A lot has been happening throughout the past few weeks, both in lab and outside lab.  First, I gave an informal presentation to my lab group; I explained the theory behind my work, detailed what I have learned, and then outlined what we plan to do next.  The next week I headed off to Newport News to take the PCAT for pharmacy school admission.  All the while continuing my research in the lab.

I am quite sorry to say that despite our intense research efforts, we have not been moving forward as hoped.  This does not mean that we haven’t learned anything; it simply means we have learned what not to do.  Regarding the 1,6-dimethoxyphenazine synthesis, we have since stopped pursuing this venture.  One would assume that it would be fairly simple and easy to replicate a published synthesis.  Well as I mentioned previously, this is not the case.  I gave it one last valiant effort and did manage to obtain a pure sample of the desired product.  The total process took me two days to complete.  I reacted, extracted, and chromatographed until I was wiped out.  The final product was highly luminescent and 100% the desired product.  However, the percent yield was 0.55%   To make matters worse, this reaction was supposed to be the first step of many.  Therefore, my mentor and I decided to spare our sanity and pursue projects that seem more promising.  Looking back, I realized that the lab received the last reagent needed to start the reaction on my birthday in June.  I had to chuckle a little and say that was definitely my least favorite birthday present.

After moving on from the synthesis reaction, we decided to focus on forming alpha phase AlCuCl4.  For a while it was thought we had successfully created the product.  Although the synthesis was tedious and time consuming, at least it worked right?  Well, a few weeks later, I was rereading some literature and noticed that the product is characterized by a white powder and striking blue luminescence.  My heart sank as I realized our powders were grey and did not exhibit luminescence.  After looking back at the powder pattern, I regretfully admitted that it was not a close enough match; we had not made the AlCuCl4 compound as we had thought.  So it’s back to the drawing board on that one.  Currently, we are trying to alter reaction time, reaction temperature, and reagent amounts in order to obtain the elusive product.

The product then brings me to my current and future work.  It has been shown through literature that AlCuCl4 will capture Carbon Monoxide (CO); as you know this is toxic and can be found in the environment, car exhaust for example.  This insight remains two-fold:  1) we can use the AlCuCl4 as a sensor for CO, and 2) we can use AlCuCl4 to catalyze reactions with capture CO.  For the first consideration, we could make a polymer film and sense the presence of CO in the environment.  For the second consideration, we can hopefully catalyze the uptake of CO in compounds such as hydrazine to make urea.  Hydrazine is a hazardous industrial waste, whereas urea is a common fertilizer.  This process could not only decrease the cost of making urea but also decrease the amount of hydrazine waste.  Other reactions have been considered; however, we need to make AlCuCl4 before experimentation can begin.

In addition to trying to make AlCuCl4, we have been trying to synthesize other materials that will allow facile uptake of CO.  Currently we are working with Copper(I) derivatives, stabilizing ligands, and Poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PVP) to form such complexes.  Initial efforts have proven fairly stable and quite luminescent.  This project has also taught us many things that do NOT work.  For the most part, we are focusing on making stable ligands until a tank of CO arrives.  Efforts to make our own CO proved insufficient.  Although we were making CO, known reactions were proving unsuccessful.  We attempted to bubble CO through a suspension of CuCl.  Our reaction did not show uptake of CO as literature dictates; therefore, we deduced that we must wait for a pressurized tank of pure CO before pursuing future ventures.  Thus, synthesis of catalyzing ligands continues.