In this dissertation, I present the work of developing more efficient and economical techniques for fragmenting large bio-molecules, and ultimately making mass spectrometry a more powerful tool in proteomics, DNA sequencing, and other areas of biomolecular analysis.
Aiming at lowering the installation and operating cost, and delivering electron capture dissociation...
Enzymes play an important role in the environment, they breakdown natural-occurring and anthropogenic molecules so that they can be transported into cells and utilized. Enzyme assays are routinely used in soil science and oceanography to measure the activities of specific processes and to serve as general indicators of microbial activity....
In this dissertation, I present electronic spectroscopy of a few biologically relevant species and their complexes with solvent molecules in the gas phase using a variety of techniques, including resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI), laser induced fluorescence (LIF), and zero kinetic energy (ZEKE) photoelectron spectroscopy. My work on several methylated...
A novel, portable, filter fluorometer was developed for the determination of chloroform and TCE at environmentally-relevant levels when coupled with improved sampling techniques and reagents. Reagents selective for the TCE or chloroform convert these toxic species into fluorescent species that can be monitored. The fluorometer is based on LED excitation...
In situ reduction of hydrido-tris-(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)borato(trioxo) rhenium(V) with triphenylphosphine or triethylphosphite leads to a reactive rhenium(V) species that catalytically deoxygenates epoxides at 75-105°C. The reaction is stereospecific, except for trans- and cis-butene oxide which formed minor amounts of the opposite isomer. A variety of different functional groups were tolerated and even...
A series of compounds, 7-8 and 20-25, were tested as competitive inhibitors of 2,5-dihydroxyacetanilide epoxidase I (DHAE I) and DHAE II. A Hammett plot was constructed for each enzyme to determine the effect of electron density on inhibition. DHAE I gave a linear, highly correlated plot (r²=0.91) that signifies the...
Two framework oxide materials of the MO₃ network type have been synthesized and structurally characterized by synchrotron and X-ray powder diffraction and the Rietveld method in the temperature range 25~500 K. The results show one of them to be a low thermal expansion material. Theoretical studies of negative thermal expansion...
Recombinant human macrophage colony stimulating factor beta (rhm-CSFβ) is a glycoprotein that stimulates the proliferation, differentiation and survival of cells belonging to the monocyte-macrophage lineage. It contains nine inter-subunit and intra-subunit disulfide bonds and represents an excellent model system for studying disulfide bond formation during protein folding because the assembly...
In this dissertation, we describe a spectroscopic study of metal clusters and metal-ligand complexes using pulsed field ionization zero kinetic energy (PFI-ZEKE) photoelectron spectroscopy and mass analyzed threshold ionization (MATI) spectroscopy. Vibrational resolved spectra of sodium dimer, Na•NH₃, Na•(NH₃)₂ are presented. These spectra provide a direct measurement of the ionization...
In situ, reduction of Cp*ReO₃ by PPh₃ to form (Cp*ReO)₂(μ-O)₂ allows catalytic deoxygenation of epoxides, however, conproportionation between Reⱽ and Reⱽᴵᴵ species to form clusters of ((Cp*Re)₃(μ-O)₆}²⁺(ReO₄⁻)2 and new compound {(Cp*Re)₃(μ²-O)₃(μ³-O⁾³ReO₃}⁺(ReO₄⁻) leads to removal of rhenium from the catalytic cycle and loss of activity, The epoxide deoxygenation mediated by (Cp*ReO)₂(μ-O)₂...
The melt intercalation of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) between layers of MoO₃ and MPS3 (M=Mn,Cd) is obtained by heating the ground mixture and LiₓMoO₃, KₓMn₁-ₓ/₂PS₃, or KCd₁-ₓ/₂PS₃. The products are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). Below the melting temperature of PEO (66 °C), intercalation rates and yields are low. By...
Exploratory synthesis plays an important role in the quest to discover new materials. There are very few structurally characterized alkali metal containing bismuth vanadates. Hybridization of the 6s and 6p orbitals of Bi[superscript 3+] and the resulting lone electron pair yields some very interesting stereochemistry and steric related properties. Some...
A spectrometer, here denoted a Simple, Low-power, Inexpensive. Microcontroller-based or SLIM spectrometer. was developed that exploits the small size and low cost of solid-state electronic devices. This approach results in customizable spectrometers that are considerably less expensive and smaller than traditional instrumentation. The performance of the SLIM spectrometer was evaluated...
The challenges prompted by miniaturization of chromatographic systems have led scientists to explore new avenues in the synthesis of stationary phases. Packed capillary columns have found limited application in routine analysis due to a number of technical difficulties, most of which are attributable to the frits. New column designs insure...
For a number of reasons, miniaturization of chromatographic columns has been a general trend over the past three decades. Methods designed to enhance selectivity and efficiency can offer improved separation power and speed, expanding on the advantages of miniaturized columns. This dissertation describes novel approaches in this direction, focusing on...
E. coli thioredoxin (TRX) was modified by the episulfonium ion derived from S-(2-chloroethyl)glutathione (CEG) or S-(2-chloroethyl)cysteine (CEC). The alkylation site was located at Cys-32, which was confirmed by tandem mass spectrometry. Two forms of native TRX, Oxi- and Red-TRX, and two modified TRXs, GS- and Cys-TRX, were examined by hydrogen/deuterium...
PART I. Asymmetric syntheses of both natural (+)- and nonnatural (-)-byssochlamic acid via a [2+2] photoaddition-cycloreversion strategy are described. X-ray crystallographic analysis of the cyclohexylamine salt 99 showed that the structure of the monomethyl ester 100 from esterase hydrolysis of 44 was originally misassigned as 56. The enantiomeric relationship of...
Contaminant transport in ground water is an important environmental process that
affects a host of natural systems. Transport of contaminants is affected by many
processes, including aqueous complexation, adsorption, and redox reactions. One of the
most important components of an aquifer that controls transport is iron-oxide. In this
study, the...
In spite of their importance in many systems, liquid surfaces have been
explored at the microscopic level to a much lesser extent than solids. Most surface
analysis must take place in vacuum, a major drawback for liquids. The technique of
time-of-flight scattering and recoil spectrometry (TOF-SARS) has been applied to...
Fusion reactions with radioactive neutron-rich projectiles have been the subject of much recent theoretical and experimental interest. Predictions of enhancement of the cross section due to the use of a neutron-rich projectile may have implications for synthesis of heavy nuclei. In this work, the fusion-fission excitation functions were measured for...
Polyhalogenated benzenes have been analyzed by standard electron capture
chemical ionization mass spectrometry (ECCI/MS), and electron monochromator mass
spectrometer (EM/MS) systems. The EM/MS experiments distinguished electronegative
compounds (especially isomers) by transient negative ions (TNIs) of the same mass but
differing energies and/or the formation of distinct TNIs of different masses...
An asymmetric approach to the synthesis of byssochlamic acid (1) is
described. Regioisomeric enzymatic differentiation is described in the selective
hydrolysis of dimethyl ester 30 by porcine liver esterase. Chiral dimethyl ester 42
was prepared by desymmetrization of cyclopentene 34 using porcine liver
esterase. A key intramolecular [2+2]cycloaddition-cycloreversion
photometathesis of...
The plant Senecio jacobaea (tansy ragwort) produces several macrocyclic pyrrolizidine alkaloids which cause irreversible liver cirrhosis. All of the pyrrolizidine alkaloids in Senecio jacobaea are macrocyclic diesters of the necine base retronecine, with the two most predominant being seneciphylline and jacobine. Unlike horses and cattle, sheep and goats are generally...
Linear alkylbenzenesulfonate (LAS) is the most widely used anionic surfactant in
commercial detergent formulations. The environmental fate of LAS is of interest because
of its disposal to wastewater treatment facilities and subsequent occurrence as a
micropollutant in surface waters and groundwater. While LAS fate in wastewater
treatment systems and surface...
2,5-dihydroxyacetanilide epoxidase from Streptomyces LL-C10037 (DHAE I)
catalyzes the epoxidation of hydroquinone 4, to form epoxyquinone 7. DHAE I has been
purified to homogeneity, with an overall purification factor greater than 23,000. N-terminal
and internal amino acid sequences have been obtained from the purified enzyme so
that the epoxidase gene...