Student Scholars & Faculty Mentors
Projects funded by our internal grants program. Search the table to find students or faculty mentors that share in your interests, and could help you achieve your goals in research, creative activity, or service.
Synthesizing a Covalent Organic Framework with Thiophene-Pyrene Linkages
Name: Noel,
Advisor: Kathryn Allen
Department: CHEM
Award: Student Research Grant
Abstract: Covalent Organic Frameworks are highly crystalline and porous molecular sponges, showing great potential for selectively soaking up large amounts of gases. Incorporating thiophenes with fluorene units into the COF's may increase absorption of polar gases due to the polarity of the thiophen molecule. Introduction of short alkoxy substituents will allow for rotational hinderance, and uninhibited crystal formation resulting in higher crystallinity and better absorption. Our building blocks for the COF will be analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy at Millersville university. The synthesized COF will be analyzed using x-ray crystalline diffraction (used to determine degree of crystallinity) at our collaborating institution of Johns Hopkins University. The COF building blocks are original compounds and will be published in ChemSpider Synthetic Pages, an open access journal, and the COF synthesis and characterization will be published in a peer reviewed journal.