George Fox University | Academics | Departments | Biology and Chemistry | Chemistry | Summer Research - 2005

Student Researchers - Summer 2005

Tori Black and Marylesa Wilde:

Hemoglobin Adsorption Studied with Cavity Ring-down Spectroscopy

Adsorption of hemoglobin to silica was studied using evanescent-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy. The kinetics of the reaction as well as the asymptotic amount adsorbed were recorded at the concentrations of 10, 30, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 mg/L of hemoglobin. The average orientation of the adsorbed molecules were determined by measuring the difference in absorption of S and P polarized light.

Ali Salter:

The Effect of Amide Group Orientation in Self-Assembled Monolayers

The goal of this project is to identify the factors that govern the formation of chemically-driven, electroactive, nanoscale features in self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The self assembled monolayers investigated here involve sulfur-terminated molecules, thiols, that bond to gold. When thiols that contain an amide group are mixed with hydrocarbon thiols, hydrogen bonding between the amide groups on adjacent molecules leads to the formation of discrete phase-separated domains. The specific goal of this project is to investigate how phase separation is affected by the orientation of the amide group in the thiol. SAMs will be evaluated using an electrochemical technique, cyclic voltametry, that has proven to be effective in observing phase separation in related systems.

Ryan Johnson:

The purpose of this research is the construction of polyoxometalate amphiphilic molecules using alpha-K₆P₂W₁₈O ₆₂ and K₈SiW₁₁O₃₉.

Whittney Warren:

The purpose of this research is to explore the spontaneous phase separation of a binary mixture of single amide thiols and tri amide thiols as they form a self-assembled monolayer on a gold surface. I hypothesize that discrete molecular islands will form between adjacent tri amide molecules due to hydrogen bonding interactions and that this phase separation can be detected and evaluated by cyclic voltametry.

Georgia Lemen

Development of an Organic Chemistry Experiment to Demonstrate the Robinson Annulation Reaction

The purpose of this project is to develop a cost-efficient experiment which demonstrates the Robinson Annulation reaction, which is a very important synthetic reaction in organic chemistry. Currently, there is no cost-effective laboratory experiment that demonstrates this reaction which can be used for teaching this reaction to organic chemistry students. Currently, this reaction is taught in lecture in almost all organic chemistry courses, however there is no corresponding laboratory experiment to give students a hands-on experience with this very important reaction.

Travis Lund

SYNTHESIS OF A NOVEL HETERODITOPIC RECEPTOR FROM CALIX[4]ARENE

I spent this summer at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, with the UC Santa Cruz ThaiREU program. The purpose of my project was the synthesis of a macrocyclic receptor utilizing calix[4]arene as synthetic foundation. Pseudo-crown ether and amidoferrocene moieties were added as the cationic and anionic binding sites, respectively. Previous research suggests that this novel heteroditopic receptor will exhibit cooperative and allosteric binding ofanions in the presence of alkali metal ions.