21 Jun Brylea Butler – University of Houston – Week Two

Two weeks down and two more to go! This last week has been so much fun between spending time with my lab mate Riley, learning more about macrocycles and NMR, and having fun on the weekend with my suite mates. I have also gotten work with a variety of people within my lab and learn how its run.

This week I started off strong getting to help run an NMR. After each cycle of the NMR, I added more of the reactant to the solvent to see how it would affect the interactions within the protons of the molecules. A strong interaction would cause the peaks to shift meaning that the protons were binding. I also worked on predicting the NMR results based on the structure. Once all the NMRs were done I worked on adjusting and labeling them to be useable data. We continued research into macrocycles and even used a software called Chemdraw to make visual representation of the molecules we were working with. This software also allowed us to predict NMRs, calculate many important figures and find the charges of the protons within the molecule.

I also was able to do a lot of hands-on work this week. Including preparing and running TLCs or thin layer chromatography. To do this you use what is called a TLC plate, which is a material similar to paper that has a thin layer to silica gel on it. You then place spots of your solution and reactant onto the plate. Then it is placed into the solvent, which will work its way up the plate separating the different components of the solution. This will allow a plan to separate the desired product from the waste product to be made.

I also had the opportunity to work with another grad student this week on her project. She was working to create a macrocycle that had three benzene rings within it. This product would allow for many innovations due to its special properties including its fluorescence. This process allowed us to work with more lab equipment including a column Chromatography set up. Which does a similar process to a TLC plate but on a much larger scale. Also working with a closed reaction set up, since we were working with molecules that are extremely reactive to water, which is all around us. So, everything that was added to the reaction was done with a needle and syringe.

This week outside of the lab we went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Were we got to spend several hours learning about and exploring the exhibits which had all kinds of art from every era and media you could ever imagine. I can’t wait to see what the next two weeks have instore!