Date of Award

3-28-2016

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Department

Chemistry & Biochemistry

First Advisor

David Randall

Abstract

The body creates nitric oxide (NO) for signaling. One way that researchers study NO signaling is through the use of model complexes, or molecules that have the same metal ion and a similar molecular shape as biological molecules and are easy to synthesize. Currently researchers have limited ways to deliver precisely-known small quantities of NO to an experiment where they are trying to investigate NO-binding to a transition metal complex. A peak shift in the absorption spectrum at ~530 nm makes it possible for UV-Vis spectroscopy to observe NO binding to cobalt tetraphenylporphyrin (CoTPP). This makes it possible to measure the quantity of NO dissolved in an organic solvent. This project worked to obtain the UV-Vis spectra after varying amounts of NO-saturated solvent was added to CoTPP in a gas-tight cuvette. This spectral data was analyzed using existing computer software and a spectral analysis method developed here. The analysis of spectrophotometric titration data for two solvents yielded preliminary values that let researchers know the concentration of NO in two commonly used solvents: [NO]DCM = 2.29 ± 0.04 mM; [NO]THF = 0.9 ± 0.1 mM.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/honors/135/

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