Collaborative Research at Skidmore (continued)

Collaborative Research (continued)

Skidmore students and their professors have worked together on numerous research projects. This kind of high-level scholarship does more than enhances a student's understanding in a given disipline; the practical, hands-on experience and "real-world" accomplishment also instill a sense of confidence that will benefit a graduate in any career. Projects from recent years appear below, arranged by academic area.

Chemistry

Project: Hydrolysis by Metal Bound Clays
Participants: Assistant Professor Steven T. Frey and Benjamin M. Hutchins '01
Plan: The clay hectorite has been shown to bind transition and lanthanide metals and to form thin films. These properties make hectorite an attractive material to examine for a variety of applications. We intend to investigate this clay with respect to its ability to catalyze the hydrolysis of environmentally hazardous compounds (such as pesticides), as a means of detoxifying these substances. Specifically, we will prepare a variety of metal-bound hectorites using lanthanide metals. Once prepared, these materials will be tested for their ability to hydrolyze phosphate ester-containing substrates (compounds analogous to a class of pesticides known to be environmental toxins). Through this study, we hope to identify catalytic systems and elucidate some understanding of their role in hydrolysis reactions.

Project: Application of a New Method for Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorous Determination to a Study of Local Water Supplies
Participants: Associate Professor Judith Ann Halstead and Brian LaFranchi '99
Plan: A procedure to determine the amount of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) in an aqueous sample by a single persulfate digestion will be developed and used in a summer study of fresh-water bodies in the area. Nitrogen and phosphorous are the two main nutrients that contribute to eutrophication of water bodies, a serious environmental problem. Previous work has developed a method of TN analysis by ion chromatography after a digestion, and its reliability was found to be comparable to the classical Kjeldahl method. The determination of TP by colorimetric analysis following the same digestion procedure used in the TN work is currently being investigated. During the summer of 1999, TN and TP will both be determined in local water supplies using one digestion procedure for both TP and TN. The reliability of the procedure for TP will be determined by comparison of results with TP determination by ICP (inductively coupled plasma).

Project: Investigation of the Oxidation of Fe(II) Coordinated to DNA-bound Ru(bpy)2tpphz2+
Participants: Professor Steven A. Tysoe and Evan Walters, '01
Plan: Dr. Tysoe's recently submitted manuscript to Inorganic Chemistry deals with the complex Ru(bpy)2tpphz2+ and its interaction with DNA. Upon addition of DNA to an aqueous solution of Ru(bpy)2tpphz2+, the complex becomes highly luminescent, and thus serves as a DNA probe. Furthermore, it was reported that the luminescence property of this complex can be toggled on and off in a controllable way using ions of varying types. Some metal ions, such as Cu(II) and Fe(II), cause the luminescence of the complex to be turned off. Others, such as Fe(III), are ineffective. One chemical process that is important in biological systems involves the oxidation of Fe(II) à Fe(III) We wish to use the DNA-bound Ru(bpy)2tpphz2+ complex to investigate the oxidation of Fe(II) à Fe(III), employing a variety of oxidizing agents, in particular molecular O2. The oxidation process will be tracked using luminescence spectroscopy as the reporter of reaction progress.

Project: Synthetic Mod of Dinuclear Hydrolase Enzymes
Participants: Assistant Professor Steven T. Frey and Michelle D. Ritorto '99
Plan: We intend to complete a study of the reactivity of a dicopper(II) complex with a series of phenylacetate derivative substrates. This is an ongoing project that has been explored over the past two semesters.

Project: A Novel Approach to Attachment of Organometallic Probes to Nucleic Acids
Participants: Professor Steven A. Tysoe and Roni Kopelman '00
Plan: Several reports have appeared describing the binding of ruthenium complexes to DNA as being characterized by a partial intercalative interaction, where one blade of the propeller-shaped molecules interacts by slipping between the base pairs of DNA. To date, no studies have been performed that describe the attachment of DNA probes from both sides of the helix. The goal is to design and investigate a ruthenium complex capable of attaching to DNA as a "molecular nut and bolt." Attachment of the "bolt" portion of the molecule to DNA has recently been demonstrated by Dr. Tysoe and Dieter Schelzig '98 during the 1997 summer Collaborative Research Program. It is the team's desire to "attach the nut" during the 10 weeks of the 1998 summer Collaborative Research Program.

Creative Thought Matters.