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open access

Electrodeposition of Nickel and Nickel Alloy Coatings with Layered Silicates for Enhanced Corrosion Resistance and Mechanical Properties

Description: The new nickel/layered silicate nanocomposites were electrodeposited from different pHs to study the influence on the metal ions/layered silicate plating solution and on the properties of the deposited films. Nickel/layered silicate nanocomposites were fabricated from citrate bath atacidic pHs (1.6−3.0), from Watts’ type solution (pH ~4-5), and from citrate bath at basic pH (~9). Additionally, the new nickel/molybdenum/layered silicate nanocomposites were electrodeposited from citrate bath at p… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Tientong, Jeerapan
open access

First-Semester General Chemistry Curriculum Comparison of Student Success on ACS Examination Questions Grouped by Topic Following an Atoms First or Traditional Instructional Approach

Description: This study uses the ACS first-term general chemistry exam to determine if one curriculum approach is more effective in increasing student success than the other based on their performance on the ACS exam. Two chemistry curriculum approaches were evaluated in this study; the traditional curriculum (TC) and the Atoms First (AF) approach. The sample population was first-semester general chemistry students at Collin College in Frisco, TX. An independent sample t-test was used to determine if there… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Molina, Cathy D.
open access

Application of the Correlation Consistent Composite Approach to Biological Systems and Noncovalent Interactions

Description: Advances in computing capabilities have facilitated the application of quantum mechanical methods to increasingly larger and more complex chemical systems, including weakly interacting and biologically relevant species. One such ab initio-based composite methodology, the correlation consistent composite approach (ccCA), has been shown to be reliable for the prediction of enthalpies of formation and reaction energies of main group species in the gas phase to within 1 kcal mol-1, on average, of w… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Riojas, Amanda G.
open access

Computational Studies of C–H/C–C Manipulation Utilizing Transition Metal Complexes

Description: Density Functional Theory (DFT) is an effective tool for studying diverse metal systems. Presented herein are studies of a variety of metal systems, which can be applied to accomplish transformations that are currently difficult/impossible to achieve. The specific topics studied utilizing DFT include: 1) C–H bond activation via an Earth-abundant transition metal complex, 2) C–H bond deprotonation via an alkali metal superbase, 3) and amination/aziridination reactions utilizing a CuI reagent. Us… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Pardue, Daniel B.
open access

Applications of Single Reference Methods to Multi-Reference Problems

Description: Density functional theory is an efficient and useful method of solving single-reference computational chemistry problems, however it struggles with multi-reference systems. Modifications have been developed in order to improve the capabilities of density functional theory. In this work, density functional theory has been successfully applied to solve multi-reference systems with large amounts of non-dynamical correlation by use of modifications. It has also been successfully applied for geometr… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Jeffrey, Chris C.
open access

The Mechanisms of Human Glutathione Synthetase and Related Non-Enyzmatic Catalysis

Description: Human glutathione synthetase (hGS) is a homodimeric enzymes that catalyzes the second step in the biological synthesis of glutathione, a critical cellular antioxidant. The enzyme exhibits negative cooperativity towards the γ-glutamylcysteine (γ-GC) substrate. In this type of allosteric regulation, the binding of γ-GC at one active site significantly reduces substrate affinity at a second active site over 40 Å away. The presented work explores protein-protein interactions, substrate binding, and… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Ingle, Brandall L.
open access

Pathways for C—H Activation and Functionalization by Group 9 Metals

Description: As fossil fuel resources become more and more scarce, attention has been turned to alternative sources of fuels and energy. One promising prospect is the conversion of methane (natural gas) to methanol, which requires an initial activation of a C-H bond and subsequent formation of a C-O bond. The most well studied methodologies for both C-H activation and C-O bond formation involve oxidation of the metal center. Metal complexes with facile access to oxidation states separated by four charge uni… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Pahls, Dale R.
open access

Transition Metal Catalyzed Oxidative Cleavage of C-O Bond

Description: The focus of this thesis is on C-O bonds activation by transition metal atoms. Lignin is a potential alternative energy resource, but currently is an underused biomass species because of its highly branched structure. To aid in better understanding this species, the oxidative cleavage of the Cβ-O bond in an archetypal arylglycerol β-aryl ether (β–O–4 Linkage) model compound of lignin with late 3d, 4d, and 5d metals was investigated. Methoxyethane was utilized as a model molecule to study the ac… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Wang, Jiaqi
open access

Synthesis of Peropyrene and Tetracene Derivatives for Photochemical Applications

Description: A novel route for the synthesis of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon peropyrene (Pp) is reported along with the efforts to synthesize derivatives of Pp, 2,2′- and 5,5′-linked tetracene dimers as candidates for study as singlet fission materials in photovoltaic devices. Peropyrene was synthesized by the McMurry coupling conditions from phenalenone and low-valent titanium species. The crystal structure of Pp is formed by π-stacked molecular pairs in a herringbone arrangement. The direct functio… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Rodríguez López, Marco Tulio
open access

Synthesis of Gold Complexes From Diphosphine Ligands and Screening Reactions of Heterocyclic Acetylacetonato (ACAC) Ligands with Transitional Metal Complexes

Description: Syntheses of diphosphine gold (I) complexes from gold THT and two ligands, 4, 5-bis (diphenylphosphino)-4-cyclopenten-1, 3-dione (BPCD) and 2,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)-N-phenylmaleimide (BPPM), were done separately. The reactions happened under ice conditions followed by room temperature conditions and produced two diphosphine gold (I) complexes in moderated yield. Spectroscopic results including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray crystallography were used to study and determine the str… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Nyamwihura, Rogers
open access

Novel Carborane Derived Semiconducting Thin Films for Neutron Detection and Device Applications

Description: Novel carborane (B10C2H12) and aromatic compounds (benzene, pyridine, diaminobenzene) copolymers and composite materials have been fabricated by electron beam induced cross-linking and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) respectively. Chemical and electronic structure of these materials were studied using X-ray and ultra-violet photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and UPS). UPS suggest that the systematic tuning of electronic structure can be achieved by using different aromatic compou… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: James, Robinson
open access

Electrochemical Synthesis and Applications of Layered Double Hydroxides and Derivatives

Description: Layered double hydroxides (LDH) are a class of anionic clay with alternating layers of positive and negative charge. A metal hydroxide layer with divalent and trivalent metals with a positive charge is complemented by an interlayer region containing anions and water with a negative charge. The anions can be exchanged under favorable conditions. Hydrotalcite (Mg6Al2(OH)16[CO3]·4H2O) and other variations are naturally occurring minerals. Synthetic LDH can be prepared as a powder or film by numero… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Kahl, Michael S.
open access

Determination of Solute Descriptors for Illicit Drugs Using Gas Chromatographic Retention Data and Abraham Solvation Model

Description: In this experiment, more than one hundred volatile organic compounds were analyzed with the gas chromatograph. Six capillary columns ZB wax plus, ZB 35, TR1MS, TR5, TG5MS and TG1301MS with different polarities have been used for separation of compounds and illicit drugs. The Abraham solvation model has five solute descriptors. The solute descriptors are E, S, A, B, L (or V). Based on the six stationary phases, six equations were constructed as a training set for each of the six columns. The si… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Mitheo, Yannick K.
open access

Molecules and Materials for Excitonic Solar Cells Using P-type Metal Oxide Semiconductors

Description: This dissertation has two intersecting foci; firstly, the discovery of a new methodology for the growth of high surface area cuprous oxide (Cu2O) substrates. Secondly, the synthesis and characterization of electron-accepting molecules, and their incorporation into excitonic solar cells (XSCs) using the Cu2O substrates as electrodes. Increasing the surface area of the semiconductor creates more locations for charge transfer to occur thus increasing the overall efficiency of the device. Zinc oxid… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Haynes, Keith M.
open access

Computational Modeling of Small Molecules

Description: Computational chemistry lies at the intersection of chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science, and can be used to explain the behavior of atoms and molecules, as well as to augment experiment. In this work, computational chemistry methods are used to predict structural and energetic properties of small molecules, i.e. molecules with less than 60 atoms. Different aspects of computational chemistry are examined in this work. The importance of examining the converged orbitals obtained … more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Weber, Rebecca J.
open access

Fundamental Studies of Copper Corrosion in Interconnect Fabrication Process and Spectroscopic Investigation of Low-k Structures

Description: In the first part of this dissertation, copper bimetallic corrosion and its inhibition in cleaning processes involved in interconnect fabrication is explored. In microelectronics fabrication, post chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) cleaning is required to remove organic contaminants and particles left on copper interconnects after the CMP process. Use of cleaning solutions, however, causes serious reliability issues due to corrosion and recession of the interconnects. In this study, different … more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Goswami, Arindom
open access

The Impact of Computational Methods on Transition Metal-containing Species

Description: Quantum chemistry methodologies can be used to address a wide variety of chemical problems. Key to the success of quantum chemistry methodologies, however, is the selection of suitable methodologies for specific problems of interest, which often requires significant assessment. To gauge a number of methodologies, the utility of density functionals (BLYP, B97D, TPSS, M06L, PBE0, B3LYP, M06, and TPSSh) in predicting reaction energetics was examined for model studies of C-O bond activation of met… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Wang, Jiaqi
open access

Thin Cr2O3 (0001) Films and Co (0001) Films Fabrication for Spintronics

Description: The growth of Co (0001) films and Cr2O3 (0001)/Co (0001) has been investigated using surface analysis methods. Such films are of potential importance for a variety of spintronics applications. Co films were directly deposited on commercial Al2O3 (0001) substrates by magnetron sputter deposition or by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), with thicknesses of ~1000Å or 30Å, respectively. Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) shows hexagonal (1x1) pattern for expected epitaxial films grown at 800 K to e… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Cao, Yuan
open access

Biological Applications of a Strongly Luminescent Platinum (II) Complex in Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging and Hypoxia Imaging in Caenorhabditis elegans

Description: Phosphorescent transition metal complexes make up an important group of compounds that continues to attract intense research owing to their intrinsic bioimaging applications that arise from bright emissions, relatively long excited state lifetimes, and large stokes shifts. Now for biomaging assay a model organism is required which must meet certain criteria for practical applications. The organism needs to be small, with a high turn-over of progeny (high fecundity), a short lifecycle, and low m… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Kinyanjui, Sophia Nduta
open access

Accurate Energetics Across the Periodic Table Via Quantum Chemistry

Description: Greater understanding and accurate predictions of structural, thermochemical, and spectroscopic properties of chemical compounds is critical for the advancements of not only basic science, but also in applications needed for the growth and health of the U.S. economy. This dissertation includes new ab initio composite approaches to predict accurate energetics of lanthanide-containing compounds including relativistic effects, and optimization of parameters for semi-empirical methods for transitio… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Peterson, Charles Campbell
open access

Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of Aqueous Polymeric Hybrid Composites and Nanomaterials of Platinum(II) and Gold(I) Phosphorescent Complexes for Sensing and Biomedical Applications

Description: The two major topics studied in this dissertation are the gold(I) pyrazolate trimer {[Au(3-R,5-R’)Pz]3} complexes in aqueous chitosan polymer and phosphorescent polymeric nanoparticles based on platinum(II) based complex. The first topic is the synthesis, characterization and optical sensing application of gold(I) pyrazolate trimer complexes within aqueous chitosan polymer. A gold(I) pyrazolate trimer complex, {[Au(3-CH3,5-COOH)Pz]3}, shows high sensitivity and selectivity for silver ions in aq… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Upadhyay, Prabhat Kumar
open access

Design, Synthesis and Study of Supramolecular Donor – Acceptor Systems Mimicking Natural Photosynthesis Processes

Description: This dissertation investigates the chemical ingenuity into the development of various photoactive supramolecular donor – acceptor systems to produce clean and carbon free energy for the next generation. The process is inspired by the principles learned from nature’s approach where the solar energy is converted into the chemical energy through the natural photosynthesis process. Owing to the importance and complexity of natural photosynthesis process, we have designed ideal donor-acceptor system… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: KC, Chandra Bikram
open access

Self-assembly Polymeric Nanoparticles Composed of Polymers Crosslinked with Transition Metals for Use in Drug Delivery

Description: A major drawback of chemotherapy is the lack of selectively leading to damage in healthy tissue, which results in severe acute side effects to cancer patients. The use of nanoparticles as a drug delivery system has emerged as novel strategy to overcome the barriers of immunogenic response, controlled release of therapeutic, and targeting the toxicity only to cancerous cells. In this study, polymeric nanoparticles composed of transition metals and particles derived from natural biopolymers hav… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Nguyen, Duong Thuy
open access

Forensic Analysis of Ink on Documents Using Direct Analyte-Probed Nanoextraction Coupled Techniques

Description: Analzying questioned documents in a nondestructive nature has been an issue for the forensic science community. Using nondestructive techniques such as video spectral comparator does not give reliable information due to the variations in gray or color levels that are distinguished differently by analysts. Destructive techniques such as chromatography give dependable, qualitative and quantitative, information but involves altering the evidentiary value of these questioned documents. The paradox … more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Huynh, Vivian
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