Achievement

Sean Fontenot (UO Chem) in collaboration with Pacific NW Nat'l Lab is designing a non-covalent attachment scheme for functionalizing solid surfaces with metal-binding organic functional groups. This mechanism is based on hydrophobic, stearic, and pi-pi interactions and leads to an active monolayer attached to a solid surface via scaffold layer of molecules. Work by trainee Tim Carter showed that materials with non-covalently attached functional groups function as well as covalent counterparts. Fontenot has prepared several active and scaffold molecules and materials and designed a protocol for determining the density of thiol functional groups on the surface of highly porous silica materials. He has used this protocol in addition to standard techniques to probe the contributions of the supporting layer and the active layer molecules to the stability and effectiveness of the material. His work has expanded the analytical toolset and allowed for optimization of this class of material.