Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

A microcalorimeter is a device designed to measure changes in heat with great accuracy.  This information can provide extremely useful information about chemical processes which is not possible or very difficult to obtain from other measurements/equipment.  For example, the energetics of binding of a host and a guest molecule can be easily derived from the change in heat that accompanies the addition of known quantities of guest molecules to a solution of the host.  With access to a calorimeter, the Petitjean lab will use this technique to study duplex and quadruplex DNA binders.  In the Brown lab, the calorimeter will greatly facilitate the analysis of a class of metal-ion catalyzed reactions discovered in the Brown lab in which RNA and DNA analogs are cleaved with tremendous rate accelerations (10 to the power 12).  The calorimeter will be used to study binding events between the metal catalysts and DNA/RNA mimics.  This research opens up the possibility that a simple synthetic molecule can cleave RNA and DNA at rates rivaling nature.  The Zechel group will also study binding by examining interactions between proteins and specially designed ligands.  In addition to studying binding, chemical reactions themselves can be monitored in what is called "reaction calorimetry".  Since chemical reactions either release or absorb energy, usually in the form of heat, detailed information can be obtained by measuring the heat flow using a calorimeter.  The change in heat flow under various conditions (for example excess of one reagent or another) can be used to obtain detailed information about the rate of the reaction and ultimately mechanistic information. Therefore, access to a calorimeter will permit the Crudden group to study a recently developed zeolite-like palladium catalyst for carbon-carbon bond forming reactions.  Study of the reaction with a microcalorimeter will provide critical information about whether the Pd really remains bound in the pores of the zeolite, or whether it reacts after desorbing from the surface. Finally, the energetics of reaction and combustion for potential hydrogen storage materials will be studied by calorimetry in the Jessop group.