The safe and efficient storage of hydrogen is possibly the chief obstacle to its use as a fuel on a large scale. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are well poised to provide unique solutions to hydrogen storage, and gas storage in general, a result of their crystalline, porous networks that present the...
Au nanoprisms are a new type of inorganic nanoparticle that is particularly interesting because these particles can be made in high yield, are composed of a metal with well known surface chemistry, exhibit strong, architecture and environment-sensitive optical features, and have well-defined crystallographic facets. All of these features make Au...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an advanced imaging modality that is experiencing increasing popularity in clinical and experimental settings. MRI enjoys the benefit of high-resolution, the use of non-ionizing radiation, and the ability to distinguish between soft tissues. MR imaging is enhanced with the use of Gd3+ chelated contrast agents;...
The promise of a clean, renewable, and abundant energy supply make the efficient conversion of solar energy to electricity a compelling scientific and societal goal. In the following chapters, I will describe my efforts to advance one class of photovoltaic technology, dye-sensitized solar cells, by demonstration and characterization of unexplored...
The biological antagonism between copper and molybdenum, first observed when cattle developed copper deficiencies after ingesting high levels of plant-born molybdenum, is currently being used in humans to treat two conditions: Wilson's Disease as well as several forms of metastatic cancer. There is surprisingly little known about the interaction of...
The need for readily synthesized scaffold architectures to build monodisperse, high molar mass mobility modifiers or "drag-tags" in end-labeled free solution electrophoresis (ELFSE) led to the development of a novel class of multivalent molecular tools. Poly-N-substituted glycines (peptoids) were created with evenly spaced amino groups as branching points along the...
My thesis focuses on the design and synthesis of lanthanide coordination complexes as Zn(II)-responsive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. These agents produce an increase in MR intensity upon binding of Zn(II) through water modulation to Gd(III) chelates. To this end, several Zn(II)-responsive contrast agents have been synthesized and studied...
Particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) is a membrane-bound metalloenzyme that oxidizes methane to methanol in methanotrophic bacteria. The nature of the pMMO active site and the overall metal content are controversial, with spectroscopic and crystallographic data suggesting the presence of a mononuclear copper center, a dinuclear copper center, a trinuclear center,...
The work presented here describes investigations into the interaction of resonant molecules with metallic nanoparticles by localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectroscopy. The contents of this thesis include the study of the coupling mechanism between molecular resonance and plasmon resonance from experimental and theoretical perspectives and applications of this mechanism...
The early transition metal oxide fluoride molecular anions with the general formula [MOxF6-x]n- with x = 1 for M = V5+, Nb5+, Ta5+ (n = 2) and x = 2 for M = Mo6+, W6+ (n = 2) feature distorted octahedral coordinations, that arise from electronic dπ pπ metal oxide...