Student Research
Some Current Student Research Projects
At a recent American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, Gordon College students and faculty traveled to Washington, DC to present their work.
The following poster was presented.
- First principles investigation of ruthenium metal complexes used as catalysts in water oxidation
At a recent American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, Gordon College students and faculty traveled to Washington, DC to present their work.
The following poster was presented.
- Greener oxidation options: Molybdate-catalyzed synthesis of conjugated aldehydes and ketones
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Best Poster Award
"The Investigation of Atomic-Level Interactions in the Cancer-causing BCR-ABL Tyrosine Kinase and Imatinib Through the Application of the ONIOM Method"
Nigel won the best poster award at Gordon College's 2009 Undergraduate Research Symposium. The poster presented his work on computational chemistry.
You can see the full poster using the link below.
Learn more on the Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Nigel Poster May 2009 (PDF)
In the past six years, dozens of students have undertaken research projects that have resulted in presentations at regional and national science meetings. Students have presented at the following venues:
- Washington, DC 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
- Salt Lake City, UT 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
- Bridgewater, MA 7th Annual New England Environmental Research Symposium
- New Orleans, LA 235th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
- Bridgewater, MA 6th Annual New England Environmental Research Symposium
- Boston, MA 234th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
- Bridgewater, MA 5th Annual New England Environmental Research Symposium
- Atlanta, GA 231th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
- Washington, DC 230th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
- San Diego, CA 229th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
- Lexington, MA Educators' Veritas Forum
Five Gordon students traveled to Salt Lake City to present their work at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting. The following posters were presented.
- Selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde: A green chemistry laboratory experiment
- BGB-20 ecoSoap: Utilizing biodiesel glycerin by-product in the large scale preparation of soap to illustrate the principles of green chemistry
- Determining the efficacy of popular antioxidants through the fluorescence of diphenyl-1-pyrenylphosphine (DPPP): An analytical laboratory experience
Okra Seed Oil
Okra seed abounds in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and has a protein and fat profile similar to that of conventional vegetable oils used for both food and biodiesel production. Okra seed, however, is underutilized and understudied.
Chemists all around the world are becoming more and more interested in finding "greener," more environmentally friendly, and less hazardous ways to produce chemical products.
Green Chemistry, specifically, is the design of products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.
Because there has been much concern about the decreasing world supply of petroleum diesel, biodiesel looks to be a renewable and sustainable source of fuel in the future. Biodiesel also looks to be a greener alternative to petroleum diesel.
Biofuels, made from the transesterification of vegetable oils, fulfill several principles of Green Chemistry:
- Renewable feedstocks: Made primarily from crops, so supply would be constant.
- Design for degradation: Biodegradable
- Design safer chemicals: Non-toxic
- Prevent Waste: Biofuels can be prepared from many wastes, such as waste fryer oil, and also do not put additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Presented is a laboratory-scale extraction of oil from okra seed and preparation of biodiesel from okra seed oil. We have also done a comparison of the properties of okra seed biodiesel to conventional biodiesel and commented on the viability of okra seed as a potential fuel source. Finally, we discuss the outcomes of this project in light of the "12 Principles of Green Chemistry."1
1Poster Presented at the 235th American Chemical Society Meeting in New Orleans, April 2008.
Measuring Ecotoxicity with Lettuce Seeds
The goal of green chemistry is the design of materials and processes that are inherently safer for human health and the environment. Currently, few undergraduate chemistry students are trained about toxicity of chemicals and even fewer experience the laboratory investigation of chemical toxicity. Here we present a laboratory experiment that enables students to measure ecotoxicity of different alternative starting materials used for the preparation of biodiesel. Lettuce seed assays were used to compare the ecotoxicity of methanol, ethanol, and 2-propanol by these toxins' effects on germination rate and root elongation of lettuce seeds. The experiment is simple, fast, inexpensive, reproducible and possible to perform with standard equipment available in most chemistry teaching laboratories.
The seeds were exposed to water dosed with alcohol (either methanol, ethanol, or isopropanol) at various concentrations to determine a dose/response effect. The seeds were allowed to grow for one week, in the dark, at room temperature. After one week, seeds were assayed by counting the number of seeds that germinated and measuring the root elongation of the germinated seeds.
The data suggests that toxicity of all three alcohols intensifies as concentration increases. Surprisingly, methanol appears to be less toxic to the seeds than the other two alcohols. Methanol is known to be more harmful than ethanol or isopropanol to humans, and thus the result reminds us that ecotoxicity and human toxicity are not necessarily
the same.1
1Poster Presented at the 235th American Chemical Society Meeting in New Orleans, April 2008.