In this investigation, we used computational chemistry to compare two previous research reports based on the capture of carbon dioxide. Each report used a different theoretical model: Hartree-Fock (HF) theory in one case and density functional theory (DFT) in the other. Read More…
Certain systems of molecules react when exposed to UV light via photodimerization―a process in which two molecules form chemical bonds to become one single unit. Trans-1, 2-Bis (4-Pyridyl) Ethylene (BPE) is one such molecule which exhibits a 2+2 photodimerization when co-crystallized with an appropriate molecule, otherwise known as a template. Read More…
ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that involves the selective progressive death of motor neurons. The majority of ALS cases are sporadic with an unknown cause, but about 10-20% of the cases are familial ALS (fALS) which are caused by genetic mutations that appear to be inherited. Read More…
IOWATER is a volunteer water quality monitoring program for Iowa, created as a cooperative effort with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The program’s goal is to use the efforts of volunteers to help identify problematic sites on rivers and other bodies of water, which could pose risks to the environment and human health. Read More…
The classical Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process for conversion of syngas to hydrocarbons calls for the use of a metal catalyst combined with a support. Development of a robust alkane dehydrogenation catalyst is highly desirable for the potential to upgrade the FT product stream, leading to more efficient production of transportation fuels. Read More…
Aerosols are known to directly influence the climate and individual aerosol droplets can contain a diverse mixture of both inorganic and organic components. Dicarboxylic acids, a water soluble class of organic acids prevalent in the atmosphere, are believed to originate from photochemical decomposition of larger organic matter. Using the air-water interface as a model system for the surfaces of atmospheric aerosols, the behavior of the most atmospherically important dicarboxylic acids was investigated. The surface behavior of these acids was elucidated by using a macroscopic approach exploring concentration dependence, changes in the bulk pH, and the effect of relevant atmospheric inorganic solutes. Read More…
2+ 2 cycloaddition reactions provide a means by which solids can react in the presence of light without any solvent. The reactants are oriented by metal-organic complexes that act as templates. These reactions are very useful in forming products that could otherwise not be formed in the liquid phase and enables stereospecific control of the products. Read More…
Computational chemistry is a largely theoretical approach to studying chemistry. In this field of chemistry, sophisticated mathematical models and computers are used to calculate properties of chemical species from fundamental principles. In this study, electronic structure methods were used to calculate the energy of CO2-capturing reactions as well as the bond length and angle of the CO2 in the product. Read More…
Colloidal metals, otherwise known as metallic nanoparticles, have many applications in optoelectronics, semiconductors, catalysis, and magnetic devices, while colloidal gold specifically has applications in drug delivery and health care due to its generally non-toxic characteristics. The functionality of a nanoparticle depends on the material in use as well as the size and surrounding environment. Read More…
Nanoscience and nanotechnology research are rapidly growing research areas in chemistry, physics, and biology due mainly to nanoparticles’ unique properties associated with their size. These properties include interesting optical, electrical, and chemical effects. Read More…
Modern fuel cell technology faces the challenge of developing efficient and long-term catalysts to reduce oxygen (ORR). As the catalyst, metalloporphyrins have been of great interest, but the reduction mechanism is still a subject of debate. Recent work has shown an increase in catalytic activity with metalloporphyrins co-deposited with transition metal oxides. Read More…
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a very useful and safe diagnostic technique in which water molecules’ response to an applied magnetic field is measured to differentiate between body tissue types; however, the contrast agents that are often necessary to obtain high picture resolution are unsuitable for patients with low functioning or damaged kidneys. Read More…
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative disease with no known cure. Presently, a portion of familial ALS cases can be linked to a mutation in the sod1 gene, which encodes the protein copper-zinc superoxide dismutase. In many ALS patients, aggregated proteins (amyloid) have been found in their cells. Read More…
Organic dye-sensitized solar cells have emerged as inexpensive and environmentally-friendly alternatives to inorganic and organo-metallic solar cells. We synthesized three different types of organic dyes for solar cells: perylene monoimides, azo dyes, and push-pull poly-enes. Read More…
Organic dyes were synthesized for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. Dye-sensitized solar cells are being explored because of their low cost of production and low environmental impact. Read More…
We used organic synthesis to place a deuterium atom at the 2″ position of the deoxyribose sugar of adenosine. Read More…
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that causes eventual respiratory failure due to motor neuron death. Read More…
Interest in the ability to manipulate matter at the molecular level has grown considerably within the past ten years and has been a driving force toward advances in nanoscience. Read More…
Gold nanoparticles were produced by a citrate thermal reduction method and by a procedure involving the inclusion of reduced polyoxometalates (POMs), where phosphotungstic acid (PTA) served as the photocatalyst, reducing reagent and stabilizer for the reaction. Read More…
Melt transport, the movement of molten rock through the Earth’s relatively solid outer shell, is important in many geological processes. Volcanism at subduction zones and hot spots and the formation of oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges all involve melt transport. To increase our understanding of how melt moves from depth to Earth’s surface, we conducted experiments at high temperature and pressure on fabricated rock samples of modeled mantle rock compositions. Read More…
Polyoxometalates are metal oxide clusters with many useful chemical properties. Read More…
Environmental enrichment is a natural means by which the brain can make itself more resilient against disease; however, its mechanisms remain incompletely defined. Environmental enrichment consists of increased social, physical and intellectual activity (i.e., learning), which can reduce brain injury by more than 50%. Read More…
This research focused on the role of Toll-like Receptor 2 (TLR 2) in the development of adipose inflammation in obesity. Read More…
The amount of usable fossil fuels is steadily decreasing as the world population increases. This has driven scientists to find alternative resources for fossil fuels. Read More…
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that usually causes eventual respiratory failure due to motor neuron death. Approximately 90% of all ALS cases are classified as sporadic ALS, meaning that there is no known cause. Read More…
Multivalent ligands display multiple copies of one or more ligands that can simultaneously bind to multiple receptors contained on another entity. By combining multiple ligands into a multivalent construct, it should be possible to target them specifically to cancer cells that express all of their cognate receptors. Read More…
Strauzia longipennis (Wiedemann) is a notoriously variable species. Seven varieties were once recognized, all but three considered as synonyms by some authors. Read More…
Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) is a technique that has been used to estimate the diversity in bacterial samples based on the melting behaviors of DNA segments. DGGE may provide a new, more efficient manner to identify unknown bacteria, Read More…
Within the local density approximation (LDA) the electronic structure of LuSb was calculated using the full potential linear augmented plane wave method in order to determine the kz coordinate of photoemission spectra from a sample of LuSb. Read More…
Polyoxometalates (POMs) are unique metal-oxide clusters that are of particular interest due to their wide array of applications including medicine, oxidation catalysis, magnetic materials, and nanotechnology. Read More…
HDL is the major carrier in reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). Low plasma HDL and cardiovascular disease are strongly associated. Read More…
Many uses of Keggin polyoxometalates exist today. We explored how a Keggin polyoxometalate, more specifically dodecatungstophosphate ion, interacts with different metal oxide particles such as silica and alumina. Read More…
Copper-zinc superoxide dismutase-1 (CuZnSOD) is a radical-scavenging enzyme occurring intracellularly in humans. A toxic gain-of-function in this enzyme has been established as a cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’ s Disease). Read More…
A sensitive, analytically simple method with high-throughput capability is being developed for the quantitative analysis of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in human plasma. Read More…
Chronic myelogenous leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow that is characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of myeloid cells. Nearly 4500 new cases of CML are diagnosed each year in the United States alone Read More…
Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is an eicosanoid that mediates microglial activity via two PGE2 receptor subtypes expressed by microglia, EP1 and EP2. EP2 receptor activation has been shown to be neuroprotective but whether this effect involves microglia has not been examined. Read More…
Many different applications of polyoxometalate technology are possible. One of these possibilities may be the disposal of nuclear waste, involving reacting a radioactive species with the phosphotungstate anion (PTA) which is deposited on an alumina surface. Read More…
Streptocyanine dyes are photo-sensitive compounds with applications in photographic materials. The particular series of aminopentadienylideneammonium salts I synthesized are also useful as anthelmintics, which are de-worming agents, for livestock. Read More…
Copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) is an enzyme that has been linked to familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’ s disease. Point mutations of this enzyme seem to affect the protein’ s folding and the protein’ s ability to bind metals, which affect the protein’ s functionality, but the exact mechanism by which this occurs is still unknown. Read More…
Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) offer a cheaper, more easily mass-produced alternative to silicon cells. Such cells are made from thin sandwiched layers of conductive glass, titanium dioxide, dye, and an iodide electrolyte. Our goal was to construct and test our own DSSCs. Read More…
Diversification of phytophagous insects is often associated with changes in the use of host taxa and host parts. We focus on a group of newly discovered neotropical tephritids in the genus Blepharoneura and report the discovery of an extraordinary number of sympatric, morphologically cryptic species all feeding as larvae on calyces of flowers of a single functionally dioecious and highly sexually dimorphic host species (Gurania spinulosa) in eastern Ecuador. Read More…
Fire coral of the genus Millepora are prevalent in tropical western Atlantic reefs. Two distinct morphologies of Millepora, currently classified as separate species, exist off the coast of the Bahamas. Read More…
Point mutations of the enzyme copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) have been linked to the neurodegenerative disease familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS), or Lou Gehrig’ s disease. Read More…
Normal human fibroblasts have a finite lifespan in culture termed replicative senescence which has long been interpreted as a model of aging at the cellular level. One pathway responsible for initiating cellular replication is known as the extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway Read More…
Previous studies have shown the formation of gold nanoparticles via various synthetic methods. Read More…
Storage methods of nuclear waste have been the subject of controversy for many years. Read More…
Several methods are currently in frequent use to prevent the corrosion of metal surfaces. Electroplating copper or chromium onto metal surfaces, usually steel or aluminum alloy for most commercial applications, is one way of inhibiting corrosion. Read More…
The liver has widely been accepted as an organ that is sensitive to radiation therapy and that great damage occurs if the liver receives a dosage exceeding 3000 cGy. Read More…
Aquatic Environmental Chemistry is the study of sources, reactions, transport, and fate of chemical entities in water, as well as their effects on human health and the natural environment. Read More…
Vegetable oil is a good source of energy but it is much too viscous to work effectively as a fuel. Read More…