpp/Cu2O Hybrid Microspheres: A Superior Cascade Electrocatalyst Toward Co2 Reduction To C2 Products, Zi-Xuan Wan, Aidar Kuchkaev, Dmitry Yakhvarov, Xiong-Wu Kang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into valuable chemicals is a feasible way to mitigate the negative impacts of overmuch CO₂ emissions. Porphyrin-based metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are expected to be used for selective and efficient electrochemical CO₂ reduction (ECR) with porous structure and ordered active sites. Herein, we report the synthesis of a monodispersed and spherical organic/inorganic hybrid Cu-TCPP@Cu₂O electrocatalyst composed of Cu-TCPP (TCPP=tetrakis (4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin) and Cu₂O, where TCPP plays significant roles in regulating the morphology. In-situ formed Cu during ECR process in combination with Cu-TCPP (Cu-TCPP@Cu) can suppress …

Stability Of A Solid Oxide Cell Stack Under Direct Internal-Reforming Of Hydrogen-Blended Methane, Ya-Fei Tang, An-Qi Wu, Bei-Bei Han, Hua Liu, Shan-Jun Bao, Wang-Lin Lin, Ming Chen, Wan-Bing Guan, Subhash C. Singhal

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this work, the long-term stability and degradation mechanism of a direct internal-reforming solid oxide fuel cell stack (IR-SOFC stack) using hydrogen-blended methane steam reforming were investigated. An overall degradation rate of 2.3%·kh^–1 was found after the stack was operated for 3000 hours, indicating a good long-term stability. However, the voltages of the two cells in the stack were increased at the rates of 3.38 mV·kh^–1 and 3.78 mV·kh^–1, while the area specific resistances of the three metal interconnects in the stack were increased to 0.276 Ω·cm², 0.254 Ω·cm² and 0.249 Ω·cm^{2 …}

De Novo Drug Design Using Transformer-Based Machine Translation And Reinforcement Learning Of An Adaptive Monte Carlo Tree Search, Dony Ang, Cyril Rakovski, Hagop S. Atamian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The discovery of novel therapeutic compounds through de novo drug design represents a critical challenge in the field of pharmaceutical research. Traditional drug discovery approaches are often resource intensive and time consuming, leading researchers to explore innovative methods that harness the power of deep learning and reinforcement learning techniques. Here, we introduce a novel drug design approach called drugAI that leverages the Encoder–Decoder Transformer architecture in tandem with Reinforcement Learning via a Monte Carlo Tree Search (RL-MCTS) to expedite the process of drug discovery while ensuring the production of valid small molecules with drug-like characteristics and strong binding affinities towards …

Analyzing Novel Metal Alloys For Glucose Sensing And Electrocatalysis, Anna Grace Boddy

Theses and Dissertations

In pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry, metals and metal alloys often receive less attention compared to biological or organic compounds due to many factors including toxicity in the body for drug development or the cost of these metals. However, metals can play an important role in pharmaceuticals, having an impact on original cancer drugs, such as platinum used for head and neck tumors. Electrocatalysis is also another topic that receives less attention over topics such as chromatography in pharmaceuticals due to its potential toxic catalysts and voltages that could be harmful to the body. Electrocatalytic sensors can play an important role …

Toward The Ir Detection Of Carbon Acid: Absorption And Emission Spectrum, Ryan C. Fortenberry, Vincent J. Esposito

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

With the recent radioastronomical detection of cis-trans-carbonic acid (H₂CO₃) in a molecular cloud toward the Galactic center, the more stable but currently unobserved cis-cis conformer is shown here to have strong IR features. While the higher-energy cis-trans-carbonic acid was detected at millimeter and centimeter wavelengths, owing to its larger dipole moment, the vibrational structure of cis-cis-carbonic acid is more amenable to its observation at micron wavelengths. Even so, both conformers have relatively large IR intensities, and some of these fall in regions not dominated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Water features may inhibit observation …

Auto-Combustion Synthesis Of Lanthanum-Doped Tio2 Nanostructures For Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation Of Crystal Violet Dye, Gharieb Meselhy, Mostafa Yasine Nassar, Ibrahim Mohamed Nassar, Sabry Hamed Seda

Dentistry

Utilising the solution combustion technique, nanocrystalline photocatalysts that included both pristine TiO₂ and doped TiO₂ with various La (III) dopant percentages (1, 3, 5, and 7 mol%) were created. Different methods, including thermal analysis, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), were used to investigate the prepared nanostructures. The XRD results indicated the anatase form and the crystalline nature of the products (pristine and doped TiO2) in the size range of a crystallite (5–16.5) nm. The photocatalytic assessment of the prepared nano-photocatalysts was carried out by …

Development Of Stochastic And Time-Dependent Quantum Chemical Methods For Accurate Description Of Light-Matter Interactions With Applications In Photoionization And Inverse Photoemission In Nanomaterials, Nicole Spanedda

Dissertations - ALL

There are three main focuses of this work. First, the theoretical details of the Stratified Stochastic Enumeration of Molecular Orbitals (SSE-MO) method is presented, along with its application for calculating ionization potentials (IPs) of quantum dots. The SSE-MO method can readily be applied for the purpose of efficiently and accurately calculating ionization potentials, by constructing the frequency-dependent self-energy operator and then subsequently, solving the associated Dyson equation. Constructing the frequency-dependent self-energy operator is challenging because the scaling of the computational cost with respect to system size, becomes prohibitive for large systems, such as quantum dots. This is due to the …

Synthetic Studies On Ship Modulators, Hif-2Α Antagonists, And New Rhodium Carboxylate Catalysts, Angela Pacherille

Dissertations - ALL

The PI3K pathway is a major cell signaling axis in eukaryotic cells. This pathway employs the second messenger, inositol phospholipid PI(3,4,5)P3, which is responsible for activating Akt and other kinases creating a cascade of signals. The enzyme, SH2-containing inositol-5’-phosphatase (SHIP), plays a key role in this pathway by maintaining the delicate balance of PI(3,4,5)P3. Modulation of SHIP activity through the use of small molecule inhibitors may be utilized for the treatment of certain types of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes. A high-throughput screen identified the small molecule SHIP1 inhibitor, NSC23922, a mixture of 3α- and 3β-aminocholestane. These diastereomers were synthesized …

Virgin Coconut Oil (Vco) Supplementation Relieves Symptoms And Inflammation Among Covid-19 Positive Adults: A Single-Blind Randomized Trial, Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa, Jacus S. Nacis, Fabian M. Dayrit, Keith V. Tanda

Chemistry Faculty Publications

A clinical study conducted in 2020 showed that virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been found effective in the rapid relief of COVID-19 symptoms and normalization of the C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration among probable and suspected cases of COVID-19. This present study aimed to validate those results and to evaluate the effects of VCO among COVID-19 patients through a 28-day randomized, single-blind trial conducted among 76 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain report)-confirmed adults, with VCO given as a COVID-19 adjunct therapy. The results showed that VCO recipients were free from symptoms and had normal CRP concentrations by day 14. In comparison, …

Surface Modification Of Poly(4,4'-Oxydiphenilene Pyromellitimide) With Low-Pressure Plasma Treatment, Cihan Aktas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the change of the wetting characteristics of commercially availablepolyimide (PI), Kapton® HN, films a type of poly(4,4′-oxydiphenylene-pyromellitimide), following treatment with low-pressure plasmas of carbon tetrafluoride (CF4), air, hydrogen (H2), carbon-dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) gases as well as the surface texturing via laser-exposure procedure. The water contact angle (CA) and surface free energy (SFE) of untreated PI films were determined as 82.4°±0.8 and 45.0±0.3 mN/m, respectively. After CF4 plasma gas treatment, the CA value of PI films increased to 110.2°±1.0, while it decreased to 9.3°±2.3 after O2 plasma gas treatment. The surface free energy (SFE) of PI …

Quaternary Rare-Earth Oxyselenides Re4ga2se7o2 (Re = Pr, Nd) With Trigonal Bipyramidal Gase5 Units: Evaluation Of Optical, Thermoelectric, And Electrocatalytic Properties, Vidyanshu Mishra, Ibrahim Munkaila Abdullahi, Dundappa Mumbaraddi, Mohammed Jomaa, Louis Guérin, Manashi Nath, Arthur Mar

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Phase-pure samples and single crystals of the rare-earth oxyselenides RE₄Ga₂Se₇O₂ (RE = Pr, Nd) were prepared by reactions at 950 °C. They adopt a new structure type (orthorhombic, space group Pnma, a = 11.721(2)-11.683(2) Å, b = 3.9882(7)-3.9667(7) Å, c = 29.644(5)-29.581(5) Å, Z = 4) consisting of RESe₆ trigonal prisms, GaSe₄ tetrahedra, and GaSe₅ trigonal bipyramids linked to form corrugated layers between which strips of edge-sharing RE₄O tetrahedra are inserted. The bonding character is mostly ionic within RE-O and RE-Se blocks but mostly covalent with Ga-Se blocks, …

Table Of Contents

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Htra1 Prevents And Reverses Α-Synuclein Aggregation, Rendering It Non-Toxic And Seeding Incompetent, Sheng Chen

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Protein misfolding and accumulation of misfolded species are associated with multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). α-Synuclein (α-Syn) misfolding and accumulation into Lewy bodies is closely linked to Parkinson’s disease. In ALS and FTD, TDP-43 and FUS are found to be aggregated in disease pathology. These proteins aggregate and associate with both a toxic gain of function of misfolded form and a loss of function due to misfolding. Therefore, it is critical to understand molecular mechanisms by which cells can prevent protein misfolding and how the cell can reverse the aggregation …

Biochemical And Structural Analysis Of The Bacterial Enzyme Succinyl-Diaminopimelate Desuccinylase (Dape) From Acinetobacter Baumannii, Emma H. Kelley, George Minasov, Katherine Konczak, Ludmilla Shuvalova, Joseph S. Brunzelle, Shantanu Shukla, Megan Beulke, Teerana Thabthimthong, Ken W. Olsen, Nicole L. Inniss, Karla Jf Satchell, Daniel P. Becker Ph.D.

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

There is an urgent need for new antibiotics given the rise of antibiotic resistance, and succinyl-diaminopimelate desuccinylase (DapE, E.C. 3.5.1.18) has emerged as a promising bacterial enzyme target. DapE from Haemophilus influenzae (HiDapE) has been studied and inhibitors identified, but it is essential to explore DapE from different species to assess selective versus broad-spectrum therapeutics. We have determined the structure of DapE from the ESKAPE pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii (AbDapE) and studied inhibition by known inhibitors of HiDapE. AbDapE is inhibited by captopril and sulfate comparable to HiDapE, but AbDapE was not significantly …

Cyclobutanone Inhibitors Of Diaminopimelate Desuccinylase (Dape) As Potential New Antibiotics, Thahani Shifna Habeeb Mohammad, Emma H. Kelley, Cory T. Reidl Dr., Katherine Konczak, Megan Beulke, Janielle Javier, Ken W. Olsen, Daniel P. Becker Ph.D.

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Based on our previous success in using cyclobutanone derivatives as enzyme inhibitors, we have designed and prepared a 37-member library of α-aminocyclobutanone amides and sulfonamides, screened for inhibition of the bacterial enzyme diaminopimelate desuccinylase (DapE), which is a promising antibiotic target, and identified several inhibitors with micromolar inhibitory potency. Molecular docking suggests binding of the deprotonated hydrate of the strained cyclobutanone, and thermal shift analysis with the most potent inhibitor (3y, IC50 = 23.1 µM) enabled determination of a Ki value of 10.2 +/− 0.26 µM and observed two separate Tm values for H. influenzae DapE (HiDapE).

Effect Of Passivation And Surface Treatment Of A Laser Powder Bed Fusion Biomedical Titanium Alloy On Corrosion Resistance And Protein Adsorption, Saman Nikpour, Jeffrey Henderson, Sina Matin, Heng-Yong Nie, Jonas Hedberg, Vahid Dehnavi, Yara Hosein, David Holdsworth, Mark Biesinger, Yolanda Hedberg

Chemistry Publications

The biomedical titanium alloy Ti6Al4V has excellent corrosion resistance and biocompatibility and is, therefore, widely used in orthopedic and orthodontic implants. Biomedical implants are increasingly fabricated by additive manufacturing, such as laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). These manufacturing protocols often include sandblasting, surface finish, and passivation. This study aims to investigate the effect of different surface finishes and the commonly used ASTM F86-13 nitric acid passivation for LPBF Ti6Al4V on its corrosion resistance, metal release, and surface changes in benign (bovine serum albumin in a pH 7.4 buffer) and harsh (hydrochloric acid at pH 1.5) solutions using various electrochemical and …

Genome-Wide Profiling Of Novel Conserved Zea Mays Micrornas Along With Their Key Biological, Molecular And Cellular Targets And Validation Using An Rt-Pcr Platform, Abdul Baqi, Sami Ullah, Muhammad Ayub, Muhammad Zafar Saleem, Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Asad Ullah

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are typically non-coding RNAs that start off as endogenous molecules and regulate post-transcriptional levels of gene expression by mRNA degradation or translational repression. They are 18–26 nucleotides long, evolutionarily conserved and essential for predicting novel miRNAs in a variety of plants. Maize (Zea mays) is a significant food and forage crop in the globe today. In the present study, many maize miRNAs have been found to be associated with both plant development and responses to stress. In this study, 66 unique conserved maize miRNAs from 65 different miRNA families were predicted using several genomics-based methods …