8/4/14 and 8/5/14 Katie O'Kelley

Yestersday, I worked on my paper and got really frustrated with it. Today, we went to Bayer. I did really well. I got nervous again though. Not as nervous, but nervous all the same. I did good though... I assume. I talked to a lot more people than  at the symposium too so that was good. Not all the people asked about my poster. Some asked me how I liked SEED and working at Duquesne. I also got asked about my future plans such as colleges and majors and that scary stuff. Then when we gto back I worked on my paper and sent it to my mentor. This paper is really frustrating. I never had this kind of frustration before in science. Only those papers you have to write in English class that have to be creative or like poems give me this kind of frustrated feeling. So that's new. I just walked it off and ate a lot of M&M's and listened to music.

Symposium

The symposium was a great experience for me, even though only one person I didn't know asked me about my poster. I was very nervous and as the day went on it got worse. I got shaky and started stuttering. My family saw my poster first. They got me through all the stuttering and were pacent with me when I kept messing things up. Next my lab came down one by one. Sara was first, I'm glad. She just quizzed me like before my presentations and helped me remember everything I was too nervous to remember.Then Mr. Larry, to take pictures. Then Dr. Basu came and saw me. He said he was very impressed with everything I've done so far. He asked a few questions too. Then the rest of my lab came and wished me good luck. They were all really supportive and helpful and I'm thankful for that. Only one person I didn't know came and asked me questions and they weren't difficult at all. Overall I have to say that the symposium went well. :) 

7/23/14 Katie O'Kelley

Today I worked on my poster all morning had my mentors look at it and 'ok' it. I made the changes that they wanted and went to lunch. after lunch I helped move stuff from the cabinet to the new cabinets and organize the stuff. Then I finished up my poster for the most part and helped with the inventory CAS #'s. Then I lost the document trying to email it back to Sara... so that whole hour+ was a waste. That sucks.

7/22/14 Katie O'Kelley

This morning I filtered my synthesis reactions from yesterday and also filtered my mono oxo species reaction from last week that has been in the hood to evaporated out the solvent, or reduce the volume for filtration. I put all 4 filters into the desiccator to dry. THey will be weighed tomorrow. After that I ran IR of the first complex I made yesterday. Then went to lunch. after lunch was the seed meeting then we all went to Fisher Hall to get our paper for our posters. Then I continued and finished my day working on my poster, with a small break for cake. I love cake days :D

7/21/14 Katie O'Kelley

This morning I missed the SEED meeting because I was doing calculations and learning procedures for the reaction I did after lunch. Lunch was good. After getting lost on the way back from the Chinese food place I did a reaction with molybdic acid, mnt, and other stuffs that I cannot name because my notebook is in the lab right now and I'm too lazy to go get it... but trust me, I did a lot of science. I did a small scale reaction to see if I could do it because it was difficult for Sara to do the first couple of times but I did good my first try. So Dr. Basu insisted I do the full scale reaction described in the procedure of the book I was following. My full scale reaction worked well too. I have to calculate both reaction yields tomorrow when I come in. This is going to look great on my poster :D extream smiley face for other news that I am not putting on the blog but is SEED related. Until tomorrow :P byeeeeeeee.

7/18/14 Katie O'Kelley

This morning I came in really early. I worked on my poster for the symposium almost all day. I cannot find a way to organize my information into 16 slides. i have like 14, which is not enough. I have enough data and information but i want it to look nice and organized. Uhh... Anyway after that, I presented at our SEED only meeting. Then worked on my poster until lunch. Afterward was the speaker, I had no interest in his talk. I was bored. By the time I got back to my lab everyone was busy with experiments so I continued organizing my poster. I'm so paranoid that its going to look bad or not have enough details. I hope I fix it by next week. My group meeting is at 4 but I talked to Dr. Basu after I share my experiments and conclusions for the week I can leave early. He agreed to this because our meetings are scheduled until 6 and I have to take the bus home. 

BLOG CHALLENGE #3

           For the second part of the Challenge, I interviewed Jisca. She answered all the questions I asked to the best of her ability and she is perfect :)
           Jisca’s project SEED title is called “Stability of Self-Assembled Monolayers of Organic Acid on Cobalt”.  She basically deposits acid on metal to see if monolayers form.  If the monolayers do form, she rinses and sonicates the metal to see if the monolayers are stable.  If the peaks are in the correct places, it means the monolayers are stable.  Jisca is using cobalt as her metal and octadecylphosphonic acid (ODPA) as her acid deposition.  She also uses Tetrahydrofuran (THF), Hydrochloric acid (HCL), and Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) as the rinse and sonication.  Her results show that the time for the ODPA deposition that makes monolayers is 1 hour.  Now, Jisca is starting to use nickel as well for her metal, and just repeats her procedures with it.  

7/17/14 Katie O'Kelley

This morning I reviewed my presentation incase I had to present again at our SEED meeting, but I didnt... I go tomorrow, I guess. After the meeting we ate lunch. For the rest of the day I worked on improving and adding to my symposium slides because all the science I need to do involves filtering or vacuuming and the vacuum line/needle is broken. So until that gets fixed its mostly just me and the presentations since I have read everything and more about my project. tomorrow I plan on observing/helping Sara with one of her reactions so I can be in the lab. I have also been working on the blog challenge. I have gotten many compliments on the aesthetic appeals and I hope to win. I put a lot of effort into this one. I get really competitive, but I'm in this one to win XD. I also got to take a break and go see Dr. Wetzel's German Shepherd puppy. It was the cutest thing ever and I cannot believe puppies can be that adorable. It was SOOOOOOO CUTE!! The puppy was rolling around in the grass and stopped right at my knees(I was kneeling on the grass) and just layed there and let me her. She had the biggest ears and they flopped around when she would chew on the water bottle like a chew toy :D It was the cutest. Well, that was my day.

7/16/14 Katie O'Kelley

This morning I presented my power point. I was so nervous. I messed up a few things but no one mentioned it so it mustn't have been that noticeable to anyone else, except my mentor, Sara. She waited until we were back in the lab to point it out though. I thank her for that. She helped a lot and quizzes me randomly to help me remember the information while under pressure.  Then after lunch I redid a peraction I have previously done to see if I can get a better yield, since my yield the first run of the reaction sucked. Afterward I worked on the blog challenge and have completed most of it. I just need to get it to look nice, neat, and organized. In the middle of that my mentor, Dr. Basu called me into the lab to observe him assisting another person in my lab, Dr. Mogesa. Then Dr. Basu made me help Stephen clean the base bath because it was full. I finished the day with cleaning up my powerpoint slides for the symposium next Friday and organizing my pictures for this weeks blog challenge. 

7/15/14 Katie O'Kelley

Today I worked on my power point all day. I now have two different presentations, one for the symposium and one for tomorrow. I'm not nearly as nervous as I was before. The biggest event of my day was the disappointment of not getting chicken nuggets at lunch. I also worked on the blog challenge. My day was pretty uneventful because I couldn't use the equipment needed since Stephen wasn't here today.

7/14/14 Katie O'Kelley

Today I went to Ben's defence. Afterwards we had delicious cake. Then to celebrate my lab and I went out to lunch. when we got back I did research for my Powerpoint... while eating more cake, dont judge me and cake. I also filterd and weighted the product of the reaction I did friday. I have much science planned for tomorrow though.

7/11/14 Katie O'Kelley

Today I tried an experiment to make a complex sara demonstrated thursday afternoon. Her yield wasn't so great so we are hoping the changes we made to my procedure produce a better yield. After lunch I worked on helping clean up the lab and my powerpoint for next Wednesday until 4 for my group meeting. I really like the people in my lab. :)

7/10/14 Katie O'Kelley

This morning I filtered the last of my ligand and calculated my yield of the second reaction. My yield was 62%. Then I went to Ben, a PhD student in my lab, his practice for his defense. Then I went to lunch with Jisca( :) ) I ran 2 IR's of my Isopropyl dithione. After that was Kim's defense and cake. After cake I stood around and talked to everyone for a few minutes. That was my day, not much science.  

7/9/14 Katie O'Kelley

Today I didn't do anything lab wise until after lunch. I filtered and recrystallized my ligand from yesterday and then worked with Sara to make a molybdenum complex. Then I put my condensed ligand in the fridge to sit over night and plan on filtering the last of that to calculate my yield % tomorrow.

Abstract

Synthesis and characterization of dithione ligands for metal chelation

O’Kelley, Kathrine E.; Dille, Sara A.; and Basu, Partha

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Duquesne University

Coordination complexes of 1,2-dithiolenes are important molecules as they exhibit distinguishing spectroscopic and structural properties. These molecules may be important in developing new materials as well as mimics for certain biological metal centers. This project will involve synthesis of 1,2-dithiolene ligands and their purification. The reaction scheme involves a two step process where an amine is condensed with diethyl oxalate forming a diketone, which then will be sulfurized using Lawesson’s reagent. The target compounds are separated using column chromatography and will be characterized by IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The coordination chemistry of this ligand will be explored.

7/8/14 Kaite O'Kelley

Today I started my day off by filtering my product from my first reaction so I could calculate my yield. I had a yield of 70%, my mentors said that was impressive and I am learning very fast. Then I recrystallized the product of my column chromatography. I did this my dissolving my ligand in ethanol and heating it to catalyze the process. When all product was dissolved the flasks were put into the refrigerator overnight. Then I learned, from Dr. Basu, how to clean a column, and weigh my product. After lunch I helped Sara clean up the hoods and the bench. Sara, Dr. Basu, and I did a reaction together but I cannot recall the name of the reagents or product. This is the first step in making a complex that my product will be used in.

7/7/14 Katie O'Kelley

This morning I set up a column, that took all of my morning. Then after lunch, we had the poster seminar. After the seminar I ran my column which took forever also. So by the time I finished that I only had like an hour before I had to leave. In that hour I had talked to my mentor, Dr. Basu and decided what my future complexes will be. Then Sara and I completed my abstract which will be turned in sometime tomorrow... whenever I run out of science to do. SO, yeah... science. ;)

BLOG CHALLENGE #2

     Sara Dille is my secondary mentor. I interviewed her for this challenge. The 10 questions I asked her are listed below, some information was obtained before the interview when we were meeting and talking for the past few weeks.

1. How many schools did you apply for?
2. Was chemistry your first major?
3. What fueled you to do research?
4. What do you plan on doing with your degree after you graduate?
5. Would you like to stay in Pittsburgh?
6. Would you recommend science majors to undecided high school students?
7. How much longer do you have in grad-school?
8. Did you study at Duquesne as an undergrad?
9. Do you have any other certificates/degrees?
10. What are you currently working on?

Sara Dille Biography

     Sara is currently 26 years old, studying for her PhD in chemistry. When she first started looking at schools she applied to 8-10. She wanted to stay close to home at first. Her major when she started school was not chemistry. She started as a biology major and wanted to work in a zoo. As an undergraduate she studied in West Virginia at Wheeling Jesuit University. There she graduated with her Bachelor degree of science. After grad school she lived in Indiana(the state) for 3 years. While in Indiana she obtained her Masters of Science in Environment with specification in environment and toxicology from Bloom University.

     Sara came to Duquesne to study for her PhD in Chemistry a year and a half ago. Her research project title is Synthesis of asymmetric mono oxo molybdenum complexes containing dithiolene units. She started doing research her junior year. Her advisor from grad-school told her it would be a good experience and it was partially required for her degree Sara has approximately 4 more years until she completes her PhD requirements. 

     After she graduates, Sara is considering teaching at a small university but is undecided for sure. She said she would enjoy staying in Pittsburgh but would be okay with an adventure out of the area. She also said she would recommend science majors to high school students but warns it is a lot of work and you must be dedicated. You should also enjoy science or you probably will not have a good time. 

7/2/14 Katie O'Kelley

Today I started my morning vacuuming the toluene out of my ligand. Then working on my power point until lunch. I came back and did a mock presentation for Ann, Sara, and Brianna to give me advice for tomorrow, then I did science. Stephen helped me filter my recrystallized ligand and reduce the waste back to crystal form to better my yield percent. 

7/1/14 Katie O'Kelley

This morning I started another reaction to make more ligand. After this started refluxing, I started crystallizing the ligand collected from the column yesterday, that was left out to dry last night. This took up the whole day because I had so much product. That is being refrigerated overnight so tomorrow I can filter out all the impurities. Then I worked on my presentation that I have to give Thursday. I'm not nervous, just unprepared. I have about 10 slides done for Thursday. I just need to work on my public speaking... I say "um" and stutter a lot because I don't know much of the terminology yet. I know eventually I'll get it down though. 

Until tomorrow, Katie<3 font="">