2021 NC ACS Local Section Online Poster Session

Currently, the process of creating a new drug with a specific disease target is limited since most therapies target proteins. 70-90% of the human genome is translated into RNA and a small percentage of that is left to be transcribed into proteins. The purpose of this research was to see if the small molecules that have been identified in research to target RNAs translate to what is commercially available. 20 cheminformatic properties that describe small molecule libraries were separated into categories based on similarities and differences using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In my research, I focused on exploring how these properties fit into four RNA-biased commercial libraries: Life Chemicals, Asinex, Otava, and Reaxense. These four commercial libraries were compared with the R-BIND (RNA-targeted BIoactive ligaNd Database) library. For Life Chemicals, Molecular Weight (MW) was the property that contributed the most to the Principal Components while for Asinex, Otava, and Reaxense, Rings was the property that contributed the most to the Principal Components. These analyses showed the properties that contribute the most variance to the Principal Components, however, my hypotheses were inconclusive. PCA must be run on R-BIND and each commercial library individually in order to get a more precise comparison.

Ashley Smith

Duke University, Department of Chemistry

Bovine whey protein ingredients are extensively studied and used in food products to stabilize oil/water interfaces in foods such as cream and dressings. Due to their amphiphilic nature, whey proteins ingredients possess high technical functionalities; however, whey proteins may self-assemble into aggregates of various size and structure when influenced by physicochemical conditions such as pH, heat, and ionic strength. Whey protein aggregates may be employed as a cost-effective and potentially nutritionally advantageous means of emulsion stabilization at oil/water interfaces. Although interfacial behavior of whey protein isolate (WPI) has been studied extensively, the adsorption dynamics and interfacial mechanics of pre-aggregated WPI remain poorly understood. Here, interfacial tension (IFT, γ), a critical mathematical precursor to full characterization, was evaluated as a function of time across various physicochemical conditions at the oil/water interface.

Chloe Brubaker

North Carolina State University

Combustible cigarette (CC) smoking is the leading cause of preventable human death. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, protects public health by regulating the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products. Beyond the analysis of target compounds, the FDA Premarket Tobacco Product Application guidance recommends that applicants evaluate chemical changes shelf-life. Samples were aged using International Conference on Harmonization’s climate zones III and IV long term conditions and aerosols were collected from three replicates, each from three production batches of JUUL Virginia Tobacco 5.0 % nicotine by weight (VT5) using intense and non-intense puffing conditions. The objectives of this study were to 1) thoroughly chemically characterize the aerosols over a 12-month stability study and monitor the changes in aerosol chemistry, and 2) compare the chemical complexity of aerosols to combustible cigarette smoke (CCS). Therefore, two non-targeted analytical methods were applied to initial aerosol (T=0); remaining samples were stored in their original packaging and aerosolized and analysed at six months (T=6) and again at 12 months (T=12). Trends from T=0 through T=12 show an increase in the total number of compounds detected, from 91 rising to 114 and spanning approximately 0.2 % - 0.4 % of the total aerosol mass. There were 24 compounds formed comparing combined T=0 and T=6 results to T=12 results – which amounted to only 0.04 % by mass. After thoroughly evaluating VT5 for unique constituents it was observed that during the 12-month stability study there were only minimal chemical changes to the aerosols, and the chemical complexity increased with storage time, but remained approximately 35-fold less chemically complex than CCS.

Mark Crosswhite

JUUL Labs, INC

Molybdenum disulfide, or MoS2 exists in two forms, semiconducting [H-MoS2] and metallic [T-MoS2]. H-MoS2 is challenging to produce in the lab. In the past, Clemson Nanomaterials Institute has had success with a liquid-based chemical vapor deposition for carbon nanotube growth.[1] Due to that success, we decided to use a similar approach for MoS2[2]

J. Hudson Arce

†Undergraduate Student, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC; ‡Clemson Nanomaterials Institute; •Department of Chemistry and Physics/Division of Natural Science, Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC

Xanthones have multiple pharmacological uses due to their anti-tumor, anti-bacterial, & potentially chemoprevention properties. The purpose of this research was to complete a two-step synthesis of 3,6-dimethoxyxanthone (3) from 2,2’,4,4’-tetrahydroxybenzophenone (1) via microwave-assisted sodium acetate-catalyzed annulation. 3,6-dihydroxyxanthone (2) was then methylated to (3) using DMS and NaCO3 in acetone reflux. Products were characterized using 1H NMR & FTIR, melting point, TLC, HPLC, and GCMS. The product will contribute to future research such as synthesizing dyes like fluorescein & its derivatives. 

Faith Rosario

Department of Chemistry, Bob Jones University, 1700 Wade Hampton Boulevard, Greenville, SC 29614 ‡Cayman Chemical Corporation, 1180 East Ellsworth Road, Ann Arbor MI 48108, USA

Deterministic design of electrodes is a promising strategy to achieve both high energy and power density for energy storage applications. Traditionally-manufactured energy storage electrodes consist of a multi-component slurry containing an electrochemically active material as well as conductive carbon and polymer binder additives cast onto a flat conductive substrate. Inhomogeneity in the dispersion of the slurry components limits areal power densities due to tortuous and poorly controlled electron and ion transport pathways. In this work, electrochemically active transition metal oxide materials are deposited onto a conductive carbon nanotube (CNT) foam scaffold to attain high mass loading energy storage electrodes with fast Li+ intercalation kinetics. CNT foams provide surface area for the deposition while maintaining sufficient electrical conduction throughout electrodes. Ample porosity between the CNTs provides good ion transport pathways. This presentation will describe efforts to deposit transition metal oxides onto the CNT foam, how control over the properties of the CNT foam and active material deposition are used to tailor the energy storage performance of the electrode architecture, along with characterization to understand the how the structure of the electrode affects its energy storage behavior. Overall, this research seeks to understand the relationships between electrode architecture and energy storage behavior to achieve simultaneous high power and high energy density.

Ishita Kamboj

(1) Department of Materials Science & Engineering, North Carolina State University, (2) Energy and Transport Sciences Laboratory, Purdue University, (3) Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, North Carolina State University

Rare-earth (RE) doped fluorides are a promising material for a wide range of applications including biological sensors, optical sensors, and scintillation. Here, we report photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) properties of Tb3+ and Eu3+ singly and codoped Cs2HfF6. The host matrix(Cs2HfF6) was synthesized via a room temperature co-precipitation method. The concentration of dopant ions was varied in a wide range and optimized in order to understand the role of the Tb3+ ion as a sensitizer to enhance the emission of the Eu3+ ion. Morphology of the synthesized particles was nearly about spherical shape with uniform size distribution as observed in scanning electron microscopy. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern revealed the formation of pure hexagonal Cs2HfF6 with no impurity or secondary phase. The PL emission was recorded in green and red regions for Tb3+ and Eu3+ doped samples respectively. The emission intensity of Eu3+ ions was enhanced in presence of Tb3+ ions due to energy transfer from Tb3+ to Eu3+ ions under UV excitation source. Under high-energy irradiation (CL), emission in the visible range indicates the potential application in the detection of high-energy radiation.

Menuka Adhikari

Fayetteville State University

Recently, a zipper two-dimensional (2D) material Bi2O2Se belonging to the layered bismuth oxychalcogenide (Bi2O2X: X = S, Se, Te) family, has emerged as an alternate candidate to van der Waals 2D materials for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic applications. This hints towards exploring the other members of the Bi2O2X family for their true potential and bismuth oxysulfide (Bi2O2S) could be the next member for such applications. Here, we demonstrate for the first time, the CVD synthesis and near-infrared (NIR) photodetection of Bi2O2S thin film. The thickness of the thin film was around 6 nm. A NIR photodetector was fabricated from ultrathin Bi2O2S nanosheets. The photodetector showed high performance, under 785 nm laser illumination, with a photoresponsivity of 4 AW−1, an external quantum efficiency of 630 %, and a detectivity 2 × 1012 Jones with response time of 1 sec. Taken together, the findings suggest that Bi2O2S nanosheets could be a promising alternative 2D material for next-generation large-area flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Basant Chitara

North Carolina Central University

Microbial contamination of drinking water is an alarming phenomenon that has attracted increasing global attention. Although many advances in microbial disinfection have been made over the years, robust, rapid, inexpensive and field-deployable strategies are still urgently needed to address this public health issue. Herein we report the preparation of antimicrobial nanofibrous membranes, which involves incorporation of highly porous electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membranes with 1-chloro-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone (MC) by two different approaches, namely, co-electrospinning and soaking. The functionalized membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and titrimetry, and their antimicrobial efficacies were evaluated against two bacteria (Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli). The MC-decorated electrospun PAN membranes inactivated both bacterial strains within minutes of contact time. The simplicity, cost-effectiveness, versatility, and scalability of the electrospinning process, together with the superior antimicrobial activity of N-halamines make it a promising solution for water disinfection.

Martha Y. Garcia Cervantes

North Carolina Central University, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

CuInP2S6 (CIPS) is a uniaxial quadruple-well ferrielectric with two polarization phases established by copper’s motion through Van der Waals gap. Recent breakthroughs in a CIPS/IPS structure show that the piezoelectric constant (d) quantified through multi frequency band excitation PFM closely match density functional theory calculated results. However, this method is not accessible to the research community as a whole. Single frequency and dual AC resonance tracking PFM were explored as suitable alternatives. Single frequency PFM not viable due to a weak off-resonance signal and resonance peak being frequency dependent. DART PFM is a potentially viable, commercially available method for achieving quantitative PFM data that matches theory. Further work is required to determine what is causing the broadening and narrowing for measured d range over multiple runs but changes in DART Gain and frequency width are not sensitive enough to significantly offset data.

Kathryn Shaffer

North Carolina State University

In the field of medicine over the past years, people have used medicine to attack the protein to cure the disease. But what if there was another aspect that was untouched that could have big improvements. Rather than attacking the protein, we attack the non-coding Ribonucleic acid(nRNA). This is the part of the RNA that does not get translated into protein. So if we take this part of the RNA we can see major improvements in this field for major illnesses such as cancer, sexually transmitted diseases(like HIV), and other viral infections. Part of the Hargrove lab focused on analyzing different libraries consisting of several small molecules to compare those libraries to an RNA-targeted bioactive ligaNd database(R-BIND). The comparison method that is used is known as a PCA which makes a graph. Another part of Dr. Hargrove’s lab had to do with taking types of model systems from HIV knowns as ESSV and TAR to then run them through a quantitative structure-activity relationship(QSAR) study. This is basically an intermediate to investigate the binding factors or physicochemical properties of the RNA-targeted small-molecule ligands, to facilitate rational design and decision-making in structure optimization during synthesis.

Yousif Saleh

Duke University