So much to do, so little time!

Well, it's that time again. This is when things start to get hard. As the days go by, it gets closer and closer to the symposium. Since I have band camp, I have to have my poster done by next week. This means that I really need to get to work. I'm still in need of results and i'm hoping to have them soon. This is where things get somewhat stressful. Doing work, getting results and getting drafts for my poster done are alot to do in the little time that I have. On the plus side, I can't wait to see how the next few weeks turn out. Us SEED kids have some field trips to attend. It's going to be so much fun. The symposium is going to be a good experience for all of us as well. It will allow us to meet new people and show them the hard week we've done over the past few weeks.

It's Crunch Time!

There are so many things planned for this week, it's hard to keep up! We have everything from our abstracts being due tomorrow, to seminars and guest speakers. Not to mention only 2 and a half weeks til the symposium! I can't wait to see how this week unfolds.

Chris came to visit! =)

Today, Chris Sidun, a former SEED student and current Duquesne student, came to visit and share his experience with us. He talked about his time in the SEED program, what he's doing currently, what he would have done differently in the past and any advice that he could give to us. Overall, I found it very beneficial. Hearing the perspective of someone who was once in the spot that I'm in now really helped me. It really got me to think about what I want to do and where I want to be.

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Rough Draft of Abstract Due 7/9/2010 (Today)

Please read the formatting rules carefully before you begin writing your abstract for the symposium.

http://www.duq.edu/urp/symposium.cfm

Microfluidics

The field of microfluidics is relatively new to Chemistry. It has only been around for a couple of decades, but it's popularity has increased in not only the the chemistry department, but engineering and physics as well. Microfluidics is the observation and controlling of fluids at microscopic levels. The benefits of microfluidics include its cheaper cost and the unique ability to obtain the necessary results in mere seconds.

The objectives of my project includes trying various ratios to obtain continuous droplet flow using the microfluidic process. The ratios are from both the Oil and Aqueous Phase machines that is connected to syringes. The Oil Phase machine has a syringe filled with three milliliters filled with oil. As for the Aqueous Phase machine, three syringes are used. Two of them are filled with three milliliters of methanol. As for the other syringe, three milliliters of water is used mixed with food coloring dye. These syringes are attached to wire tubes that are connected to the microfluidic chip with droplets that I'm trying to form.

Once the preparation process is completed, I set ratios for the Phases to run. During the runs, it is normal for the run to come to an abrupt halt due to stalling. Stalling occurs when there is too much pressure on the Aqueous phases. Which will cause the droplet making to come to a halt as well. Ways that I can prevent stalling includes using new syringes with new methanol, and just using as many ratios as I can hoping that I can achieve my goals for this summer.

Ian's Project

Hi everyone, Alright, well my project has a long and complicated title... don't believe me?

It's called the Synthesis and Characterization of Copper and Cobalt Complexes with Dithione Ligands.

Ok, well now that that is out of the way... Let's explain what in the world this means. A ligand is just a molecule that binds to a metal like copper, cobalt, or molybdenum. The two types of ligands are dithiolene and dithione. The differences between the two are just how the elements are bonded together. Sometimes there are single bonds and sometimes double bonds. On the dithione, the double bonds let the extra hydrogen go away.

These ligands containing sulfur are found often in the body bonded to molybdenum. My project is to create copper and cobalt version of the man-made form of the molybdenum complex and compare the three using Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy(UV-Vis), Infrared spectroscopy(IR), and Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(NMR).

My Experiment So Far:

Alright, so now that you have some background info, let's get into what I am actually doing...

1. 2. 3.

4.

First I took N,N diisoproyl ethylene diamine(1.) and reacted it with diethyl oxalate (2.) to get the1,4-diisoproyl – 2,3- piperazinedione (3.) and from there we reacted it with Lawesson's reagent to create number 4. which is the dithione ligand. This reaction can be very random sometimes because the Lawesson's reagent can form many different things. In order to get only the ligand we had to do something called column chromatography. The white and yellow parts are just some random things that are waste. We only wanted the dark brown portion which is the ligand.

From here we recrystallized the ligand using hot ethanol then letting it sit in the fridge for the night. Once we got the ligand we were able to use it to create the copper complex. We first had to react copper (I) oxide in acetonitrile with perchloric acid to create [Cu(CH₃CN)₄][CLO₄]. The[Cu(CH₃CN)₄][CLO₄] reacts with air so we had to do the experiment in the dry box which is filled with nitrogen instead of air.

From here we reacted it with the ligand to create the final product, the copper dithione complex. The next things we need to do are create the cobalt dithione complex in much the same way as how we created the copper dithione complex. We also need to characterize the ligand and complexes using the UV-Vis, NMR, and IR.

And lastly, just some random thing that i had to learn in order to be able to do some of these reaction is dispensing liquid nitrogen. It is actually really simple... as long as you wear gloves because it can get a little cold.