Still going...

It has been a while since my last post...lots of stuff going on! I really liked Blake's last blog title, "It seems the more we find out, the less we actually know." This is so true! As we dig deeper into the chemistry of DCQ, i am afraid to say that i don't think any of the previous literature on this topic is 100% free of errors. After each experiment B2 says, when are we getting that mass spec! A mass spec will certainly enable us to fully interpret the chemistry. As we move into the latter bit of the summer, B2 are working more independently.

The NSF-MRI grant is coming along. I will have it completed by the end of this week (July 31st). As Blake points out, the more i write the less i seem to know...thank goodness for page limits. I am quite hopeful on getting funding...i started this proposal ~ 2 yrs ago...submitted it once...it was rejected (or as NSF likes to say, declined)...got great comments...and now have hopefully i have now address my error. I am sure there will be something wrong, but not too wrong :)

We have one more trip to Iowa to collect ESR data probably on Aug 7th or 11th?

Theodore William Richards...quote...

As we tear into the walls of HT, dig behind cabinets not moved for years, we find treasures left behind. Sitting in the hallway this morning i found a small framed picture (possibly from Gebauer's office) of Theodore William Richards. In the frame was the beautiful quote that follows:

"First and foremost, I should emphasize the overwhelming importance of perfect sincerity and truth; one must purge oneself of the very human tendency to look only at the favorable aspects of his work, and be ever on the lookout for self-deception (which may be quite unintentional). Next, one should never be content with a conventional experimental method or scientific point of view; one should be open-minded as to the possibility that the procedure or hypothesis may be incomplete. Each step should be questioned, and each possibility of improvement realized. And then, patience, patience! Only by unremitting, persistent labor can a lasting outcome be reached." T.W.R. (1868-1928).

Back to lab...

It has been a week since i have been in lab. I took a vacation to VA to visit family and friends. I am anxious to see the work that B2 have done while i was gone. Ben sent me some data while i was gone, but i did not get a chance to think hard about it. I am also excited to see the work done on HT while gone...??? It is going to be a busy rest of the week...i am giving a beer talk in Davenport at the German Heritage Center on Sat and we start construction on the "rain garden" at the Monmouth Community Garden" on Sun at 2 pm.

Visit to Madison area...

On Friday, July 3rd, we took a lab break and traveled to Madison Wis to visit Om at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Biochemistry Department, NMR Facility. In the pictures are Ben, Blake, and Om next to the Varian 900 MHz NMR spectrometer...or is that the moon lander? Om shared with us his project related to biofuels and then we enjoyed lunch together at the Student Union on the lake...nice place!

After U of Wis, Madison, we visited Gorst Valley Hop farm outside of Madison. Here we learned about the chemistry, biology, and business of hop growing. James gave us a tour of his experimental hop plant and then the larger 1 acer hop field (sorry no pictures...i was asking too many questions). We may collaborate with James on some chemical analysis.

Overall it was a LONG day (6 am-9 pm), but well worth the trip!

B2 at work...

Blake hard at work running the HPLC.












Ben hard at work at the UV-Vis.

Stefan visits...

On Friday, June 19th we had a visit from my collaborator, Stefan Franzen from North Carolina State University, Dept of Chem. While our discussion was interrupted by the potential of a tornado, we were able to spend a few hours discussing TCP/DCQ and DHP/HRP. The visit did prompt a publication idea, but we are not really lacking data, only the time to organize and write it up! Blake is in line to put together a nice little paper...

The weather has been terribly hot in Monmouth...as well as the majority of the Midwest. We have managed to keep cool in HT with our new window unit in our lab, but we had to postpone some ether experiments until we could cool down the lab a bit more. We also had to move an analytical balance into our lab since TFP get quite sticky when massing...at ~80 deg C.

back from U of Iowa

I should have shared our plans to go to U of Iowa before we left, but in the flurry of activities to prepare, i failed to do so...so here is an update...

B3 needed to collect some ESR (electron spin resonance) data to finish up the "story" on trihalophenoxyl radicals. We left Monmouth at 7 am...stopping at the worlds finest truck stop, "Iowa 80" for a coffee and morning snack. We arrived at the Medical Center in Iowa City at about 9:15 am...chatted with our host Garry Buettner...and got to work. The morning was productive. We confirmed that our immobilized enzymes can be packaged in 100 ul pipets and loaded into the ESR...and an IE-ESR experiment can be carried out. This is important since the usual sample holders ("flatcells") for ESR are $400 each...they are fragile...and do get broken. The 100 ul pipets are about $20 for 100 and are disposable. This will be very important advancement to allow for screening for enzyme stability. Having said that, the 100 ul pipets gave a signal that was ~5x less than the more expensive flatcells...so this is not a replacement, but rather a complement.

After a bit more "capillary" ESR work, we ended our day early (3:30 pm) so we could go visit Bio-Research Products in Coralville, IA. This is a small biochemical company that provides some very nice, high quality products. Brian Mundell gave us a tour of their facility. We discussed potential opportunities for Monmouth College and Bio-Research Products to establish a mutually beneficial relationship..connecting science with small business.

After a great visit to Bio-Research Products we checked into our hotel and headed out for a Mongolian grill dinner...we eat (and drank - water) TOO MUCH!

We returned to the ESR facility at 9 am Thursday to start our ESR data collection. It was a busy morning...not totally productive... lots of good science discussions with the medical student (Jason) the PhD student (Joast), researcher (Brett) and of course our host (Garry). Our efforts paid off and at about 3 pm, we were able to to collect the "money spectrum"...a clear assignment can be made to the TCP radical...chlorine hyperfine observed in the ESR spectrum!!!!

On Thursday we had lunch with Matt Faron. Matt is a PhD student at U of Iowa in genetics; a graduate of Monmouth College; a chemistry major. He seems to be enjoying his research.

After one last ESR data collection adventure, we packed up and left town at about 7 pm...happy with the collected data. We stopped at the Iowa 80 for dinner, got back to lab to drop off supplies at ~9:45pm and called it a night! B2 did a great job assisting in the data collection...they are very patient!