ANYL Sem Abstracts

This page contains the abstracts for upcoming and past Analytical & Environmental Chemistry Seminars at CU. Please post newer seminars at the top, but do not erase the abstracts from old seminars.

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Monday, March 4, 2013

Megan L. Melamed IGAC Executive Officer University of Colorado, CIRES, Boulder, CO

Overview of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project

The International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project was formed in 1990 to address growing international concern over rapid changes observed in Earth's atmosphere. IGAC operates under the umbrella of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and is jointly sponsored by the international Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (iCACGP). IGAC coordinates and fosters atmospheric chemistry research towards a sustainable world by facilitating international collaboration of atmospheric chemistry and multi-disciplinary research, coordinating the synthesis, assessment, and summary of research, cultivating the next generation of atmospheric chemist, and acting as the liaison between the atmospheric chemistry community and the broader Earth System Sustainability community. In July 2012, the IGAC International Project Office relocated to the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Studies (CIRES) at the University of Colorado. Current IGAC activities and how to get involved in IGAC will be presented.

The Impact of Megacities on Air Pollution and Climate Change

As of 2008, for the first time, the majority of the world’s population is living in urban areas [1], many in megacities (with populations over 10 million). Currently, urban population fractions are higher in developed than developing countries. However, with most of the world population growth expected to occur in developing countries, urbanization is increasing at a higher rate in developing countries. These dramatic increases in population and urbanization, especially in the developing world, have been accompanied by technological and economic growth and development, yielding changes in land use, energy use, and transportation. The resulting changes due to urbanization have dramatic impacts on anthropogenic and biogenic emissions and have notably altered local to global-scale atmospheric composition, increasing the importance of understanding the impacts of urbanization on atmospheric chemistry. In light of the importance of megacities on atmospheric chemistry, the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released in January 2013 the first comprehensive assessment of Atmospheric Chemistry in Megacities. An overview of this assessment will be presented.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Prof. Waleed Abdalati Geography Department and CIRES University of Colorado Boulder

From the Terrestrial to the Celestial: My Perspectives and Experiences as NASA Chief Scientist<b/>

For decades, NASA has been an iconic inspiration to the nation and the world, exploring our planet, the space environment, the solar system, and the universe. Success in these endeavors has been built on a foundation of science, technology and engineering that is producing such remarkable achievements as: landing a one-ton rover on the surface of Mars, developing a telescope that will peer 13.5 billion years into the past, and most importantly, providing comprehensive insights into the behavior and evolution of planet Earth. Enabling these capabilities, and the associated research, requires much more than technical and scientific advances, however. It involves a complex balancing of priorities and resources, as well as alignment among a diverse group of passionate stakeholders – all against a backdrop of political and policy turmoil. As chief scientist, it was my responsibility to help shape NASA’s direction, and work to achieve alignment among the interests and objectives of the scientific community, the White House, Congress and others. In this talk, I will discuss some of these challenges and the associated rewards as well as the role science plays at NASA, and the role NASA science plays in the broader national framework.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Prof. Brian Majestic University of Denver

<b>Using iron isotopes as a tool to identify sources of atmospheric iron: an analysis of desert, urban, and oceanic environments

Abstract

Atmospheric transport followed by deposition of aerosol Fe is the primary source of Fe for much of the surface ocean. In many parts of the ocean, Fe serves as a limiting nutrient for phytoplankton growth, as well as other aquatic organisms. Most aerosol Fe, by mass, is crustally-derived, the majority of which is generated in the Sahara and other deserts. However, solubility measurements show that this crustal-derived Fe is highly insoluble (< 1%), possibly limiting its bioavailability. Two other sources of Fe, biomass burning and combustion-derived anthropogenic aerosols, are characterized by a much higher solubility, so in spite of their lower mass of Fe, they may represent an important contribution to overall bioavailable Fe in the surface oceans.

A new tool to determine the relative importance of these sources is Fe isotope analysis. Previous work has shown that crustal material has an isotopic composition equal to ~ 0.1 ‰. Therefore, isotopic deviations from 0.1 ‰ may indicate the presence of non-crustal Fe. In this talk, I will present Fe isotope data from the outskirts of Phoenix, AZ, a highly crustal environment as well as Bermuda, a pristine oceanic site. Bermuda is an ideal site to test this method because, during the summer months, the air masses reaching Bermuda originate from West Africa (crustal) and, during the winter months, the air masses originate from North America (more anthropogenic). Striking similarities between these two sites, as well as other Fe isotope studies, will be highlighted.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Professor Neil M. Donahue

Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy Director, Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies Carnegie Mellon University

Old Aerosols Never Die, They Just Get Oxidized

Abstract

Organic aerosols comprise a highly dynamic system of multiphase oxidation chemistry. A major element in the organic-aerosol lifecycle is the progressive oxidation of semi-volatile vapors. Oxidation influences the total aerosol mass by forming products with different vapor pressures than their precursor molecules, but the overall effect on the aerosol mass is nuanced. Oxidation (aging) can clearly enhance aerosol mass via formation of more heavily functionalized products, but it can also reduce the aerosol mass as carbon backbones are fragmented, especially later in the oxidation sequence. We have investigated a number of model systems as well as representative bulk aerosol systems to investigate this process, and developed a reduced chemical mechanism to describe it. In addition to influencing the overall mass, oxidation chemistry can produce small amounts of extremely highly oxidized organic vapors. These highly functionalized molecules can and do participate in the formation of molecular clusters (typically involving sulfuric acid in the atmosphere) and their subsequent growth to ultrafine particles and then to particles large enough to have significant health and climate effects. We have recently joined the CLOUD consortium at CERN to study this particle physics.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Dick and Jean Bedell, Boulder, Colorado

India From an Elephant's Back

Abstract

This presentation reflects observations of a fascinating country and culture by a Boulder couple. Dick and Jean Bedell have volunteered their medical services for several months each year over three decades. Through Rotary Clubs in India and United States, they helped establish a home for girls whose prostitute mothers died of AIDS, and a Hospice Centre staffed by 300 volunteers. They provide seminars for doctors, midwives and nurses in urban and rural facilities. Through Dr. Robert Sievers, they toured the amazing facility in Pune linked with his research on measles vaccine. Their presentation is informal with time for questions.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Roy (Lee) Mauldin, ATOC/INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder

The X Files: Oxidation via Criegee radicals – From reactions to global impacts

Abstract

Oxidation processes in Earth’s atmosphere are tightly connected to many environmental and human health issues and are essential drivers for biogeochemistry. Oxidation processes remove natural and anthropogenic trace gases and air pollutants from the atmosphere, and produce low-volatility vapours that control secondary aerosol formation and atmospheric production of cloud condensation nuclei. These atmospheric oxidation processes are typically thought to be dominated by three main oxidants: ozone, hydroxyl radical (OH) and nitrate radical. Field measurements however have shown discrepancies between measurements and models indicating the presence of other mechanisms. Our group has recently shown that products formed from the ozonolysis of biogenic alkenes (most likely stabilized Criegee radicals) have a substantial oxidizing capacity, with the ability to oxidized compounds such as SO2 or dimethyl sulphide. This new “X-chemistry” can have significant, or even dominant, contribution to formation of low-volatility inorganic (sulfuric acid) and, most strikingly, very highly oxidized condensable organic vapours. This new route to the formation of sulfuric acid and extremely low-volatility organic compounds can have a considerable impact to global budgets of cloud condensation nuclei. Our observations point toward a highly important, yet unexplored area of atmospheric chemistry and indicate the discovery of a new natural negative feedback mechanism that could partially counteract climate warming.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Callie Cole

Laboratory Astrochemistry: Kinetics Studies and Instrument Modifications

Abstract

Reactions involving organic molecules are important to astrochemistry and astrobiology alike. Several carbon- and nitrogen-containing anions (CN–, C3N–, and C5N–) as well as trans methyl formate have been spectroscopically detected in the interstellar medium (ISM), and this work focuses on relevant gas phase reactions involving these species. The tandem flowing afterglow-selected ion flow tube (FA-SIFT) was used to experimentally determine the rate constants and products of these reactions, and theoretical calculations were conducted to further understand their mechanisms. Additionally, an ion trap mass spectrometer has been modified to allow for the study of ion-neutral reactions. The building of this modification as well as future plans for this instrument with respect to astrochemistry will be discussed.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Siyuan Wang

SOA formation from volatile OVOC

Abstract

Glyoxal has potentially large sources from remote to polluted environments. Glyoxal is highly water-soluble; it may undergo a series of aqueous-phase processes in aerosol liquid water and lead to the formation of highly oxidized, high-molecular-weight compounds. In the present work, the multi-phase behavior of glyoxal is probed from chamber experiments (PSI chamber, Switzerland) to ambient environments (sub-urban Hong Kong). Phase transfer and subsequent aqueous-phase processes are simulated using a box-model. In both cases glyoxal is found to form secondary organic material under humid condition, which may be affected by various factors such as aerosol acidity and sulfate. This modeling work provides reasonable interpretations for observations and insights into the complicated processes of such a simple molecule.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Theodore Konstantinos Koenig

Separation of Water Spin Isomers by Adsorption

I will be presenting on work to determine whether water spin isomers can be enriched in the gas phase by selective adsorption. I will begin by briefly outlining the motivations and previous literature on the topic. I will then give information on the construction and testing of an instrument for the purpose of examining any effect by a variety of spectroscopies. Finally, initial FT-IR results will be presented to give a preliminary answer to whether selective adsorption does in fact occur.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Christopher Kampf

Effective Henry’s Law Constant Measurements for Glyoxal in Model Aerosols Containing Sulfate

Abstract

I am going to present results of an atmospheric simulation chamber study on the reversible partitioning of glyoxal, which was studied by direct measurements of gas-phase and particle-phase concentrations for the first time in model aerosols containing sulfate. Two complimentary methods for the measurement of glyoxal particle-phase concentrations are compared: 1) An offline method utilizing filter sampling of chamber aerosols followed by HPLC-MS/MS analysis and 2) Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analysis of AMS data. Ammonium sulfate and internally mixed ammonium sulfate/fulvic acid seed aerosols were used to study the influence of seed chemical composition on effective Henry’s law constants (KH,eff) of glyoxal under varying Relative Humidity (RH) and radiation conditions. KH,eff was found to increase exponentially with ammonium sulfate concentration or sulfate ionic strength, I(SO42-), respectively. A Setschenow type plot revealed that glyoxal is subject to a “salting-in” effect in aerosols. Further, the temporal behavior of the reversible uptake of glyoxal on seed aerosols can be described by two distinct reservoirs for monomers and higher molecular weight species filling up at two different characteristic time constants.

Christoph Knote

3D model simulations of glyoxal-SOA formation over California

Abstract

Most studies investigating the formation of SOA from glyoxal so far employed simple box model and pseudo-lagrangian approaches, which lack a comprehensive description of emissions variability and transport phenomena. We investigate regional scale variability of glyoxal SOA using the online-coupled regional chemistry transport model WRF/Chem with a focus on the summer 2010 over California. In my talk I will highlight improvements made to the model to better represent glyoxal formation pathways, discuss model performance when compared against a variety of measurement data available from the CalNex and CARES field campaigns, and show how we extend it by two different methods to describe formation of SOA from glyoxal. Finally I will present first results of simulations made for a selected period in June 2010.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Yong Liu

University of Colorado at Denver

Investigating O3-initiated heterogeneous oxidation of linoleic acid using ATR-IR flow reactor

Abstract

Despite recent extensive studies towards heterogeneous oxidation of unsaturated organics (mostly oleic acid) initiated by ozone, little is known about effects of environmental conditions such as ambient temperature and relative humidity; physical state; and oxidant concentration on heterogeneous reaction kinetics. In this work, we used linoleic acid as a proxy for atmospheric unsaturated organics to investigate its heterogeneous oxidation by O3 over a wide range of temperatures (258-314 K), relative humidities (0-80% RH) and ozone concentration (50 ppb -50ppm). Our experiments were carried out using a flow reactor coupled to an attenuated total reflection infrared spectrometer (ATR-IR). Pseudo-first order rate constants and overall reactive uptake coefficients were acquired from absorbance changes in peaks located near 1743 cm-1; 1710 cm-1; 1172 cm-1 and 1110 cm-1, which can be assigned to C=O in ester; C=O in acid; C-C and C-O stretching modes, respectively. Results showed that the kapp and γ increased with increasing temperatures. It was noted the temperature enhancement effect on the reaction kinetics was much more pronounced at lower temperatures. Such behavior can be explained by change in physical state of LA at lower temperatures. In addition, kapp and γ were enhanced by 2-fold as RH increased from 0 to 80%. Moreover, the effect of ozone concentration on the reaction kinetics was reported for the first time. kapp was found to display a Langmuir-Hinshelwood dependence on ozone concentration. Furthermore, yields and hygroscopic properties of reaction products were also investigated by FTIR spectroscopy. The intensity ratio of two C=O stretching bands, A1743/A1710, which was utilized as an indicator of the product yields, increased sharply with increasing temperatures in the lower temperature region (258-284 K), and then remained nearly constant in the higher temperature region (284-314 K). The product yields showed no significant variation with RH, for the intensity ratio of A1743/A1710 barely changed in the wide RH range of 0-80%. Water uptake studies showed that the LA thin film absorbed water with an increasing RH, and the hygroscopicity of the thin film was enhanced after ozone exposure.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Katherine Primm

Formation of Gold Nanoparticles and Nanorods Analyzed by SEIRA

Abstract

The goal of this research was to develop the best gold nanostructures for applications in a range of biological, medical, catalytic, environmental, and nanotechnological applications, these were then analyzed using surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRA). Various nanostructures were formed by evaporating gold in vacuum onto CaF2 substrates at deposition angles ranging from incident to 85. Nanostructures were characterized with AFM, SEM, and UV/Vis-NIR spectroscopy. A monolayer of p-nitrobenzoic acid was deposited onto the gold nanostructures to determine the degree of vibrational enhancement in SEIRA. SEIRA enhancement factors of x20-50 were obtained from metal nanostructures formed by the evaporation of 5-7 nm of gold at incident angle. Gold nanorods aggregated during formation at grazing angles and did not yield larger enhancement factors. Further studies on the gold nanorods are being performed to form nanorods with better enhancement factors, which include different techniques in vapor deposition.

Melissa Ugelow

Tailoring Porous Silicon for Analyte Response

Abstract

To better assess and characterize the sensing properties of porous silicon (pSi), we have developed a strategy to create small spatially heterogeneous areas on a pSi surface that exhibit different degrees of surface oxidation by pin printing 9:1 H2O2:glycerol on the prepared pSi surface. The pSi surface chemistry and the heterogeneity of these pin printed regions were assessed using FT-IR microscopy and epi-luminescence microscopy, coupled with multispectral imaging. The results show that the pin printed areas are chemically heterogeneous across their ca. 300 μm diameter and the photoluminescence response to analyte depends on the analyte type and on the spatial position within the printed region (i.e., on the exact extent of oxide formation (Si-O-Si, O2SiH, O3SiH and Si-OH vs. SiH, SiH2 and SiH3) at the pSi surface). The combination of pin printing and multispectral microscopies allows us to create the entire range of pSi chemical compositions and simultaneously assess their performance all within a single 300 μm diameter printed feature. This can lead to more sophisticated pattern recognition schema to allow simultaneous analyte identification and quantification.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Jay Kroll

Investigating the Chemical Complexity of the Interstellar Medium

Abstract

I have collected and analyzed to rotational spectrum of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) from 8 GHz to 1THz. This molecule contains similar functional groups to other known interstellar molecules such as acetone, acetaldehyde, and ethanol, and is therefore a likely product of interstellar organic chemistry. The microwave spectrum for MEK was acquired using the chirped-pulse waveguide Fourier Transform Microwave (FTMW) spectrometer at New College Florida, and the millimeter and submillimeter spectrum was acquired using the direct absorption flow cell spectrometer at Emory University. I will report on the preliminary results of the laboratory spectral analysis.

Jordan Krechmer

Development of Novel Sampling Systems for Direct Analysis in Real Time Ionization Sources

Abstract

Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) is an ambient ionization source for mass spectrometry (MS) that is utilized in a wide variety of applications including food science, forensics, homeland security, and environmental analysis. Introduced in 2005, DART-MS does not require sample preparation and allows the analysis of solid and liquid samples in their native state. This talk will discuss the development of novel methods of sampling with the DART source to enhance its capabilities. Such methods include rapid heating of samples of metal substrates, ambient ion transfer tubes for non-proximate sensing, and magnetic automated sampling systems for the analysis of powders.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Paul Ziemann
Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Univ. of Colorado-Boulder (starting June 2013)
Professor, Univ. of California Riverside (present)

Comprehensive Laboratory Studies of the Chemistry of Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation: Scientific Questions, Techniques and Open Graduate Student Projects

In this talk I will describe for incoming graduate students the atmospheric chemistry research being conducted in my laboratory. Laboratory studies provide much of the fundamental data on reaction kinetics, products, and mechanisms that are needed to achieve a deep understanding of atmospheric chemistry and to develop detailed and accurate models that are used to establish air quality regulations and to predict the effects of human activities on global climate. Research in my laboratory focuses on the atmospheric chemistry of organic compounds emitted from natural and anthropogenic sources and the physical and chemical processes by which oxidized organic reaction products form microscopic aerosol particles. Studies are conducted in large-volume environmental chambers where experiments are designed to simulate but simplify atmospheric chemistry and conditions in order to obtain information on gas and particle chemical composition; gas and heterogeneous/multiphase reaction rates and equilibria; thermodynamic, hygroscopic, and phase properties of particles; and gas-particle-wall interactions. Obtaining such data is a challenge, but in this talk I will describe how we approach this problem by using a diverse array of measurement techniques including real- time and offline mass spectrometry, temperature-programmed thermal desorption, gas and liquid chromatography, NMR, spectrophotometry, traditional elemental analysis, pycnometry, and scanning mobility particle sizing. I will then provide examples of our use of these methods to develop quantitative chemical reaction mechanisms of organic gas and aerosol chemistry and models of SOA formation and particle properties such as hygroscopicity, and describe some future research projects for which I am recruiting CU graduate students to start in my group in June 2013.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Robert E. Sievers and team of 30 collaborators sponsored by FNIH and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation GCGH

CU’s Inhalable Dry Powder Aerosol Measles Vaccine Now In Clinical Trials

Abstract

Several hundred children die every day from measles-related disease throughout the world and particularly in poor contries. We have developed a Measles Vaccine, Dry Powder (MVDP) and PuffHaler® a novel dry powder inhaler for respiratory delivery to overcome the safety and vaccine wastage problems associated with the current injectable vaccine. Phase I clinical trials of our new inhalable dry aerosol measles vaccine are now underway in 60 adult volunteers. So far there has not been observed or reported any serious adverse events, but the observation interval is not yet ended. MVDP was manufactured from bulk liquid, live attenuated, measles vaccine using CAN-BD® to yield a stable, dry powder, with fine particles suitable for aerosolization and delivery to the pulmonary tract by inhalation. This was achieved by substituting myo-inositol for sorbitol as a stabilizing sugar that is less hygroscopic. Contact with water is detrimental to the stability of measles vaccine and the microparticles are reconstituted only when they deposit in the moist surfaces of the respiratory tract. There is no need for purified water to be carried to remote locations. The stabilization and CAN-BD drying of other vaccines are now being explored. The measles vaccine shelf life is excellent at 2 to 8 °C with only about 0.5 log loss of activity after more than 2 years. At 25 °C, there is approximately only 0.8 log loss after 6 months of storage.

Rainer Volkamer

Reactive trace gases in tropospheric chemistry and climate – recent results and upcoming projects

Abstract

Reactive trace gases and aerosols are relevant components of tropospheric chemistry and climate. Bromine and iodine oxide radicals, and oxygenated VOC species modify HOx radical abundances, influence the reactive chemistry and lifetime of climate active gases (e.g., ozone, methane, dimethyl sulfide) and can trigger the atmospheric deposition of mercury to ecosystems. Reactive trace gases are also a source for secondary aerosol mass that modifies aerosol optical properties, and cloud interactions (Earth albedo). In this talk I will summarize research in the development of innovative optical spectroscopic instrumentation (in-situ and remote sensing) to measure trace gases and aerosols, their applications in field and laboratory measurements conducted by our group in 2012. These include ongoing data analysis and modeling of the TORERO, TCAP, WACS field projects, mechanistic studies in simulation chambers of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation, and heterogeneous chemistry of OVOC volatilization from surfaces coated with organics in flow tubes. Future opportunities exist as part of these ongoing data analysis and modeling activities, with simulation chamber experiments at facilities in Boulder and Switzerland (PSI 2013), and to further develop the University of Colorado Airborne Multi AXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy instrument (CU AMAX-DOAS) in preparation for field projects aboard research aircraft over the western tropical pacific ocean (CONTRAST 2014).

Monday, September 17, 2012

Alison Craven

The Importance of Dissolved Organic Matter to the Binding of Copper and the Release of Trace Elements from Coal Ash

ABSTRACT

The bioavailability and toxicity of copper to aquatic life depends on its speciation. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in the speciation of copper, but there is still much uncertainty about what controls the strength and formation of the Cu2+-DOM complex. The ratio of copper to DOM is known to affect the strength of Cu2+-DOM binding, but previous methods to determine Cu2+-DOM binding strength have generally not measured binding constants over the same Cu:DOM ratios, making these results difficult to directly compare. A competitive ligand exchange-solid phase extraction (CLE-SPE) method and a copper ion-selective-electrode (Cu-ISE) method were used to determine conditional stability constants for Cu2+-DOM binding at near neutral pH and 0.01 M ionic strength over a range of Cu:DOM ratios that bridge the detection windows of previous measurements reported in the literature. As the Cu:DOM ratio increased from 0.0005 to 0.1 mg Cu (mg DOM-1), the measured conditional binding constant (cKCuDOM) decreased from 1011.5 to 105.6 M-1. This behavior is consistent with the presence of Cu2+ binding sites of higher affinity and lower abundance that become filled as the total copper concentration increases. A comparison of the binding constants measured using CLE-SPE with those measured by Cu-ISE and voltammetry methods demonstrates that the Cu:DOM ratio is an important factor controlling the Cu2+-DOM binding strength for a variety of DOM isolates and whole water samples.

Using correct Cu2+-DOM binding constants to accurately model copper speciation is important for predicting copper toxicity in cases like the waters draining the Pebble deposit in southwestern Alaska, where small increases in the dissolved copper concentration may be harmful to salmonids and other aquatic biota. Experimentally determined Cu2+-DOM binding constants were used as inputs in Visual MINTEQ to model copper speciation and calculate Cu2+ concentrations. The results were then compared to results from the biotic ligand model (BLM), a speciation and toxicity model recommended by U.S. EPA for calculation of stream copper standards, which uses the Windermere Humic Aqueous Model (WHAM) to model metal interactions with DOM. The BLM was found to over-estimate Cu2+ at low total copper concentrations and under-estimate Cu2+ at high total copper concentrations, which may result in over- or under-estimations of toxicity.

DOM also has also been shown to enhance the dissolution of soils, sediments and minerals, which could result in the release of toxic trace elements into aqueous systems. Coal ash contains high concentrations of toxic trace elements that may have the potential to be released into the water. Releases of coal ash to rivers and streams, such as that which occurred from the Kingston Fossil Plant in Kingston, TN, into the Emory and Clinch Rivers in December 2008, are a concern because of the potential for human health problems, as well as ecological effects. In order to understand the effect that DOM has on the release of trace elements from coal ash, a series of release experiments were performed using coal ash generated from the Kingston Fossil Plant as a function of DOM concentration, DOM aromaticity, and calcium concentration. Various DOM isolates and filtered site-water samples collected near the Kingston Fossil Plant were used to produce coal ash suspensions at a fixed ash:water ratio of 1:1000 and a near-neutral pH. The major and trace elemental composition of the solution, and specific trace metals (mercury, lead, copper, aluminum) and metalloids (arsenic and selenium) were measured. The results indicate that DOM enhances the release of mercury, lead, copper, and aluminum from coal ash. The concentration of mercury, copper and aluminum released from the coal ash was positively correlated with the SUVA254 (ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm divided by the dissolved organic carbon concentration) of the DOM. The release of arsenic and selenium from the coal ash was not dependent on the DOM concentration or SUVA254. Calcium was shown to inhibit the release of mercury, copper and aluminum from the coal ash

Monday, September 10, 2012

Jose L. Jimenez

Organic aerosol sources and processing in the atmosphere: recent results and upcoming projects

ABSTRACT

Organic aerosols (OA) account for about 1/2 of the submicron particle mass in the atmosphere, but their sources, sinks, and evolution are poorly understood. OA is comprised of primary OA (emitted in the particle phase) and secondary OA (formed from chemical reactions of gas-phase species). In this talk I will summarize research in OA instrumentation, measurements, and modeling by our group over the last year. This includes ongoing analysis and modeling of the recent CalNex-LA, BEACHON-RoMBAS, and DC3 field projects, direct measurements of the SOA formation and photochemical evolution of ambient air using the Potential Aerosol Mass (PAM) flowtube, model/measurement comparisons to constrain the OA budget, and results from our new MOVI-CIMS instrument which allows molecular-level analysis of OA with high sensitivity and mass resolution. Finally, I will introduce future projects in our group, including an update on the design of the new shared smog chamber facility in the Cristol building (to be completed in May 2013), upcoming field projects in the Alabama (SOAS 2013) and the Amazon (GoAmazon 2014), and a new ion mobility spectrometer – CIMS instrument coupling.

Margaret Tolbert

The Ins and Outs of Ice Nucleation

ABSTRACT

Depositional ice nucleation on atmospheric aerosols has been identified as a potential pathway for cirrus cloud formation. Upper tropospheric aerosols as well as sub-visible cirrus residues are known to be enhanced in both sulfates and organics. While solid ammonium sulfate is an efficient depositional ice nucleus, the role of organics remains largely uncertain. I will discuss recent experiments in our group examining ice nucleation one particle at a time using Raman microscopy. We will probe ice nucleation at low upper tropospheric temperatures on mixed particles containing organics with ammonium sulfate. Raman mapping will be used to probe the composition, phase and structure of the mixed particles. Ice nucleation experiments reveal that at low temperatures, some organic containing particles nucleate ice on the outside while others nucleate ice from the particle interior.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Professor Nathalie Mahowald
Cornell University

Aerosol indirect effect on biogeochemistry and climate

Abstract:

The net effect of anthropogenic aerosols on climate is usually considered the sum of the direct radiative effect of anthropogenic aerosols, plus the indirect effect of these aerosols through aerosol-cloud interactions. However, an additional impact of aerosols on a longer time scale is their indirect effect on climate through biogeochemical feedbacks, largely due to changes in the atmospheric concentration of CO2. Aerosols can affect land and ocean biogeochemical cycles by physical forcing or by adding nutrients and pollutants to ecosystems. The net biogeochemical effect of aerosols is estimated to be equivalent to a radiative forcing of –0.5 +/- 0.4 watts per square meter, which suggests that reaching lower carbon targets will be even costlier than previously estimated.

• Science paper related to this talk

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Professor Jean-Francois Doussin
University of Paris-East at Creteil (UPEC)
Interuniversitary Laboratory of Atmospheric Systems

Experimental simulation of the secondary aerosol production and ageing from the photo-oxydation of biogenic species

Abstract:

Secondary organic aerosols account for the majority of organic aerosols and play an important role in climate on both the global scale and regional scale. While significant progress has been made on the understanding of SOA formation, the transformations it undergoes during its atmospheric transit are still far from being understood. At the University of Paris East (France), a new indoor atmospheric simulation chamber has been built and its physical characteristics make it particularly well-suited to study SOA ageing processes involving oxidant, sunlight or clouds and their links with aerosol properties. In this talk, a brief description of this new tool, its analytical environment and its capabilities will be given. Then, results on on-going research involving biogenic species (such as a-pinene and isoprene) will be presented. In particular, results about ageing processes at the molecular level and their impact on aerosol properties as well as identification of field tracers for aged SOA will be shown.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Lucy Carpenter, U York, UK

Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) in the remote marine troposphere: Results from the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO)

Abstract

Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) in the atmosphere are precursors to peroxy acetyl nitrate (PAN), affect the tropospheric ozone budget, and in the remote marine environment represent a significant sink of the hydroxyl radical (OH). The sparse observational database for these compounds, particularly in the tropics, contributes to a high uncertainty in their emissions and atmospheric significance. Here we show multi-annual measurements of acetone, methanol and acetaldehyde in the remote marine boundary layer made at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) (16,848°N, 24.871°W), a subtropical marine boundary layer global GAW station situated on the island of São Vicente. Simulations of OVOCs at Cape Verde using the CAM-Chem global chemical transport model are markedly different from the observations in both concentration and variability and we explore reasons for this including oceanic and terrestrial primary and/or secondary OVOC sources. Finally, preliminary isoprene data from Cape Verde is discussed in the light of recent suggestions that marine isoprene emissions could contribute significantly to the sub-micron OC fraction of marine aerosol in the tropics.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Christa Hasenkopf
Fullbright Scholar & NSF International Research Fellow, National University of Mongolia and CIRES, Univ. of Colorado-Boulder

The story behind an upcoming field campaign in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – one of the world’s most PM-polluted cities

Abstract: Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar, where wintertime daily mean PM10 concentrations can be measured in milligrams and black carbon (BC) concentrations in micrograms, contains some of the world’s most polluted air. Yet the remote city of 1.3 million people, isolated from other major anthropogenic PM sources, is severely understudied in the atmospheric science literature.

This seminar will present the story of Ulaanbaatar’s current air pollution crisis, as well as describe current and upcoming mitigation efforts, which may provide a novel and temporary opportunity to observe the effect of relatively fast PM/BC reduction on regional climate. It will also describe an upcoming year-long field campaign designed to help fill the current information-gap on Ulaanbaatar air pollution, and provide a better foundation for future studies. Lastly, the seminar will discuss opportunities in which others can get involved with both the scientific and outreach components of this project.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Gregory Schill

The Role of Organic Species on the Ice Nucleation Capabilities of Atmospheric Aerosol

Abstract

Depositional ice nucleation on atmospheric aerosols has been identified as a potential pathway for cirrus cloud formation. Upper tropospheric aerosols as well as sub-visible cirrus residues are known to be enhanced in both sulfates and organics. While ammonium sulfate is known to be an efficient depositional ice nucleus, the role of organics remains largely uncertain. To explore this role, we used a Knudsen cell flow reactor and Raman microscopy to study the ice nucleation efficacy of crystalline organic films and ammonium sulfate particles coated by liquid or glassy organics respectively. In the Knudsen cell studies, it was found that the ice nucleation efficiency of a series of monocarboxylic acids films was dependent on their O:C ratio. For the Raman experiments, we find that if the organic coatings are liquid, water vapor diffuses through the shell and ice nucleates on the ammonium sulfate core. Here, the organics minimally affect the ice nucleation efficiency of ammonium sulfate. In contrast, if the coatings become glassy, ice instead nucleates on the organic shell. These glassy coatings can alter the ice nucleation efficiency of ammonium sulfate.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Known and Unexplored Organic Constituents in the Earth’s Atmosphere: Instrument Development to Enhance Exploration

Allen Goldstein, Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, USA

A substantial fraction of the atmospheric organic chemicals in both gas and particle phases have not been, or have very rarely been, directly measured. Even though our knowledge of them is limited, these compounds clearly influence the reactive chemistry of the atmosphere and the secondary formation, transformation, and likely the climate impact of aerosols. A continuing challenge in the coming decade of atmospheric chemistry and aerosol research will be to elucidate the sources, structure, chemistry, and fate of these clearly ubiquitous yet poorly constrained organic atmospheric constituents. Critical questions include: What atmospheric organic compounds do we know about and understand? What organic compounds are present as gases and in aerosols? What evidence exists for additional organic compounds in the atmosphere? How well do we understand the transformations and fate of atmospheric organics?

The complex chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols, particularly the organic carbon portion, presents unique measurement challenges. We developed the Thermal Desorption Aerosol Gas chromatograph (TAG) system for hourly in-situ speciation of a wide range of primary and secondary organic compounds in aerosols. This instrument combines a particle collector with thermal desorption followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometric detection to provide separation, identification, and quantification of organic constituents at the molecular level. Observed compounds include alkanes, aldehydes, ketones, PAHs, monocarboxylic acids, and many more. The hourly time resolution measurements provided by TAG capture dynamic and frequent changes in aerosol composition. We have incorporated a two-dimensional chromatography (GC×GC) capability into TAG with a time of flight (TOF) MS detector. Two-dimensional chromatography provides two types of compound separation, most typically by volatility and polarity using two columns with different stationary phases connected in series separated by a modulator. The modulator periodically traps analytes eluting from the first column, and injects fractions of this effluent onto the second column in the form of narrow pulses providing additional separation for co-eluting peaks. The approach is especially useful for distinguishing polar compounds that would otherwise be buried in the unresolved complex mixture (UCM). We are developing a semivolatile collection system that allows simultaneous measurement of chemically specific semivolatile organics in the gas and particle phases, enabling in-situ analysis of speciated organic partitioning in the real atmosphere. We have also developed and deployed a combined TAG-AMS (Aerosol Mass Spectrometer) instrument for simultaneous measurements of the total and speciated aerosol composition. This talk will review our recent developments (TAG, 2DTAG, SVTAG, TAG-AMS), and present new observations of speciated semi-volatile separations between the gas and particle phases, 2DTAG and TAG-AMS observations in ambient air and controlled chamber source oxidation studies. New experiments using soft ionization techniques to more fully separate the UCM and to identify more of the organic species in aerosols will also be presented.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Sunil Baidar

Airborne MAX-DOAS for measurement of atmospheric trace gases

Abstract

We have developed a new motion-stabilized scanning airborne multi-axis differential absorption spectroscopy (CU AMAX-DOAS) instrument to retrieve column and profile information of trace gases like NO2, HCHO, CHOCHO, IO, BrO, O4 and aerosol extinction coefficient. Column observations of reactive trace gases provide means to bridge spatial scales between ground-based measurements, and satellite observations, and enable a more direct comparison with atmospheric models for improving emission inventories. This instrument was deployed aboard the NOAA Optical Remote Sensing Twin Otter Research Aircraft during the CalNex 2010 and CARES field campaigns. A total of 52 flights (48 research + 4 transfer flights) were carried out in California between May 19 and July 19, 2010. The focus of this deployment is to map the horizontal and vertical distribution of NO2, HCHO, CHOCHO and O4.

Here we describe the CU AMAX-DOAS instrument, give an overview of the profile retrieval algorithm, and present some results from the CalNex and CARES campaigns. Comparison of measured NO2 vertical columns with CMAQ and WRF-Chem model simulation results will also be presented. Comparisons show strong evidence for decreasing NOx emissions to be widespread in California.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Lia Rebits

Selection of DNA Aptamers That Would Improve Diagnostic Tests for Tuberculosis

Abstract

Despite the drastic decline in tuberculosis-related mortality due to the development of a vaccine and the discovery of effective anti-mycobacterial antibiotics during the middle part of the twentieth century, there has been a resurgence of the disease since the 1980’s primarily due to the advent of HIV/AIDS and drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. The need for improved diagnostic tests that are capable of greater specificity, sensitivity, and rapidity than the current tests is apparent and such tests would contribute significantly to the number of lives saved annually. A DNA aptamer-based biosensor has the potential to meet these challenges; aptamers have proven to have similar dissociation constants to antibodies but provide additional benefits such as increased stability, ease of synthesis and a greater amenability to labeling. The SELEX process will be used to selectively evolve DNA aptamers that bind specifically to antigens particular to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Aptamers discovered in this way may be used to selectively remove the mycobacterium or antigen from a biological matrix, as well as serve as the detection molecule via conjugation with a reporter in a similar fashion as that of a sandwich-ELISA test.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Sarah Brooks
Texas A&M University

Chemical Transformations of Atmospheric Aerosols and Their Cloud-Nucleating Abilities

Abstract

Emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) lead to formation of secondary organic aerosol, contributing to a major fraction of the global tropospheric aerosol loading. The extent to which VOC oxidation products condense onto preexisting primary aerosols and modify their cloud-nucleating properties, however, remain highly uncertain. In chamber studies we show that water-soluble organic acids produced from the reaction between α-pinene and ozone rapidly accumulate onto preexisting soot particles. In less than 30 minutes, initially hydrophobic aerosols are converted to aerosols containing a mass fraction of 80-90% organics which activate efficiently as cloud condensation nuclei under representative atmospheric conditions. Our results imply that the microphysical properties of aerosols present in continental air masses are largely controlled by the composition and thickness of coatings (~30 nm in 30 minutes) formed during aerosol aging processes, rather than by the size or composition of original primary particles. In addition, chemical changes in aerosols impact their ice nucleating ability. Our results suggest that atmospheric models underestimate the impacts of chemical transformations of aerosols leading to inaccurate predictions of the indirect effects of aerosols on climate.

Monday, Feb. 20, 2012

Informal Seminar by Anna Wonaschuetz, University of Arizona (Group of Armin Sooroshian)
Measurements of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions
Ekeley S274, Monday Feb 20 @ noon

In this talk, I will present a brief tour of recent studies related to organic aerosols and cloud-aerosol interactions. The impact of shallow cumulus clouds on the vertical distribution of aerosol properties is investigated with the help of an airborne data set from the 2006 Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (GoMACCS). Vertical profiles of aerosol volume concentrations and chemical composition (in particular organics, sulfate and oxalate) give evidence of aerosol re-distribution from near the surface into high altitudes. I will also show first results of aerosol hygroscopicity in connection with measurements of WSOC and AMS chemical composition from last summer's Eastern Pacific Aerosol and Cloud Experiment (E-PEACE) field campaign and give a brief summary of two regional aerosol studies in the Los Angeles Basin and the deserts of Southern Arizona.

Monday, Feb. 13, 2012

Susan Doughty, Ph.D., J.D.

Greenlee Sullivan P.C., Intellectual Property Law

IP:50 Intellectual Property in 50 Minutes or Less

Abstract

It is important for everyone to have an awareness of Intellectual Property (IP) since the legal and financial stakes for missteps are potentially serious and costly.  A  summary of the types of Intellectual Property protection available as well as a case-study on the intersection of IP with University researchers will be provided.

Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012

Prof. Allen L. Robinson

Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies, Carnegie Mellon University

Linking tailpipe to ambient: Quantifying the contribution of motor vehicle emissions to ambient fine particulate matter concentrations

Motor vehicles are an important source of air pollution in urban environments. Although tailpipe emission standards have become progressively tighter over the past few decades, this approach has not achieved the expected air quality benefits. To investigate the contribution of motor vehicle emissions to ambient fine particulate matter, we have conducted a series of smog chamber studies of varying complexity from individual compounds to actual vehicle emissions. The results reveal a dynamic picture in which fine particulate matter formed in the atmosphere dramatically exceeds the direct particle emissions, especially for low emitting sources. The talk concludes with some comparisons to ambient data from recent field studies and a discussion of the implications of these recent findings on human exposures and the design of regulations to control pollutant emissions.

Allen Robinson: Dr. Allen Robinson is a Professor in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. His research examines the impact of emissions from combustion systems on urban, regional and global air quality. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in Mechanical Engineering in 1996 and his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University in 1990. He was awarded the Carnegie Institute of Technology Outstanding Research Award in 2010, the Ahrens Career Development Chair in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 and the George Tallman Ladd Outstanding Young Faculty Award in 2000.

Friday, Jan. 13, 2012

Prof. Paul Ziemann, University of California-Riverside

Comprehensive Studies of the Chemistry of Aerosol Formation from Alkane Oxidation

Much of what is currently understood about the chemical and physical processes involved in the atmospheric oxidation of organic gases and particles and the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) has been obtained from experiments carried out in environmental (smog) chambers. Achieving a level of understanding from such studies that is sufficient for extrapolating results to the atmosphere and for developing accurate models of SOA formation requires the acquisition of detailed information on a variety of gas and particle properties and processes, such as gas and particle phase reaction kinetics, gas and particle composition, particle phase, compound vapor pressures, and gas-particle-wall interactions. Obtaining such data is a challenge, but in this talk I will show results of studies carried out in our laboratory on the OH radical-initiated reactions of alkanes that are approaching this goal. I will demonstrate that by using a diverse array of measurement techniques including mass spectrometry, gas and liquid chromatography, spectrophotometry (with and without compound derivatization), traditional elemental analysis, pycnometry, temperature-programmed thermal desorption, and scanning mobility particle sizing it is possible to develop quantitative chemical reaction mechanisms of organic gas and aerosol chemistry and models of SOA formation. Doing so, however, requires a more comprehensive approach to chamber studies that attempts to account more fully for the effects of walls.

Monday, Nov. 28, 2011

Reddy Yatavelli and Harald Stark

Gas and particle-phase organic acids measurement at a forest site using chemical ionization high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry during BEACHON-RoMBAS campaign

Abstract

Organic acids are important constituents of aerosol particles. We will present preliminary analysis of organic acids in gas and aerosol particles measured in a ponderosa pine forest during July - August 2011 as part of the BEACHON-RoMBAS field campaign. We will also introduce the new measurement technique, based on chemical ionization, high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry, utilizing a micro-orifice volatilization impactor [MOVI-ToF-CIMS], that was used to collect this data. Acetate anion (CH3C(O)O-, 59 Th) was chosen as the reagent ion for detection of organic acids. The high-resolution mass spectra, in combination with the temperature-dependent desorption information, can be used to identify specific compounds and estimate their gas/particle partitioning

Monday, Nov. 14, 2011

Juliane L. Fry

(Reed College, Portland OR; currently on sabbatical at CIRES & NCAR ASP)

Role of organic nitrates in secondary organic aerosol (SOA) production in forests

Abstract

Biogenic hydrocarbons, such as isoprene (C5), monoterpenes (C10) and sesquiterpenes (C15), react rapidly with nitrate radical (NO3) to form low-volatility products. We hypothesize therefore that nitrate oxidation may be an important source of secondary organic aerosol in pollution-impacted forest environments. In this talk I will present new data from the BEACHON-RoMBAS field campaign at the Manitou Forest Observatory in the Colorado front range (July/August 2011) relevant to this hypothesis. I will also describe a set of experiments underway as a collaborative project with NCAR’s Atmospheric Chemistry Division and NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Division to explore nitrate-initiated aerosol formation in laboratory chamber and flow tube experiments.

Monday, Nov. 7, 2011

Nick, Wagner

NOAA

Nighttime chemistry: Field measurements N2O5 uptake and ClNO2 production

Abstract

Nighttime chemistry accounts for up to half of the NOx removal from the atmosphere and produces atomic chlorine in the early morning through photolysis of ClNO2. NOx is removed through the production and heterogeneous loss of N2O5. The heterogeneous loss of N2O5 typically produces nitric acid which is removed through deposition. However, it has recently been discovered that in the presence of aerosol chloride, the N2O5 uptake produces ClNO2. The rate N2O5 heterogeneous loss been the subject of several laboratory studies; however, it has rarely been studied using ambient measurements. In this work, N2O5 uptake coefficients are determined from ambient wintertime measurements at the BAO tower in Erie, CO. The uptake coefficients are determined using an iterative box model. These uptake coefficients were found to be anti-correlated with the nitrate fraction of aerosol confirming suppression of uptake by aerosol nitrate. Additionally, a plume of chloride was observed in measurements of aerosol chloride, HCl and ClNO2. The N2O5 uptake coefficient was enhanced in this plume due to the competition between aerosol chloride and nitrate to react with N2O5.

Monday, Oct. 17, 2011

Ryan Davis

Isotopic Substitution in the Atmosphere and Solar Nebula: Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy of CO2 and VUV Photodissociation of CO

Abstract

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) is an ultra-sensitive spectroscopic technique capable of detecting trace gases in the atmosphere. In the Mark Thiemens group at UC-San Diego, a CRDS instrument was developed for the potential application of source apportionment of CO2 based on its isotopic fingerprint, which is an indicator of the chemical/physical processes the molecule has undergone. The theory behind and experimental design of the instrument is described here. Also, the oxygen isotope effect dominated by VUV photodissociation of CO, its implications for CO photolysis in the solar nebula, and the experimental test of the CO self-shielding theory is briefly discussed.

Samantha Thompson

Temporal Dynamics and Sources of Particle Types in Milwaukee, WI Studied with Single-Particle Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Industrial processes and combustion sources release aerosols into the atmosphere that often contain components that are harmful to human health and the environment. In order to understand the sources and dynamics of these aerosol emissions, single-particle mass spectra of ambient aerosols were collected in Milwaukee, Wisconsin using ATOFMS during the summer of 2010. The ATOFMS data provided temporal trends of particulate metals, which can be correlated with wind direction and local source information to pinpoint their origins. Additional insight was gained into the particle emissions and dynamics in the local area by looking at the temporal behavior of particle classes.

Monday, Oct. 3, 2011

Margaret A. Tolbert

Importance of aerosol mixing state for ice nucleating efficiency: combined laboratory and field study

Abstract

Cirrus clouds composed of water ice are ubiquitous in the tropical tropopause region and play a major role in the Earth’s climate. Any changes to cirrus abundance due to natural or anthropogenic influences must be considered to evaluate future climate change. To understand cirrus cloud formation, it is necessary to determine the factors that control ice nucleation. In this work we have used optical microscopy coupled with Raman spectroscopy to examine water uptake, phase changes and ice nucleation on individual aerosol particles that have been impacted onto a hydrophobic surface. Studies are performed on both laboratory-generated particles of known composition and field-collected particles of unknown composition. Raman mapping experiments provide insight into the mixing state of the various components within single ice-nucleating particles. Results show that although overall chemical composition is important for ice nucleation, particle mixing state must be examined as well.

Rainer M. Volkamer

Oceans, Atmospheric chemistry, and Climate: Novel processes at the air-sea interface

Abstract

The Volkamer group develops optical spectroscopic instruments for use in laboratory experiments, and field studies to measure reactive trace gases and radicals that are relevant to tropospheric ozone, mercury cyling, and the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). This talk gives an overview about group activities in the recent past and near future. The TORERO field experiment will study the Tropical Ocean Troposphere Exchange of Reactive halogen species and Oxygenated VOC by means of a comprehensive chemical payload of instruments centered around the CU Airborne Multi-AXis DOAS instrument aboard the NSF/NCAR GV aircraft in the area of Gallapagos Islands. It combines aircraft, ship and island based measurements, to probe chemical gases that form by destroying heat trapping ozone and can form new aerosols that cool climate. The group also participates in the Ganges Valley Aerosol Experiment (GVAX) in India, deploying the innovative CU Cavity Enhanced DOAS instrument, and a novel 2D scanning ground-based MAX-DOAS instrument. Future applications at the planned simulation chamber facility as part of the Center for Atmospheric Chemistry are briefly discussed.

Monday, Sep. 19, 2011

Bob Sievers

INHALABLE DRY POWDER AEROSOLS OF VACCINES AND ANTIBIOTICS

ABSTRACT

Dry powder aerosol inhalable vaccines are generally inherently more stable than liquid injected vaccines, and they can be administered through the moist respiratory tract along the same mucosal pathway used when wild-type virus infects a patient (PNAS, Jan. 31, 2011). Using unit dose high barrier packaging, there is no "vaccine wastage," which consumes about 40 % of all liquid measles vaccines worldwide, after multidose vaccines are reconstituted with water for injection. Eliminating needles also eliminates accidental needle sticks and the cost of sharps disposal. Because the large surface area of the alveoli of the subject is moist and dissolves the myo-inositol sugar-stabilized rapidly, there is no need to purify and carry water for injection into the field in developing country vaccine campaigns. With high-barrier individually sealed blister packs, contamination can be reduced, and shelf-life increased to 4 years. We are planning a joint study with Doctors Without Borders.

Jose L. Jimenez

Organic Aerosol Sources and Processing in the Atmosphere

Abstract

Organic aerosols (OA) account for about 1/2 of the submicron particle mass in the atmosphere, but their sources, sinks, and evolution are poorly understood. OA is comprised of primary OA (emitted in the particle phase) and secondary OA (formed from chemical reactions of gas-phase species). In this talk I will summarize research in OA by our group over the last year, including a summary of the recent CalNex-LA and BEACHON-RoMBAS field projects in Pasadena (CA) and Woodland Springs (CO) respectively, direct measurements of the SOA formation and photochemical evolution of ambient air and collaborative work with modelers to constrain the OA budget. I will also discuss our new MOVI-CIMS instrument which allows molecular-level analysis of OA with high sensitivity and mass resolution and some first results from BEACHON-RoMBAS. Finally, I will introduce future field projects in India, Thailand, Southeast US, and the Amazon, and the outlook for the new smog chamber facility in Cristol Bldg.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Thomas J. Wenzel

Chiral Receptor Compounds as Enantioselective NMR Shift Reagents and Catalysts for Curricular Reform

Abstract

The use of crown ethers, calix[4]resorcinarenes and ionic cyclodextrin derivatives as enantioselective NMR shift reagents will be described. The cyclodextrins and calix[4]resorcinarenes are unusual because they are water-soluble reagents. A crown ether system that is useful for the analysis of secondary amines will be described. The beneficial learning that occurs when undergraduates conduct research was a major factor in causing me to restructure the way I teach my courses. The use of collaborative in-class learning activities and semester-long laboratory projects will be described, as will efforts to enact similar curricular changes at a consortium of over 20 schools.

Friday, August 19, 2011

SPECIAL SEMINAR

Arwa Mustafa, Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Formulation of Phytonutrients Micro‐particles using Carbon Dioxide Assisted Particle Formulation Targeting Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the result of a progressive aggregation of ß-amyloid peptide (ß‐AP) leading to the formation of extracellular fibrillar that deposits in selected areas of the brain. Polyphenols are efficient fibril inhibitors in AD by destabilizing beta‐amyloid fibrils. Our research aims to develop a drug carrier system that targets the brain via the nasal route to improve the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by formulating well‐defined micron‐sized particles (10‐50µm) using supercritical carbon dioxide technology. Chitosan is a natural polymer that has a great potential for nasal delivery system facilitating the passage of hydrophilic molecules through the nasal mucosa. The technique of choice is the Carbon Dioxide Assisted Nebulization with a Bubble Dryer® (CAN-BD) since chitosan is soluble in water that would facilitate the micronization of oleuropein into chitosan.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Ph.D. Defense, Daniel Bon, CIRES Aud., 23-May-11, 2 pm

Measurement of Atmospheric Volatile Organic Compounds from Urban, Industrial, and Biogenic Soruces by Proton-Transfer Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released into the atmosphere through a variety of natural and human-related processes. Understanding the atmospheric chemistry of VOCs is critical because of the role VOCs play in air pollution and climate. The diversity of VOCs found the atmosphere challenges even modern analytical methods. The Proton-Transfer-Reaction Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (PIT-MS) is a unique instrument for real-time measurement of VOCs in ambient air. In PIT-MS, VOCs are ionized by proton-transfer reactions with hydronium (H3O+) ions, and the product ions are detected by ion trap mass spectrometry. The PIT-MS instrument provides a mass spectrum every 1-10 seconds and has the capability for collision-induced dissociation (CID).

The analytical capabilities of the PIT-MS method are evaluated in this study through measurements of air impacted by different VOC sources: biogenic emissions in a California forest, urban emissions in Mexico City, industrial emissions in Houston, Texas, and emissions from controlled biomass burning experiments at the Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, Montana. Through the use of CID, a gas chromatographic pre-separation method and through measurement comparisons with other instruments, the specificity of PIT-MS with regard to VOCs was studied in detail. These results are invaluable to researchers that use mass spectrometry and proton-transfer reactions with H3O+ ions to ionize VOCs.

Data from the MILAGRO campaign in Mexico City are used to characterize the urban emissions of VOCs. Hydrocarbon emission ratios relative to an inert tracer such as carbon monoxide (CO) are found to be about a factor of 2 larger in Mexico City than in the United States. The Mexico City data are also used for VOC source apportionment by the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) method. PMF analysis identifies three major VOC sources in Mexico City: vehicular traffic, liquid propane gas (LPG) usage and chemical formation.

PIT-MS instrument data from the TexAQS 2006 campaign in Houston, Texas are used to evaluate an industrial emissions inventory. The complexity of measured VOCs in industrial plumes is significantly larger than described in the inventory. For many VOCs, emission fluxes inferred from the measurements are significantly higher than in the inventory.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Prof. Jon Abbatt, Univ. of Toronto

Studies in Multiphase Oxidation Chemistry in the Atmosphere: From Halides to PAHs to SOA

Abstract: Although the kinetics and mechanisms of gas phase reactions in the atmosphere are relatively well defined, the processes that occur via aerosol particles are much less well understood. In particular, a general issue persists of the degree to which condensed phase material in the atmosphere is subject to oxidative processes. Such multiphase chemistry may either occur at the surfaces of particles or films in the atmosphere, or in the bulk phase. This seminar will present three examples of multiphase chemistry, moving from a system for which we feel we understand the kinetics well, i.e. bromide oxidation by ozone in ice and water, to progressively less well understood systems, i.e. PAH heterogeneous reactions and the oxidation of SOA materials by hydroxyl radicals. In the case of SOA oxidation, a combination of experiments are presented using both laboratory surrogates for atmospheric SOA, and experiments with field samples. The potential atmospheric impacts of this work will be presented.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Thesis defense for Ingrid Ulbrich

Characterization of Positive Matrix Factorization Methods and Their Application to Ambient Aerosol Mass Spectra

Thursday, April 28, 2:30 pm CIRES Auditorium

Abstract

Atmospheric aerosol has impacts on health, visibility, ecosystems, and climate. The organic component of submicron aerosol is a complex mixture of tens of thousands of compounds, and it is still challenging to quantify the direct sources of organic aerosol. Organic aerosol can also form from a variety of secondary reactions in the atmosphere, which are poorly understood. Real-time instrumental techniques, including the Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS), which can quantitatively measure aerosol composition with high time and size resolution, and some chemical resolution, produce large volumes of data that contain rich information about aerosol sources and processes. This thesis work seeks to extract the underlying information that describes organic aerosol sources and processes by applying factor analytical techniques to organic aerosol datasets from the AMS. We have developed a custom, open-source software tool to compare factorization solutions, their residuals, and tracer-factor correlations. The application of existing mathematical techniques to these new datasets requires careful characterization of the precision in the data and the factorization models' behavior with these specialized datasets. We explore this behavior with synthetic datasets modeled on AMS data. The synthetic data factorization has predictable behaviors when solved with "too many" factors. These behaviors then guide the choice of solution for real aerosol datasets. The factor analyses of real aerosol datasets are useful for identifying aerosol types related to sources (e.g., urban combustion and biomass burning) and secondary atmospheric processes (e.g., semivolatile and low-volatility oxidized organic aerosol). We have also factored three-dimensional datasets of size-resolved aerosol composition data to explore the variability of aerosol size distributions as the aerosol undergoes processing in an urban atmosphere. This study provides evidence that primary particles are coated with condensed secondary aerosol during photochemical processing, shifting the size distribution of the primary particles to larger sizes. Application of these three-dimensional factorization techniques to other complex aerosol composition datasets (e.g., that use thermal desorption or chromatography for further chemical separation) has the potential to yield additional insights about aerosol sources and processes.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Frank N Keutsch Department of Chemistry University of Wisconsin-Madison

Measurements of Tracers of Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound Oxidation in Forests: Implications for Missing Sinks and Sources of the OH Radical

Abstract

The photochemical oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is central to the formation of tropospheric ozone and secondary organic aerosol. Particularly in regions dominated by biogenic VOCs (BVOCs), our understanding of the chemistry of the OH radical, the most important tropospheric oxidant, is limited. In these biogenic regions, modeled OH concentrations are often dramatically lower than measurements, demonstrating unknown OH sources. In addition, measured OH sinks are often substantially larger than can be explained, and the presence of unknown, highly-reactive BVOCs have been proposed to explain this missing sink.

We have developed robust instrumentation for the ultra-sensitive measurement of BVOC oxidation products as tracers of BVOC oxidation by combining spectroscopic techniques that are new for field instrumentation with novel lasers. We propose that glyoxal is ideally suited as tracer of OH-driven BVOC oxidation and present rural measurements of glyoxal. We discuss these measurements within the context of the discrepancy between modeled and measured OH radical concentrations. We also present results from a study using the first formaldehyde flux measurements via eddy correlation obtained during the BEACHON-ROCS 2010 campaign at Manitou Forest. Different scenarios that can explain the unexpectedly large daytime fluxes of formaldehyde out of the forest canopy are discussed with respect to implications for the proposed unknown, highly-reactive BVOCs

Monday, April 18, 2011

Prof. Jesse H. Kroll Assistant Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering and Chemical Engineering MIT

Laboratory studies of the photochemical aging of organic aerosol

Abstract

The multigenerational oxidative processing (“aging”) of atmospheric organic aerosol is poorly understood, despite its likely influence on particle loadings and properties. In these experiments, n-alkanes are exposed to elevated levels of OH, in order to access the equivalent of several days’ worth of atmospheric oxidation. Measurements of the abundance and oxidation state of particulate organic carbon demonstrate the important role of fragmentation (C-C bond-breaking) reactions as oxidation progresses. Such reactions are highly efficient pathways for the formation of oxidized carbon; however, the corresponding changes to carbon number also tend to offset any decreases in volatility from the addition of functional groups. Thus particulate organics have increasingly smaller carbon numbers as they become more oxidized, with the continual escape of some fraction of the carbon to the gas phase during aging.

Monday, April 11, 2011

J’aime Manion

The Development of Inhalable Antibiotics for the treatment of TB

Abstract

The goal of this project is the development of unit-dose, inhalable, antibiotic microparticles for use in primary and combined therapy approaches to treating tuberculosis (TB) and highly drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) that result in multi drug-resistant (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB. Targeted to the alveolar space by merit of high fine particle fractions (FPF) in the < 3.3 µm range, these antibiotic microparticles utilize the same inhalation pathway as Mtb, to deliver antibiotic to protected TB lesions. This study explores strategies of combining microparticles with excipients to improve the fine particle fraction and deliver a larger fraction of antibiotic to the deep lung.

David McAdams

CAN-BD Processed Vaccines, Safer Vaccination in a Breath of Fresh Air

Abstract

In a modern world where the media and fringe groups seem to be touting the supposed dangers of vaccination, the scientific observations remain that many lives are saved and epidemics prevented through the use of vaccines. In an effort to improve the safety of vaccinations in the developing world the Sievers group is currently researching the production of inhaled, needle-free vaccines. This talk will cover the design of a needle-free dry powder HPV vaccine, collaboration with an overseas vaccine producer (Serum Institute of India) in the production of a needle-free Measles vaccine and tests of uniform activity throughout the particle size ranges of the aforementioned vaccine.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Charles S. Henry Departments of Chemistry, Chemical and Biological Engineering, and School of Biomedical Engineering Colorado State University

Microfluidic Tools for the Analysis of Aerosol Chemistry

Abstract

Ambient aerosols have significant impacts on both our environment and human health. From an environmental perspective, aerosols are one of the most significant unknowns for predicting the impact of human activity on the earth's climate. From a health perspective, aerosols are known to contribute to a wide range of diseases and cause significant changes in mortality and morbidity, however, the mechanisms for these health effects are not clear. It is clear for both environmental and health effects that knowing chemical composition is important in developing a better understanding of the impact of aerosol. This talk will focus on new microfluidic tools our lab has create to measure the chemical composition of aerosols. Microfluidic devices are attractive as an alternative to traditional aerosol analyzers because they can provide fast measurement times, high sensitivity, are compatible with a range of measurement chemistries, and can be relatively inexpensive. This talk will focus on recent results from our laboratory where microfluidic tools were used to make measurements of key chemical components of aerosols.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Dr. Erika Dawson InDevR Boulder, CO

Translating Academic Research into New Products for Virus Quantification and Identification

Abstract

This talk will describe my experiences at InDevR during the development of our two existing product lines, the ViroCyt Virus Counter and ampliPHOX Colorimetric Detection Technology. Starting with two separate technologies originally developed at CU, InDevR has advanced the original ideas into two unique instruments that are currently in different stages of development. I will share some recent data comparing the Virus Counter to standard virus quantification methods for applications in bioprocessing and vaccine development. I will also describe how ampliPHOX has been utilized to quickly and inexpensively detect and characterize influenza viruses using the FluChip.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Highly Concentrated Dispersions of Stable Submicron Therapeutic Protein Particles For Subcutaneous Injection

Keith P. Johnston

Dept. Chemical Engineering, Univ. of Texas Austin

Abstract

Protein and peptide therapeutics address needs in a wide range of diseases including cancer, infectious and inflammatory diseases. Despite their successes, administration of these therapeutics is limited by the lack of efficacious alternatives to intraveneous delivery of the required 100-500 mg doses. Here, we report a novel strategy compatible with subcutaneous injection that preserves IgG activity: aqueous-based, dispersions of submicron particles at 300 mg/ml IgG concentrations with apparent viscosities of below 50 cP. These dispersions may be prepared by generation of IgG particles, formed with thin film freezing (TFF) or a novel rapid spiral wound in-situ freezing technology (SWIFT) that preserve protein stability by limiting the protein’s exposure to liquid/gas and liquid/ ice interfaces. Dispersions of these particles in a solution containing PEG300 and n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone in buffer at the protein isoelectric point restricted protein solubility to <40 mg/ml and prevented complete particle dissolution. The low apparent viscosities of these dispersions result from the low viscosity of the initial solution and the low intrinsic viscosities ([η]). Additionally, antibody stability against denaturation and aggregation (as measured by HPLC SEC and ELISA) was enhanced by low solvation and decreased protein mobility of the solid state. High protein stability and biological activity is maintained upon subcutaneous delivery into mice(Jennifer Maynard laboratory, UT). The ability to form active, highly concentrated dispersions of therapeutic proteins with low viscosities, offers novel opportunities in subcutaneous injection for more effective treatment of disease.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Optical constants of model SOA formed by cloud processing

Kyle Zarzana

Abstract

Aerosols play an important but poorly understood role in affecting the Earth’s climate, and a better understanding of their origins and properties is required. A significant fraction of organic aerosol is composed of large light-absorbing species, but the formation and properties of these species are not well known. Recent work has shown that reactions between small organic molecules in cloud water can form species with chemical and physical properties very similar to the oligomers found in aerosols. We used cavity ring-down aerosol extinction spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy to examine the optical and physical properties of these model aerosols. The effects of these particles on direct radiative forcing were modeled to determine the significance of these particles on climate.

A case study for SOA formation by glyoxal processing in aqueous aerosol in Mexico City

Eleanor Waxman

Abstract

The role of heterogeneous chemistry as a source of Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) remains difficult to quantify. SOA is the portion of organic aerosol that forms in the atmosphere as a result of atmospheric transformations. Glyoxal is a building block for SOA formation as a result of heterogeneous chemistry. Measurements from the MCMA-2003 campaign in Mexico City showed that the gas phase glyoxal concentrations were lower by a factor of two to three than predicted by the Master Chemical Mechanism, and that this missing gas phase glyoxal was equivalent to the formation of about 5 μg/m3 of organic aerosol mass over the course of eight hours. Numerous recent laboratory studies have found that glyoxal can form significant amounts of SOA due to uptake, by both dark (equilibrium and irreversible) processes and by rapid photochemical uptake to aerosols. These processes have recently been reviewed, and a model framework has been developed based on these laboratory experiments to numerically describe glyoxal processing in aqueous aerosol particles. Here this model is applied to predict SOA formation due to glyoxal processing in Mexico City. We present an initial case study where the model was constrained with measurements from Mexico City during MCMA 2003 in a first attempt to bridge between laboratory and field observations, and an early assessment of our understanding of the processes and parameters that determine the amount of SOA formed from glyoxal.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Roles of Subvisible Particles in Protein Aggregation Pathways

John Carpenter

University of Colorado, Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy

Abstract

Typically, protein aggregates are arbitrarily divided in subclasses: 1) soluble aggregates are oligomers that are found in solution and include species ranging in size from dimers to those large enough to elute in the void volume of a size exclusion chromatography (SEC) column; 2) insoluble aggregates are those that can be separated from the native protein and soluble aggregates by centrifugation or filtration; and 3) particles are aggregates that are usually too large to be analyzed by SEC and are at too low of a mass percent to be quantified by mass loss due to filtration or centrifugation. Particles typically are counted for quantification, and the size range examined is from about 1 micron to 125 microns. The connections between all of these species in the aggregation pathways of proteins are poorly understood. However, recent studies in which all three types were quantified during pharmaceutically relevant stresses (e.g., freeze-thawing, agitation and agitation in the presence of silicone oil) have shown that the first detectable aggregate type is subvisible particles. These can be quantified at mass percent far below the limit of detection for loss of monomer. Thus, particle counting provides the most sensitive method to date to observe and quantify protein aggregation. Also, it appears that when there is sufficient mass of aggregate such that insoluble aggregates can be quantified due to loss of monomer, these aggregates are composed of agglomerates of subvisible particles. Therefore, subvisible particles are fundamentally important components on the protein aggregation pathway. Finally, when particles are formed during a unit operation such a filling of vials, the particles can foster enhanced protein aggregation and particle formation during subsequent stress (e.g., agitation after vial filling).

Monday, February 7, 2011

Atmospheric Spectroscopy

Peter Bernath Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK

Abstract

An overview of the spectroscopy of the Earth’s atmosphere with the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) satellite will be presented. The primary instrument is a high-resolution infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) operating from 2 to 13 microns that measures the vertical distribution of trace gases, and the meteorological variables of temperature and pressure. Secondary instruments include a UV/Visible spectrometer called MAESTRO and two filtered solar imagers. Although now in its eighth year, the ACE satellite is still operating nominally. Ground-based atmospheric solar absorption spectra recorded with a copy of the ACE-FTS will also be discussed. The analysis of our spectra requires new laboratory measurements as will be illustrated with satellite retrievals of a wide range of organic molecules associated with air pollution.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Segregating Primary Biopolymer Associations with Airborne Particulate Matter: A Sanitary Engineering Perspective on Bioaerosol Traffic in the Atmospheric Environment

Prof. Mark Hernandez, Environmental Engineering, UCB

Abstract

While generally considered oligotrophic, the atmosphere carries microcellular hallmarks of life – both in primary and weathered forms.  In this context, bioaerosols are defined as a generic class of airborne particulate matter comprised either in whole or in part of macromolecular compounds of biological origin.  The contribution of the most common primary biopolymers — DNA, lipids, carbohydrates and proteins — to the pool of atmospheric organic carbon remains relatively unknown, as is their potential to weather and participate in secondary aerosol formation. We report here, phylogenetic characterization of atmospheric DNA pools juxtaposed to carbohydrate, proteins and lipids, as normalized by size segregated organic carbon mass.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Ground based FTIR and MAXDOAS column observations of atmospheric trace gases

Ivan Ortega

Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are important pollutants in urban agglomerations. Even though surface concentrations of those pollutants have been monitored routinely, the quantification of the total load (vertical column integral of concentration over the boundary layer height) is challenging because surface concentrations may not be representative over height of the boundary layer; the vertical distribution may further be variable. This presentation consists of two parts describing the measurement and retrieval techniques as well as results for CO and NO2 in two very different urban environments, Mexico City and Los Angeles, CA.

The diurnal trend of columnar CO in the boundary layer of Mexico City has been measured during one year with ground-based infrared absorption spectroscopy. Daytime CO total columns are retrieved from measured solar spectra and for the first time, nocturnal CO total columns using moonlight have been retrieved within a megacity. The measurements were taken at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) campus located in Mexico City (19.33N, 99.18W, 2260 m.a.s.l.) from October 2007 to October2008 with a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) at 0.5 cm-1 resolution.

An overview of measurements with a MAXDOAS instrument deployed at the Caltech supersite in Pasadena, CA this year will be presented in the second part of this talk. Validation of real time slant column densities of NO2 will be presented from the period of May to June 2010 in Pasadena, CA as part of CALNEX campaign. Using a geometric approximation NO2 vertical column densities are retrieved. The degree of mixing in the boundary layer is assessed by comparison of the NO2 vertical column densities with NO2 mixing ratios as measured from a cavity enhanced DOAS instrument located on top of Millikan Library, and independent measurements of mixing height by ceilometers.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Isotopic Labeling of Early Earth Haze Analogs

Raea Lessard

Abstract

The Faint Young Sun paradox predicts that the surface temperature of the early Earth was below the freezing point of water. A cold Earth is the expected outcome of an atmosphere composed of nitrogen and trace amounts of carbon dioxide coupled with a sun whose intensity was only 70% of its current luminosity. However, a cold Earth contrasts with the geologic record, which suggests that the early Earth was warm and had liquid water on its surface. The paradox can be resolved by adding methane, a strong greenhouse gas, to the weakly warming atmosphere assumed in the paradox. We have shown that atmospheres composed of nitrogen and trace amounts of methane and carbon dioxide will produce a haze when irradiated by light at the Lyman-a wavelength (121.6 nm). Such a haze would have implications for the early climate, as well as for the origin and evolution of life.

Now that the possibility of haze has been demonstrated, some questions remain: What is its composition? How is it made? To answer these questions, we label each of the carbon sources with 13C and use an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) to observe the haze fragments generated by electron impact ionization. We aim to use the information generated by the AMS, coupled with isotopic labeling, to elucidate the chemical pathway(s) by which the haze is made. In this talk, we share preliminary results from these experiments, demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methods in elucidating the pathway(s), and touch on future work.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Levoglucosan, S-Phenylmercapturic Acid, and S-Benzylmercapturic Acid as Urinary Biomarkers of Wood Smoke Exposure

Callie Cole

Abstract

Wood smoke (WS) inhalation is a source of adverse health effects in humans due to its toxic and carcinogenic constituents. Monitoring exposure levels to WS through the use of urinary biomarkers can support epidemiological studies involving the direct health effects of exposure and help evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to limit human exposure in the future. Studies on levoglucosan showed that the diet has too large of an influence on its urinary concentration to conclusively quantify WS exposure. This project focuses on two other potential urinary biomarkers, s-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA) and s-benzylmercapturic acid (SBMA), that have been previously successful for monitoring environmental tobacco smoke and industrial smoke exposure in humans, and studies their effectiveness in quantifying WS exposure. The hypothesis of this study is that both SPMA and SBMA will be effective biomarkers of WS exposure. To test this hypothesis, methods for the extraction and analysis of these compounds from urine were developed, evaluated and applied to the urine of exposed and control human subjects. The analytical method was found to have a limit of detection of 10ppb and a limit of quantitation of 50 ppb. Analyses of urine from individuals before and after exposure to WS showed quantifiable levels of the markers in 60% of samples, did not reveal a significant increase or decrease in concentrations of biomarkers in post-exposure relative to pre-exposure samples. The results imply that these biomarkers may not be suitable to determine exposure to WS. Additional studies to improve the extraction and detection sensitivity and reproducibility, as well as to monitor urinary levels over longer periods of time pre- and post exposure are needed to conclusively determine the utility of these markers.

A Molecularly Imprinted Polymer as a Sensor for Nicotine

Brett Palm

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) have been shown to preferentially bind molecules with specific shape or functional groups. This technology is discussed as it relates to the development of a nicotine sensor. Qualitative results are shown using an Atomic Force Microscope and FTIR spectra, and progress is made towards quantitative analysis using a GC.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Copper Binding by Dissolved Organic Matter using Competitive Ligand Exchange- Solid Phase Extraction and Application to the Biotic Ligand Model

Alison Craven

Abstract

The toxicity of copper to aquatic organisms is dependent on the aqueous copper speciation. The free copper concentration (Cu2+) primarily controls the toxicity of copper to fish due to its adsorption in the gill (a “biotic ligand”). Copper binding by dissolved organic matter plays a significant role in copper speciation and toxicity by reducing the amount of free copper that can bind to the biotic ligand. The biotic ligand model (BLM) is a model that predicts the concentration of free copper as a function of pH, dissolved organic matter concentration, and water hardness. While the model includes dissolved organic matter, there is still much uncertainty as to the correct copper-dissolved organic matter binding constants to include in the model. Much work has been done to measure the conditional stability constants for the copper-dissolved organic matter complex, but the methods used to measure these stability constants have “detection window” limitations that are not always recognized by those incorporating the stability constants into toxicity models. In this study, the competitive ligand exchange-solid phase extraction (CLE-SPE) method was used to measure the stability constants at pH 6.5 and 0.01 ionic strength over a wide range of Cu:dissolved organic matter concentration ratios. A comparison of the CLE-SPE stability constants with those measured by other methods revealed that the most important factor to determine the binding strength is the ratio of Cu:dissolved organic matter concentration, even for dramatically different environmental and experimental conditions. The Cu:dissolved organic matter concentration ratio is important because as the ratio decreases, the binding constant increases due to the heterogeneity of binding sites present in dissolved organic matter. Results obtained from this study can be used in the BLM to more accurately predict the role of dissolved organic matter in copper speciation.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Eddy-covariance measurements with time-of-flight mass spectrometry: A new approach to chemically-resolved organic particle and gas fluxes

Delphine K. Farmer

Abstract

Although laboratory studies show that biogenic VOCs yield significant secondary organic aerosol, emission of biogenic SOA fluxes has not yet been conclusively observed over forests. Further, while aerosols are known to deposit to forest surfaces, the chemical identity and ecosystem implications of this deposition flux remains undetermined. To better constrain sources and sinks of biogenic SOA, we have developed a new technique to directly measure fluxes of chemically resolved aerosol over forests using the High Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer in a new, fast eddy covariance mode. This approach allows us to quantitatively identify both organic and inorganic components, including NH4+ , SO4_2- and NO3- , and has been deployed over both temperate and tropical forests. Results show both upward and downward fluxes of aerosol, including deposition of NH4+ . Differences in direction and magnitude of different chemical components provide insight on aerosol chemistry and potential ecosystem effects. In particular, we observe evidence for rapid formation or growth of biogenic SOA within both temperate and tropical forest canopies.

Aerosol Composition in Los Angeles During the 2010 CalNex Campaign Studied by High Resolution Aerosol Mass Spectrometry

Patrick L. Hayes

Abstract

Submicron atmospheric aerosols impact climate and human health, but their sources and composition are poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS) and other advanced instrumentation were deployed during the CalNex field campaign in May and June 2010 to characterize the composition of aerosols in the Los Angeles area. Utilizing AMS, the concentrations for both organic and non-refractory inorganic (sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, chloride) submicron aerosols were quantified at the Pasadena ground site 15 km NE of downtown Los Angeles. Nitrate aerosols appear to dominate in the cooler mornings, but their concentration is reduced in the afternoon when organic aerosols (OA) increase and dominate. The diurnal variations in concentration are strongly influenced by vertical dilution from the rising planetary boundary layer in the afternoon. The concentrations of oxygenated OA (OOA), and hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA) are estimated, and it is found that OOA is consistently the largest type of OA present (~75% of the total OA concentration). This result indicates that the air mass over the site has undergone substantial chemical aging. The correlations between OOA and Ox (O3 + NO2) concentrations, as well as between HOA, CO and black carbon concentrations are consistent with previous studies. Ultimately, the goal of this research will be to test the accuracy of recently-proposed SOA models by combining the characterization of SOA with measurements of precursor and oxidant concentrations carried out concurrently during CalNex.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Update on RASEI, Solar Fuels, and Critical Areas of Electrochemical Energy Research

Carl A. Koval

Abstract

Since 2006, my primary responsibility has been the creation and development of CU-Boulder’s Energy initiative, which became the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI). The first part of my presentation will be to reflect how RASEI got to where it is and, hopefully, where it is going. The second part will focus on how large-scale solar production of hydrogen is likely to be the first step towards creating a solar fuels industry. Finally, I will briefly describe three critical areas of energy research that the (photo)electrochemistry community needs to address.

Organic Aerosol Sources and Processing in the Atmosphere

Jose L. Jimenez

Abstract

Organic aerosols (OA) account for about 1/2 of the submicron particle mass in the atmosphere, but their sources, sinks, and evolution are poorly understood. OA is comprised of primary OA (emitted in the particle phase) and secondary OA (formed from chemical reactions of gas-phase species). In this talk I will summarize research in OA by our group over the last year, including a summary of the recent CalNex-LA field project in Pasadena (CA), research on the SOA formation and photochemical evolution of biomass burning emissions, on SOA model/measurement comparisons in different environments, and on collaborative work with global modelers to constraint the global OA budget. I will also discuss upcoming projects including characterization and use of semicontinuous GC-MS and chemical ionization mass spec. to analyze OA, and field projects in the Rocky Mountains, India, and Southeast Asia.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Nanoscale Therapeutics in the Treatment of Multidrug Resistant Pathogens

Daniel Feldheim

Abstract

In the past century, great strides have been made in the design and synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds for the treatment of human disease. Diseases such as breast cancer and chronic mylogenous leukemia, once thought to be completely untreatable, are now survived by a large percentage of patients. However, there is a large number of pressing medical issues related to the use of small-molecule drugs that must be addressed. For example, the emergence of drug-resistant bacterial and viral strains represent significant global medical challenges to overcome in the 21st century. To provide the tools to potentially treat infectious diseases, we have been developing ligand-coated gold nanoparticles as a new paradigm for drug discovery. Our work to date has offered some hope that the gold nanoparticle therapeutic platform may be a promising one in the search for new treatments for viral and bacterial disease. A few examples from our labs are the use of 2.0 nm diameter ligand-coated gold nanoparticles in the prevention of HIV fusion to human cells, and in the growth inhibition of E. coli and methicillin-resistant S. aureus. These results have inspired us to think in new ways about gold nanoparticle-based therapeutic design and the molecular-level design parameters that may influence activity. This talk will discuss some of these considerations.

The First Inhalable Dry Powder Measles Vaccine Entering Clinical Trials

Robert E. Sievers

Abstract

Ten percent of all pre-school deaths in India are measles-related. We have developed a Measles Vaccine, Dry Powder (MVDP) and PuffHaler® a novel dry powder inhaler for respiratory delivery to overcome the safety and vaccine wastage problems associated with the current injectable vaccine. MVDP was manufactured from bulk liquid, live attenuated, measles vaccine using CAN-BD® to yield a stable, dry powder, with fine particles suitable for aerosolization and delivery to the pulmonary tract by inhalation. This was achieved by substituting myo-inositol for sorbitol as a stabilizing sugar that is less hygroscopic. Contact with water is detrimental to the stability of measles vaccine and the microparticles are reconstituted only when they deposit in the moist surfaces of the respiratory tract. There is no need for purified water to be carried to remote locations. The particles dried by CAN-BD are homogeneous; the vaccine viral activity distribution in the 1 to 5 micron aerodynamic diameter microparticles is the same as the mass distribution, within experimental error. The shelf life is excellent at 2 to 8 °C with only about 0.5 log loss of activity after more than 2 years. At 25 °C, there is approximately 0.8 log loss after 6 months of storage. The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a primary dose of MVDP delivered was tested in non-anesthetized, free breathing, Rhesus macaques. MVDP induced MV-specific humoral and T-cell responses at least as robust as subcutaneous measles vaccine and completely protected macaques from infection with wild type measles virus without adverse effects. Phase I clinical trials are now scheduled.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sulfur Particles on Early Earth

Margaret A Tolbert

Understanding the atmosphere of the early Earth during the Archean, the period of time approximately 4 – 2.45 billion years ago, is an important part of understanding the conditions under which life originated and developed. While the atmospheric composition in highly uncertain during this time, it is likely that volcanic activity released sulfur dioxide into the air. Because of the lack of oxygen on the early Earth, the atmospheric chemistry of sulfur is expected to be quite different than on present day Earth. It has been suggested that atmospheric reactions in a reducing atmosphere could favor S8 particles over sulfuric acid particles. Here we use aerosol mass spectrometry to probe the chemical composition of particles formed from reactions of sulfur dioxide under a range of atmospheric conditions. Implications for the early Earth are discussed.

A heterogeneous open ocean source for glyoxal and iodine oxide

Rainer Volkamer

The climate relevance of biologically active ocean upwelling regions has primarily been studied in terms of the air-sea partitioning of long-lived greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2, CH4, N2O etc), and the release of the reactive gas DMS, which can form aerosols as a result of atmospheric transformations. Considerably less attention has been paid to open ocean sources of other reactive gases that, like DMS, can form aerosols. Such molecules are glyoxal (CHOCHO) and iodine oxide (IO). Glyoxal is an indicator for oxidative hydrocarbon chemistry, and a building block for secondary organic aerosol (SOA). SOA modifies the hygroscopic properties of organic aerosols, and potentially also adds to the growth of small particles to sizes that can more easily activate to form cloud droplets. Iodine oxide (IO) can nucleate new particles, and/or add to the growth of pre-existing particles. Due to the very high solubility of the glyoxal molecule, concentrations in excess of 100ppt over the open ocean like we found over the Pacific Ocean require an airborne source mechanism (Sinreich et al., 2010). We have investigated the source mechanism further during a ship campaign in 2009, as well as a first research flight aboard the NSF/NCAR GV research aircraft (HIAPER). Both campaigns give clues about the sources of both gases over the remote tropical Pacific Ocean, and reveal a surprising impact on the composition of the free troposphere.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Laboratory Studies of Titan Tholins

Raea Lessard

Saturn’s moon Titan is enshrouded in a thick orange haze. A similar haze may have formed on the early Earth and provided the organic compounds necessary for the emergence of life. This talk will present results from several laboratory studies focusing on the manipulation of Titan aerosols, also known as tholins, for chemical analysis and simulation of prebiotic processing. Analysis techniques include nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and sizing by the scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). This will be followed by preliminary results from in-situ analysis by the Aerodyne quadrupole aerosol mass spectrometer (Q-AMS) of tholins formed at a range of pressures.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

DOAS Measurements of Halogen Oxides

Hilke Oetjen

Halogens species are of outmost importance to the atmosphere due to their potential to destroy ozone and the DOAS (differential optical absorption spectroscopy) method is a powerful tool to measure halogen oxides like IO, BrO, but also OClO. After a brief introduction to the longpath-DOAS and multi-axes-DOAS techniques, this talk will present results from several field studies focusing mainly on the observations of iodine and bromine oxides and their impact on the marine boundary layer. This will be followed by a brief excursion to the stratosphere and the chlorine chemistry of the polar ozone hole. The third part of the talk will give an outlook on the future deployment of an airborne multi-axis (AMAX) DOAS instrument in the CalNex campaign in California this summer.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Single Particle Studies of Aerosol Hygroscopicity, Aging and Mass Accommodation

Professor Jonathan P. Reid, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK

Abstract

Studies of the processes that govern the physical and chemical transformation of aerosol particles are crucial for improving our understanding of the properties of atmospheric aerosol. In particular, the equilibrium state is governed by hygroscopicity, the vapour pressures of semi-volatile organic components, and mixing state. Aerosol optical tweezers can provide a method for isolating single particles, or multiple particles of distinct composition for comparison. When combined with cavity enhanced Raman spectroscopy, particle size, composition and morphology can be characterised in detail. We will first examine how such an approach can allow an examination of the equilibrium state of aerosol. Measurements of the chemical aging of mixed component aerosol (oleic acid/sodium chloride/water) by ozone will then be reported. Finally, a novel approach for probing the kinetics of the mass transfer accompanying condensation or evaporation of water will be described and first measurements reported.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Development and Application of a Metastable Atom Bombardment (MAB) Source for Penning Ionization Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometry

Carly Robinson

Abstract

The Aerodyne time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (ToF-AMS) utilizes thermal vaporization followed by electron ionization (EI) to convert aerosol components to gas-phase ions. The method enables quantification of chemical classes, but the extensive fragmentation caused by EI limits the specificity of both chemical analysis and source identification by factor analysis. To better identify the molecular components of aerosols, we have constructed a metastable atom bombardment (MAB) ionization source that can be interfaced to standard ToF-AMS hardware. A beam of metastable rare gas atoms is produced by a low-voltage DC discharge and focused toward the vaporization plume, yielding Penning Ionization of the analyte molecules. By changing gases, the excited energies of the metastables can be adjusted between 20.61 eV (He) and 9.92 eV (Kr). Source parameters, including pressures, current, geometry, and materials, were optimized for He, Ar, and Kr. Instrument sensitivity and induced fragmentation was characterized for each using lab-generated oleic acid particles. The demonstrated sensitivities are 0.1% of EI (3% of the SNR of EI in the V-mode, comparable to the Q-AMS SNR), which is sufficient for ambient monitoring. A metastable flux of 2.6e14 sr-1sec-1 has been achieved. The MAB-AMS has been deployed to the FLAME-3 campaign at the USDA Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, MT, and used to sample smoke from open burning of different biomass samples.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Hugh Coe, Prof. of Atmospheric Composition, University of Manchester, UK

Title: "Secondary Aerosol Composition and Properties: A contrast between European Pollution and Tropical Biogenic Environments"

Abstract: This talk will describe a number of recent studies of secondary aerosol properties and processes in two contrasting environments - European pollution, sampled during the EUCAARI Intensive study in May 2008, and a clean tropical biogenic environment, sampled during the Oxidants and Particle Production Potential (OP3) study in Borneo, also in 2008. The EUCAARI project aims to advance our understanding of climate and air quality by integrating laboratory studies, both short and long term field investigations, satellite data, and modeling at regional and global scales. I will present airborne observations taken during an intensive study to provide a local and regional scale overview of the general composition trends of atmospheric aerosol over northern Europe.

The time dependent measurements obtained by aerosol mass spectrometry enable the chemical transformation time scales of aerosol material to be explored. In particular, factor analyses of the observed organic mass spectral fingerprint demonstrates the continuum nature of chemical processing. Ammonium nitrate is an important aerosol component in NW Europe. It exists in a temperature dependent equilibrium which favours particulate formation in the moist, cool upper portion of the boundary layer. We have shown that this results in aerosol optical depths inferred from ground based measurements are biased low by up to 50% by comparison with AERONET, aircraft measurements, and lidar data during periods of high AOD in anticyclonic conditions. The ubiquitous nature of black carbon (BC) was also demonstrated and how this is processed by secondary particulate will be shown using single particle soot photometry. These topics will all be explored and comparison with global model studies will also be discussed. In contrast, tropical environemnts are dominated by transport of aerosol into the region, by primary production of biological material in the coarse mode aerosol or by secondary organic aerosol produced within the region by photochemical oxidation of precursors. These will presented and the properties of secondary organic material compared with other tropical sites and with global models.

TUESDAY, March 9, 2010

Nathalie Carrasco, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, IPSL, Verrières le Buisson, France

Title: Experimental simulation of Titan’s atmosphere by a radio-frequency plasma

• Recent papers: JPCA-2009, JPCA-2010

Titan is the biggest satellite of Saturne (about half the Earth). Its dense atmosphere of 1.5 bar at the surface is mainly composed of nitrogen and methane. So Titan is considered as an interesting analog of a frozen primitive Earth. Despite the very low temperature, between 100 and 200 K, atmospheric layers undergo efficient reaction chains, initiated by the solar flux and the Saturn magnetospheric electrons. Complex organic matter made of nitrogenated hydrocarbons is produced into the gaseous phase leading to a brownish photochemical fog surrounding the whole satellite.

Several techniques have been developed to simulate lab analogs, called tholins, of Titan’s haze. Most efficient methods presently known involve plasma techniques. Such a plasma device, named PAMPRE, has been developed in LATMOS, using a RF plasma discharge (13.6 MHz) in a stationary flux of nitrogen and methane gaz mixture, at various temperature and pressure conditions. Recent results will be presented concerning in situ mass spectrometry analysis of the gaseous phase and ex-situ chemical and morphological analysis of the tholins.

TUESDAY, March 2, 2010

Dry powder formulation development for nasal vaccination

Regina Westmeier, Department of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, Christian Albrecht University, Kiel, Germany

Abstract

I will briefly talk about some aspects of the mucosal immune system, which are important for the nasal vaccination strategy. I will then focus on the nose as delivery location, introduce a nasal cast model for the determination of formulation deposition in the different parts of the nose and show some delivery devices I have been characterizing. Further on I will shortly review the vaccine delivery systems described in literature and will then talk about our formulation strategies. Besides I will introduce a rapid in vitro test to assess the respiratory toxicity of both excipients and complete formulations.

TUESDAY, February 16, 2010

Observations of iodine oxide and reactive gaseous mercury at a coastal site in Pensacola, FL

Sean Coburn

Abstract

An increasing body of evidence suggests that atmospheric halogens, marked largely by the presence of BrO and IO, are ubiquitous components of the lower troposphere in coastal and oceanic areas. The role of halogen chemistry in mercury oxidation in coastal regions remains unknown. Simulations of atmospheric mercury oxidation suggest that chemistry initiated by atomic Br may have been underestimated. Synergistic effects of the iodine compounds can be expected and little is known about the possible direct role I atoms may play to oxidize mercury. Finally, other reactive trace gases, such as CH2O and C2H2O2, can suppress the oxidation of Hg by converting bromine-radicals into chemically inert reservoir species. Here we present data from several months of MAX-DOAS measurements of halogen oxides, O4, CH2O and C2H2O2 in parallel with measurements of speciated mercury (Hg0, Hg2+) that are currently being conducted along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

TUESDAY, February 9, 2010

Light Emitting Diode Cavity Enhanced Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (LED-CE-DOAS): a novel technique for monitoring atmospheric trace gases

Ryan Thalman and Rainer Volkamer

Abstract

The combination of Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (CEAS) with broad-band light sources (e.g. Light-Emitting Diodes, LEDs) lends itself to the application of cavity enhanced DOAS (CE-DOAS) to perform sensitive and selective point measurements of multiple trace gases with a single instrument. In contrast to other broad-band CEAS techniques, CE-DOAS relies only on the measurement of relative intensity changes, i.e., does not require knowledge of the light intensity in the absence of trace gases and aerosols (I0) and is therefore insensitive to lamp drifts and/or the presence of aerosols. We have built a prototype LED-CE-DOAS instrument in the blue spectral range (420-490nm) to measure nitrogen dioxide (NO2), glyoxal (CHOCHO), methylglyoxal (CH3COCHO), iodine monoxide (IO), water (H2O) and oxygen dimers (O4). Aerosol extinction is retrieved at two wavelengths by means of observing water and O4 and measuring pressure, temperature and relative humidity independently. The instrument components are presented, and the approach to measure aerosol extinction is demonstrated by means of a set of experiments where laboratory generated monodisperse aerosols are added to the cavity. The aerosol extinction cross section agrees well with Mie calculations, demonstrating that our setup enables measurements of the above gases in open cavity mode.

TUESDAY, February 2, 2010

Environmental Analysis of Water and Food Samples by Advanced Mass Spectrometry Techniques

Imma Ferrer and E. Michael Thurman
Environmental, Civil, and Architectural Engineering
CU, Boulder

Abstract

The analysis of pharmaceuticals and pesticides in water and food is one of the hot topics in environmental analysis. Recently the Associated Press published an article that much of the drinking water of the US is affected by pharmaceuticals coming from our wastewater. This article was backed up by numerous scientific studies since the late 1990s showing pharmaceuticals occurring in surface waters of the US. We have established a Laboratory for Environmental Mass Spectrometry soon to be a Center for Environmental Mass Spectrometry that uses an array of state of the art MS, including LC/time-of-flight MS, triple quadrupole MS with Jetspray, LC/MS ion trap, and other instrumentation to examine questions such as pharmaceuticals in drinking water and pesticides in food. Our seminar will discuss our new Center of Environmental MS, instrumentation, and applications to pharmaceuticals in drinking water and pesticides in food.

FRIDAY, January 22, 2010 (note special day)

Pedro Campuzano-Jost
University of British Columbia, Canada

CIRES Auditorium @ 4:00 p.m University of Colorado, Boulder

Abstract

Trapping organic aerosol ions for molecular identification: Some lessons learned

The incapability of off-line techniques to resolve a significant part of the organic fraction of atmospheric aerosols has resulted in a stronger focus in recent years on developing real time aerosol mass spectrometers that are able to identify not just compound classes, but specific molecules. The approach chosen in most cases has been reducing fragmentation by use of soft-ionization techniques. While use of soft ionization can greatly simplify the mass spectra of complex mixtures, it also tends to erase the chemical information provided by the fragmentation pattern. Therefore, the ability to isolate and obtain tandem MS spectra of individual molecular ions is key to be able to id individual compounds.

Ion traps are compact, versatile devices that are similarly well suited for use in single particle mass spectrometers (SP-MS) than the more ubiquitous reflectron time-of-flight-MS; however, unlike reTOFs, they can also be used for tandem MS experiments. We have recently build a single particle ion trap mass spectrometer (SPIT-MS) that combines in-trap IR laser desorption of particles with a state-of-the-art laser based tabletop tunable VUV source. This allows separate optimization of both the desorption and ionization step for minimal fragmentation and -at high enough IR fluencies- a quantitative response. At the same time, measurements of the first ionization energy of the molecular ion together with their tandem MS spectrum can be used for molecular identification.While the SPIT-MS works as intended with certain types of test aerosol, it mostly fails with mixtures of aliphatic compounds, its intended target. The reasons for this failure will be examined in detail and some of its implications for alternative designs discussed.

In the second part of the talk, two other simpler SPIT-MS designs recently developed at UBC will be discussed:

- A laboratory prototype that uses pulsed IR laser desorption and conventional pulsed 70 eV electron impact for ionization. While its overall performance is comparable to the Aerodyne TOF in single particle mode, in addition it allows for analysis of refractory material as well as tandem MS analysis of larger ions.

- A new field capable ITMS that combines a novel aerosol beam alignment design with a mass spectrometer with dual polarity detection. Ionization occurs by laser ablation at 266 nm. This instrument is currently being deployed to the top of Whistler Mountain, BC to study long range transport of Asian dust.

MONDAY, November 30, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

Synthesis of Catalyst Arrays from Nanoparticle Precursors

Bryan Tienes

Abstract

The desire to develop novel, more efficient heterogeneous catalysts is a vital area of research in renewable energy applications. Due to the huge compositional and structural parameter space under which solid state materials can exist, it is nearly impossible to develop new heterogeneous catalysts a-priori. Therefore, many research groups have turned to combinatorial methods to identify new materials. While methods of synthesizing combinatorial arrays of bulk materials are well established, combinatorial arrays of nano-materials have been more elusive. Here we present a novel synthesis methodology for arrays of nanoparticles on solid supports using nanoparticles as synthetic precursors. The combinatorial arrays are generated by utilizing multidirectional nanoparticle gradients created by exploiting the kinetics of electrostatic adhesion of nanoparticles to a solid support. Subsequent reaction of the solid supports at elevated temperatures causes adjacent particles to alloy yielding nanoparticles with a gradient of compositions. These reactions have been demonstrated to take place on solid supports in both gaseous and liquid environments. Nanoparticle arrays adsorbed onto indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass have been shown to alloy in a similar fashion. The arrays on ITO glass were subsequently fabricated into working electrodes for an electrochemical cell. The electrodes were then demonstrated as a catalyst screening tool for methanol fuel cell catalysts.

MONDAY, November 2, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

A Novel Method for Analysis of Respirable Particle Size Distributions using an Andersen Cascade Impactor

Lia Rebits

Andersen cascade impactors (ACIs) are widely used throughout the pharmaceutical industry to obtain aerodynamic particle size distributions for inhalable products. An ACI separates aerosolized particles by passing them through a series of orifice‐containing stages and plates; the plate on which a certain particle will deposit depends on its velocity and aerodynamic diameter. A limitation encountered with the use of this instrument is that the analytical method chosen to quantify the deposition of particles on each plate must be precise, accurate, and have a low detection limit. A method that measures the total organic carbon (TOC) content on each plate has been found to fulfill many of the requirements needed to obtain accurate particle size distributions.

Amperometric S-Nitrosothiol Sensors: Applications and Methods

Candice Smith

It has been discovered that the right amount of S-nitrosothiol (RSNO) species in blood prevents the activation of clotting agents. A new RSNO detection technique, based on an electrochemical sensor, rapidly measures the level of RSNOs in whole blood. Use of this S-nitrosothiol sensor during surgical procedures, like Extra Corporeal Life Support (ECLS), could provide physicians with a novel method of monitoring a patient’s health. This seminar is an opportunity to describe the methods of the S-nitrosothiol biosensor’s assembly and in vivo testing.

MONDAY, October 26, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

Practical Analytical Chemistry - Colorimetric Wet Chemistry Methods for Wastewater, Drinking Water, and Natural Water

Kristin Boles

Abstract

Analytical chemistry is an essential tool in drinking water and wastewater regulation. Wet Chemistry specifically refers to analytical chemistry performed in aqueous solution. It is therefore easily performed in the same matrix as wastewater and drinking water. This presentation will cover three wastewater testing methods: EPA 420.1, which tests for all phenols/phenolic compounds; EPA 365.3 dissolved, which tests for the orthophosphate ion in a filtered solution; and SM 3500-Cr B, which tests for hexavalent chromium in natural or treated water. Each of these tests is colorimetric, and the chemistry of their respective color-producing reaction will be discussed, as well as typical matrix interferences.

MONDAY, October 19, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

Sources of organic aerosols: atmospheric transformations of emissions from combustion systems

Allen Robinson

Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

Atmospheric particles play an important role in climate forcing; they are also strongly associated with adverse human health effects. Organic aerosols account for a large fraction of ambient fine particle mass, but their sources and transformation processes are still poorly understood. Motor vehicles, wood stoves, and other combustion systems are major sources of organic aerosols. This talk discusses recent field, laboratory, and modeling results on organic particle emissions from combustion systems. The results reveal a dynamic picture in which low-volatility organics evaporate, oxidize, and recondense as they are transported away from the source. This new picture alters our understanding of the contribution of combustion sources to urban and regional pollution and brings chemical transport model predictions into better agreement with field observations. The talk concludes with a discussion of the implications of these recent findings on human exposures and the design of regulations to control organic aerosols.

MONDAY, October 12, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

New Insights Into the Mechanism of 3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaryl Coenzyme A Reductase

Gregory Schill

Abstract

Class II 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, the rate limiting enzyme of the mevalonate pathway, represents an attractive potential target for the development of antibiotics the against multiple drug-resistant strains of Gram-positive cocci. However, recent steady-state spectrofluorimetric studies suggest that the mechanism of catalysis does not go through a mevaldehyde intermediate as accepted in the literature. The objective of this study was to investigate HMG-CoA reductase catalysis prior to steady-state conditions to determine if this incongruence was the result of a fast equilibrium. Stopped-flow kinetic assays, with dead times of 8 ms, were conducted to probe for the elusive mevaldehyde intermediate. Results found that a fast equilibrium can not account for the absence of mevaldehyde, suggesting a revision of the current literature-accepted mechanism of catalysis to one where coenzyme A plays a more integral role.

A NEGATIVE ION PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF Mo2-.

Sunil Baidar

Abstract

The homonuclear diatomic metal ion Mo2- was studied using negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy. This bare, homonuclear group 6 transition metal dimer allows the study of multiple metal-metal bonding free of ligand effects. The photoelectron spectra, obtained at 488 nm with an instrumental resolution of about 6 meV (50 cm-1), provide measurements of the electron affinities, vibrational frequencies for both the anion and the neutral states, and bond length changes upon electron detachment. The Mo2- spectra displays a transition to the multiply-bonded 1Σg+(dπ)4(dδ)4(dσ)2(sσ)2 ground state of the neutral molecule. In the anion, the extra electron occupies the vacant antibonding sσ* orbital, giving a 2Σu+ ground state.

MONDAY, October 5, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

Aerosols of the Past: Lessons from Saturn’s Moon Titan

Margaret Tolbert

Dept. Chem & Biochem., and CIRES, CU-Boulder

Abstract

An organic haze layer in the upper atmosphere of Titan plays a crucial role in the atmospheric composition and climate of that moon. Photochemistry in the atmosphere of the early Earth shortly after the time of planetary formation may have led to a similar haze. However, due to differences in atmospheric chemistry, the aerosols formed on the early Earth may have had distinct chemical and optical properties from those suspected to make up the hazes on Titan. We have conducted laboratory experiments simulating photochemical haze production on Titan and early Earth. The resulting aerosols are analyzed using an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) to obtain compositional information and extinction cavity ring down (CRD) spectroscopy to determine the optical properties of the particles. The hazes on the two worlds will be compared and the implications of haze on the climate and habitability of ancient Earth will be discussed.

What have we learned about organic aerosol sources and processing? What’s next?

Jose-Luis Jimenez

Dept. Chem & Biochem., and CIRES, CU-Boulder

Abstract

Aerosols play major roles in climate forcing and the hydrological cycle, and also on human health effects, visibility degradation, and deposition of acids, toxics, and nutrients to ecosystems. Organic aerosols (OA) account for a large fraction (~50%) of ambient submicron aerosol mass, but their sources and transformation processes are still poorly understood. I will summarize recent findings about the sources, processing and budget of OA arising from multiple field and lab studies, as well as comparisons to 1D and 3D models. OA from all sources evolves in the atmosphere by becoming more oxygenated and hygroscopic and less volatile, and partially losing the chemical signature of the original source and gaining a common signature of atmospheric oxidation. Secondary OA (SOA) formation in urban areas is greatly underestimated by traditional models, in contrast with biogenic SOA formed under pristine conditions which is reasonably predicted. New models close the gap and even exceed the observed SOA in urban areas, but it is not clear whether this is for the right reasons. Further progress necessitates more complete high-quality measurements at one location as well as new measurement & analysis techniques, and we are preparing for two such campaigns in Los Angeles, CA in 2010 and Manitou Springs, CO in 2011.

MONDAY, September 28, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

Water and photon mediated chemistry relevant to atmospheric aerosol formation

Veronica Vaida

Dept. Chem & Biochem., and CIRES, CU-Boulder

Abstract

Research in the Vaida group explores the interface between physical chemistry and atmospheric science using tools of spectroscopy, photochemistry and photoreaction dynamics. This presentation will exemplify discuss water catalyzed photochemical reactions of oxidized organic species (acids, alcohols, aldehydes and ketones) relevant to atmospheric chemistry. Our approach utilizes electronic and vibrational spectroscopy to explore chemical reactions. Theoretical modeling in collaboration with the skodje group elucidates the roles of cluster conformation and dynamical effects in the photochemical processes. The specific example of methyl glyoxal, and pyruvic and glyoxilic acids and of their hydrates will be presented. The discussion will point to the role of water and photon mediated chemistry of organic molecules to the generation and processing of secondary organic aerosols and, more generally, to climate.

Instrument development for use in field and laboratory experiments in the ATMOSpeclab

Rainer Volkamer

Dept. Chem & Biochem., and CIRES, CU-Boulder

Abstract

The Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy Laboratory (ATMOSpeclab) was established in 2007 at CU Boulder to develop and apply optical spectroscopic instruments to measure atmospheric composition of reactive trace gases in polluted urban, and pristine natural atmospheric environments. Specific atmospheric chemistry projects in the ATMOSpeclab will be discussed, and include: - Impact of halogen chemistry on Mercury deposition in the coastal environment - Airborne MAX-DOAS from research aircraft - Ship based MAX-DOAS in the Southern Hemisphere Pacific Ocean - Laboratory studies of SOA formation from glyoxal in simulation chambers - Development of a detailed model to represent SOA formation via the aerosol aqueous phase

MONDAY, September 21, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

CU Inhalable Dry Powder Vaccines have Provided Protection Against Infection

R. Sievers, S. Cape, J. Burger, D. McAdams, J. Manion, L. Rebits, S. Winston, B. Quinn, J. Searles, D. Krank, P. Bhagwat, P. Pathak, A. Genosar, R. Dhere, V. Vaidya, R. Muley, D. Griffin, W-H Lin, and P. Rota

Abstract

Protection against infection with measles virus has been demonstrated in animal models immunized 14 months earlier by inhalation of CU-invented dry powder vaccine microparticles. Needle-free aerosol delivery of dry powder vaccines may provide an effective and low-cost means of immunization. Powder manufacturing with gentle, rapid drying by Carbon Dioxide Assisted Nebulization with a Bubble Dryer (CAN-BD) appears to be an attractive alternative to freeze drying of sensitive biologicals like live attenuated Edmonston-Zagreb measles virus vaccine. Stability of measles virus in glassy, dry, respirable microparticles made by CAN-BD with less than 1% water sealed in unidose aluminum foil has been demonstrated. The dry powder aggregate, upon dispersion from an active dry powder inhaler, deposits in the moist respiratory tract where the microparticles rapidly dissolve within minutes. Antibiotics are also being studied and delivered as microparticles against infectious diseases.

Funded by FNIH Grant 1077.

Improving the Performance of Li Ion Batteries Using Atomic Layer Deposition

Steven M. George

Depts. of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 Steven.George@Colorado.Edu

Abstract

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are emerging as the dominant power source for portable electronics. Improvement in their capacity lifetime during charge-discharge cycles must be achieved before LIBs can be used for plug-in-hybrid and electric vehicles. LiCoO2 and graphite are common cathode and anode materials, respectively, for LIBs. The capacity loss of LIBs is linked to electrode deterioration caused by interfacial reactions with the electrolyte, dissolution of the metal oxide cathodes and structural instabilities caused by volume expansion during lithium intercalation. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is based on the strategy of sequential, self-limiting surface reactions to deposit inorganic materials. ALD can deposit thin, conformal films on cathode and anode materials in LIBs to provide chemical protection, restrict dissolution and stabilize structural changes. Our recent work has demonstrated that ultrathin Al2O3 ALD films can improve the capacity stability of LiCoO2 cathodes and graphite anodes. Additional work is developing new protective coatings that will serve as an artificial solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) for further stability improvement.

MONDAY, September 14, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium University of Colorado, Boulder

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI): What does this mean for the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry (and other departments and institutes)?

Carl A. Koval, Co-Director

Abstract

In June 2009, the University of Colorado’s Board of Regents approved the formation of a new campus institute: RASEI (pronounced ‘racy”). This formation of this institute grew out of the former CU-Boulder Energy Initiative (EI), which was created in early 2006. In addition, administrators at CU-Boulder and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden signed a MOU to operate RASEI as a joint institute. In this presentation, I will focus on:

• the transition of the EI to RASEI, from initiative to institute;

• opportunities for faculty to be involved in RASEI governance and programs;

• opportunities for students to be involved RASEI’s research, teaching, commercialization and outreach activities.

For more information about RASEI, go to http://rasei.colorado.edu.

Research at the Interface of Nanoscale Materials and Biology

Daniel L. Feldheim

Dept. Chem & Biochem., CU-Boulder

Abstract

Between the size scale of individual biomacromolecules and cellular organelles lies a size regime―the few nm to 100 nm range―that is not readily probed using existing technologies. Thus, while a vast inventory of RNA and protein sequences and structures are being catalogued, a quantitative cellular context for these structures is lagging. Yet to understand this context would be to know how collections of individual macromolecules assemble into the dynamic machines that form a living cell. Once these interactions are revealed, a new picture of the cell and its disease states is sure to emerge.

With achievable 2 nm resolution and perfect preservation of cellular structure, electron tomography (ET) now represents the highest resolution technique for examining biomolecules in their native cellular context. Indeed, cell biologists now dream of generating 3D images containing the entire proteome of a living cell. This dream remains out of reach, not because ET cannot visualize individual proteins, but because it is simply not possible currently to know which protein is which in a tomographic cellular reconstruction.

This presentation will describe methods being developed in our lab for creating electron dense nanoparticle tags for identifying cellular biomolecules by ET. These methods rely on the discovery of materials ribozymes and enzymes―RNA and protein/peptide sequences that can catalyze the formation of inorganic nanoparticles and control nanoparticle growth. The isolation and structure-function relationships of a number of materials ribozymes and enzymes will be shown.

In addition to visualizing biomolecule interactions in cells, we are working on ways to mimic and disrupt such interactions for disease treatment. We view this largely as a materials problem as well, and have been learning how to design metal nanoclusters to effectively interact with cellular biomolecules. A few lessons learned in our studies of cell and nuclear targeting and the prevention of viral infection will be described.

THURSDAY, September 10, 2009

4:00 p.m. CIRES Auditorium (note change of location) University of Colorado, Boulder

What controls the diurnal variability of carbon dioxide and reactive species? (a.k.a. "Boundary Layers for Chemists")

Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano
Meteorology and Air Quality Section
Wageningen University (The Netherlands)
e-mail: jordi.vila@wur.nl

Abstract

We examine the main physical and chemical processes that determine the diurnal variability of atmospheric compounds in the boundary layer. In addition to surface processes, turbulent mixing and reactivity, we put special emphasis on investigating the role of the exchange of heat, water and chemical species between the free troposphere and the atmospheric boundary layer, namely the entrainment process. This process enhances the dilution of compounds and introduces free tropospheric air masses with different characteristics into the atmospheric boundary layer.

In the seminar, I will discuss several cases where entrainment plays a major role in the evolution of atmospheric compounds. By analyzing observational evidence or performing numerical experiments by the large eddy simulation technique and a conceptual (mixed-layer theory) model, we are able to find the contribution of entrainment to the diurnal variability of carbon dioxide or isoprene. Particular emphasis is placed on the need to maintain a balance in dynamic processes and the specific characteristic of each atmospheric compound.