Lanie Lilly

Course: Organic Chemistry 1, CHEM-201
Professor: Dr. Raza Khan
Assignment Title: Importance of Delocalized Electrons Outside the Field of Organic Chemistry

Assignment Details

This is an organic chemistry capstone project, focusing on applications of delocalized electrons in other fields. One application, studied by chemist Ipsita Hazra Chowdhury, focused on delocalized electrons used as a contaminant removal in wastewater. She observed the adsorption effects of the bonding and delocalized electrons in removing the organic dye methylene blue, and the inorganic lead ion, and she found these to be removed successfully.​

The second application was the effect of delocalized electrons in rapid drug release. The chemist Maurizio Prato studied this to see if a controlled, rapid drug release could be attained. Unfortunately, he found in his first study that this was unsuccessful when considering the time requirements. In order to attain a much more rapid drug release, he had to switch to a graphene-based system, which was much more efficient.

Application

I am currently majoring in chemical engineering. I want to get a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and potentially look at environmental applications in the future. This assignment was helpful for me to see how chemistry can relate to the environment. I found resources where delocalized electrons were used in applications to remove wastewater contaminants. I focused part of the presentation on this to consider that aspect of chemistry. I think it is important to study issues like that, because it is not always something that students first think of, and it shows the range of applications a field can have. 

Results/Conclusions

I learned that delocalized electrons can be used in both environmental and biological situations. The delocalized electrons were studied in the adsorption of organic and inorganic contaminants in wastewater, and this was found to be successful. Additionally, delocalized electrons were studied in rapid drug release, and while this was not successful regarding the time considerations, they were able to play a part in the beginning to determine that they could be used, just not efficiently.

Challenges and Successes

My main challenge when completing this assignment was finding good sources to look at. The requirement for this assignment was to find two applications, with at least one diverse scientist. It was much harder than I originally thought to find both an interesting application for a difficult subject, but also studied by a scientist that was not a white male. I had success when finding Ipsita Hazra Chowdhury’s application, because she was an Indian scientist.