The mammalian oocyte undergoes large fluctuations in zinc content as it matures from a prophase I arrested oocyte to a metaphase II egg and finally is fertilized to become a zygote. These changes in total zinc content are necessary for proper progression, as disruption to egg’s ability to acquire and...
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has been demonstrated to be a powerful analytical tool. Its chemical specificity, rapidity, and portability make it an attractive technique for biosensing, but its application to this field has been limited by the fundamental distance dependence of the surface-enhancement effect. Many biological molecules of interest...
Oxidation is an important process in synthesizing a broad range of useful products such as polymers, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals. While H2O2 is a highly attractive oxidant for oxidative chemistry due to its high percentage of oxygen and environmentally friendly water byproduct, it is often used in excess due to...
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a gas-phase synthesis technique employed to manufacture thin films and metallic nanoparticles of various compositions and sizes, as well as individual, isolated species on various supports. An understanding of the dynamic surface chemistry that takes place during various ALD processes is vitally important for achieving...
Photovoltaic devices containing organic semiconducting chromophores are a promising technology for the conversion of solar energy into electricity. Research into the molecular design and processing of these materials has propelled the power conversion efficiency of laboratory-fabricated organic polymer solar cells (PSCs) to over 17%, which exceeds the 10% threshold deemed...
Molecular self-assembly is a process in which molecules spontaneously form ordered aggregates, the process of which is important in the natural world, considering those ordered systems and complex architectures contained in a living cell. The goal of chemists is to design simple molecules or chemical systems that can undergo molecular...
In the design of efficient adsorbents for the sequestration of toxic molecules and the separation of volatile organic compounds, two important criteria are: high porosity and high density of sorptive sites. The work in this thesis showcases how metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be used as porous adsorbent templates where many...
Proteins are a class of nanoscale building block with remarkable chemical complexity and sophistication: their diverse functions, shapes and symmetry, and atomically monodisperse structures far surpass the range of nanoparticles that can be accessed synthetically. The chemical topology of proteins that drive their assembly into higher order materials are central...
Synthesis opens the pathway to examine a plethora of complex structures. Whether the target is a naturally occurring compound or a proposed molecule never observed before, synthetic routes can be developed to help understand a variety of properties that the molecule can contain. Synthetic efforts have helped elucidate the absolute...
While Li-ion batteries are currently the preferred energy storage technology, multivalent alternatives such as Mg should be considered. Magnesium metal has a high volumetric capacity and has been shown to cycle with no dendrite formation. However, the highly charged Mg2+ ion cannot easily diffuse into the oxide cathodes favored in...