Three different types of cage crown ethers have been prepared and their complexation properties with Ag(I) have been studied. Atomic absorption, fluorescence quenching, and UV absorption have been used to study the interaction between the hosts (cage crown ethers) and guests (Ag+). For the cage-annulated crown ethers that contain aromatic rings, cation-π and π-π interactions may contribute significantly to the overall complexation ability of the host system. Piperazine groups may cooperate, and the piperazine nitrogen atoms provide unshared electrons, which may form a complex with Ag+. In addition, relatively soft donor atoms (e.g., Br) are well-suited for complexation with Ag+, which is a softer Lewis acid than alkali metal cations.

Polymeric nanoparticles were designed, synthesized, and loaded with metal ions to explore the therapeutic potential for transition metals other than platinum found in cisplatin. Nanoparticles were synthesized to show the potential for polymer based vectors. Metal loading and release were characterized via Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Elemental Analysis. Targeting was attempted with the expectation of observed increased particle uptake by cancer cells with flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. Results demonstrated that a variety of metals could be loaded to the nano-sized carriers in an aqueous environment, and that the release was pH-dependent. Expected increased targeting was inconsistent. The toxicity of these particles was measured in cancer cells where significant toxicity was observed in vitro via dosing of high copper-loaded nanoparticles and slight toxicity was observed in ruthenium-loaded nanoparticles. No significant toxicity was observed in cells dosed with metal-free nanoparticles. Future research will focus on ruthenium loaded polymeric nanoparticles with different targeting ligands dosed to different cell lines for the aim of increased uptake and decreased cancer cell viability.

Layered double hydroxides (LDH) have been principally known as anion-exchanging, clay-like materials for several decades, and continues to be the main driving force for current and future research. The chemical interactions of LDH, with transition metallocyanides, have been a popular topic of investigation for many years, partly due to the use of powder x-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy as the main characterization tools. Each transition metallocyanide has a characteristic infrared stretching frequency that can be easily observed, and their respective sizes can be observed while intercalated within the interlayer of the LDH. The ability of LDH to incorporate metal cations or any ions/molecules/complexes, that have a postive charge, have not been previously investigated, mainly due to the chemical and physical nature of LDH. The possibility of cationic incorporation with LDH would most likely occur by surface adsorption, lattice metal replacement, or by intercalation into the LDH interlayers. Although infrared spectroscopy finds it main use through the identification of the anions incorporated with LDH, it can also be used to study and identify the various active and inactive bending and stretching modes that the metal hydroxide layers have.

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 maintenance and assay costs. Our model organism C. elegans met all the criteria. The ideal phosphor has low toxicity in the model organism. In this work the strongly phosphorescent platinum (II) pyrophosphito-complex was tested for biological applications as a potential in vivo hypoxia sensor. The suitability of the phosphor was derived from its water solubility, bright phosphorescence at room temperature, and long excited state lifetime (~ 10 µs). The applications branched off to include testing of C. elegans survival when treated with the phosphor, which included lifespan and fecundity assays, toxicity assays including the determination of the LC50, and recovery after paraquat poisoning. Quenching experiments were performed using some well knows oxygen derivatives, and the quenching mechanisms were derived from Stern-Volmer plots. Reaction stoichiometries were derived from …

The diversity of transition metal complexes allows for a wide range of chemical processes to be mediated by the metal, from catalysis to surface chemistry. Investigations into the structure and electronic configuration of transition metal complexes allow for tuning of desired species by modifications to the ligands and/or metals to achieve more efficient thermodynamics and kinetics for the process of interest. Transition metals, often used in catalysts for a number of important processes, require detailed descriptions of intermediates, transition states and products to fully characterize a reaction mechanism(s) in order to design more active and efficient catalysts. Computational investigations into inorganic catalysts are explored with the aim of understanding the activity of each species and how modifications of supporting ligands, co-ligands and metals vary the interaction along the reaction pathway. Reported results give important insight into the development of the most active complexes in addition to determining the least active complexes to aid experimental development. This report first investigates the mechanisms of two unique transfer reactions: 1) formation of low coordinate nickel-nitrene ((P~P)Ni=NR; P~P = 1,2-bis(dihydrophosphino)-ethane or 1,2-bis(difluoromethylphosphino)-ethane) complexes as catalysts for nitrogen atom transfer and 2) oxidation of a triphosphorus niobium complex, [(η2-P3SnPh3)Nb(OMe)3], for the transfer of the phosphorus …