This research proposed to evaluate whether homework or daily quizzes were better for academic success within high-school pre-AP chemistry or if differences in the two methods were detectable. The study involved two years of data where homework was assigned and graded and one year of data where homework was suggested but daily quizzes provided the assessment. The mean of each of the unit tests were evaluated and t-tests were calculated. The results showed that over two-thirds of the units had statistically significant data when daily quizzes were utilized.

The potential use of polymeric, functionalized nanoparticles (NPs) as drug delivery vectors was explored. Covalent conjugation of albumin to the surface of NPs via maleimide chemistry proved problematic. However, microwave assisted synthesis of NPs was not only time efficient, but enabled the exploration of size control by changing the following parameters: temperature, microwave power, reaction time, initiator concentration, and percentage of monomer used. About 1.5 g of fluorescently-labeled, carboxylic acid-functionalized NPs (100 nm diameter) were synthesized for a total cost of less than $1. Future work will address further functionalization of the NPs for the coupling of albumin (or other targeted proteins), and tests for in vivo biodistribution.

Combinatorial libraries are used in the search for ligands that bind to target proteins. Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis is routinely used to generate such libraries. Microwave-assisted peptide synthesis was employed here to decrease reaction times by 80-90%. Two One-Bead-One-Compound combinatorial libraries were synthesized on 130μm beads (one containing 750 members and the other 16, 807). The use of smaller solid supports would have many important practical advantages including; increased library diversity per unit mass, smaller quantities of library needed to generate hits, and screening could be conducted by using a standard flow cytometer. To this end, a miniaturized peptide library was synthesized on 20 μm beads to demonstrate proof of principle. A small sample from the 16,807-member library was screened against transferrin-AlexaFluro 647, a protein responsible for iron transport in vivo. A number of hits were identified and sequenced using techniques coupling nanomanipulation with nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry.

Two aluminum spherical mirrors with radii of 203.2 mm and radii of curvature also of 203.2 mm have been used to construct a tunable Fabry-Perót type resonator operational at frequencies as low as 500 MHz. The resonator has been incorporated into a pulsed nozzle, Fourier transform, Balle-Flygare spectrometer. The spectrometer is of use in recording low J transitions of large asymmetric molecules where the spectra are often greatly simplified compared to higher frequency regions. The resonators use is illustrated by recording the rotational spectra of bromobenzene and iodobenzene. In related experiments, using similar equipment, the pure rotational spectra of four isotopomers of SrS and all three naturally occurring isotopomers of the actinide-containing compound thorium monoxide have been recorded between 6 and 26 GHz. The data have been thoroughly analyzed to produce information pertaining to bond lengths and electronic structures.