VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ......

16
March 2016 Vol. XCIV, No.7 N O R T H E A S T E R N S E C T I O N A M E R I C A N C H E M I C A L S O C I E T Y F O U N D E D 1 8 9 8 N E S A C S Monthly Meeting George Whitesides to speak at Takeda-Millennium, Cambridge, MA Summer Scholar Report By Leonard Sprague and Edward J. Brush, Bridgewater State University Report from Rabat: Malta VII By Morton Z. Hoffman NESACS at Fenway Park May 11, 2016

Transcript of VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ......

Page 1: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

httpwwwnesacsorg

March 2016 Vol XCIV No7

NORTHEASTERN SECTION bull AMERICAN CHEMIC

ALSO

CIET

Y

FOUNDED 1898

NESACS

MonthlyMeetingGeorge Whitesides to speak atTakeda-Millennium Cambridge MA

SummerScholar ReportBy Leonard Sprague and Edward JBrush Bridgewater State University

Report fromRabat MaltaVIIBy Morton Z Hoffman

NESACS atFenway ParkMay 11 2016

2 The Nucleus March 2016

The terrorist attacks in Beirut and Parisa few days earlier the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the continuinghumanitarian crisis in Syria and Iraqserved as the backdrop for the seventhbiennial Malta Conference (Malta VII)on scientific research and education inthe Middle East which was held at theSofitel Hotel in Rabat Morocco on No-vember 15-20 2015

The six previous Malta Confer-ences took place in Valletta Malta(2003 2005 2013) Istanbul Turkey(2007) Amman Jordan (2009) andParis France (2011 at UNESCO head-quarters as part of the celebration of theInternational Year of Chemistry) TheMalta Conferences Foundation (MCF)a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in-corporated in Washington DC organ-izes the Conferences and raises moneyfor their support

The recent horrifying events withinthe Middle East and around the worldled to an increased determination by themore than 90 participants at Malta VIIto unite with one another to build col-laborations as a bridge to peace Withscientists and science educators fromuniversities and national institutes in-cluding students and early-career scien-tists from 15 Middle East and NorthAfrica (MENA) countries (BahrainEgypt Iran Iraq Israel Jordan KuwaitLebanon Morocco Palestinian Author-ity Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkeyand the United Arab Emirates) as wellas speakers and meeting organizers fromUS and Europe the Conference fea-

tured plenary lectures by four NobelLaureates workshops on topics of im-portance to the participants from the re-gion oral and poster presentations andopportunities for everyone to make per-sonal and professional connections

Amazingly given the declared andundeclared states of war and politicalanimosities among the MENA coun-tries only one person a representativefrom Libya was denied a visa to enterMorocco Even the Syrians and Iraqiswho received their visas on the day be-fore the Conference was to begin wereable to come and tell us first-hand aboutthe hardships they encounter on a dailybasis in their lives and professionalwork as well as the obstacles they facedto make the trip to Morocco

The plenary lectures were given bychemistry Nobel Laureates Ada Yonath(Israel 2009) Borderless Science DanShechtman (Israel 2011) TechnologicalEntrepreneurship Key to World Peaceand Prosperity Roald Hoffmann (US1981) Two New Games for CarbonMartin Karplus (US 2013) MotionHallmark of Life From Marsupials toMolecules

Presentations were also made byYvonne Pope (Chemical Abstracts Serv-ices UK) SciFinder ndash The Choice forChemistry Research Olli Vuola (AaltoUniversity Finland) Entrepreneurshipand Innovation Nicholas Anthis (USAgency for International DevelopmentUS) The Middle East Regional Coop-eration (MERC) Program Leiv Sydnes(University of Bergen Norway) Chem-

ical Safety and Security Jonathan For-man (Organization for the Prohibition ofChemical Weapons The Netherlands)Educational Resources From OPCWFadila Boughanemi (European Com-mission on Research and InnovationEU) EU Builds Bridges Through Sci-ence Diplomacy Mohamed Ismail (AinShams University Egypt) SoftwareDemonstration of Molecular Modelingand Computer Aided Drug DesignDonna Nelson (President-Elect Ameri-can Chemical Society) The Science Be-hind ldquoBreaking Badrdquo

Report from Rabat Malta VIIFrontiers of Science Research and Education in the Middle EastMorton Z Hoffman (Boston University Treasurer Malta Conferences Foundation) lthoffmanbuedugt

continued on page 12

The Sofitel Rabat Hotel

Zafra Lerman (at left) with Fadila Boughanemi

The Nucleus March 2016 3

The Nucleus is published monthly except June and August by the Northeastern Section of the AmericanChemical Society Inc Forms close for advertising on the 1st of the month of the preceding issue Textmust be received by the editor six weeks before the date of issueEditor Michael P Filosa PhD 18 Tamarack Road Medfield MA 02052 Email

filosam(at)verizonnet Tel 508-843-9070Associate Editors Myron S Simon 60 Seminary Ave apt 272 Auburndale MA 02466

Morton HoffmanBoard of Publications James Phillips (Chair) Vivian K Walworth Mary Mahaney Ajay Purohit

Ken DrewBusiness Manager VacantAdvertising Manager Vacant contact Michael Filosa at admanagernesacsorgCalendar Coordinator Xavier Herault Email xherault(at)outlookcomPhotographers Morton Hoffman and James PhillipsProofreaders Donald O Rickter Vivian K Walworth Morton Z Hoffman Webmaster Roy HagenCopyright 2016 Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society Inc

The Northeastern Section of the American-Chemical Society IncOffice Anna Singer 12 Corcoran RoadBurlington MA 01803(Voice or FAX) 781-272-1966e-mail secretary(at)nesacsorgNESACS HomepagehttpwwwNESACSorgOfficers 2016ChairJerry P JasinskiKeene State CollegeKeene NH 03435-2001jjasinsk(at)keeneeduChair-ElectLeland L Johnson JrConditas Biotechnology GroupPO Box 540Brookline MA 02446ljohnson(at)theconditasgroupcom617-304-6474Immediate Past ChairKatherine L LeePfizer610 Main StreetCambridge MA 02139katherinelee(at)pfizercom617-674-7299SecretaryMichael SingerMilliporeSigma3 Strathmore Rd Natick MA 01360774-290-1391 michaelsinger(at)sialcomTreasurerJames Piper19 Mill Rd Harvard MA 01451978-456-3155 piper28(at)attglobalnetAuditorPatrick GordonArchivistKen MattesTrusteesDorothy Phillips Ruth Tanner Peter C MeltzerDirectors-at-LargeDavid Harris John Neumeyer Ralph Scannell John Burke Ioannis Papayannopoulos Christine Jaworek-LopesCouncilors Alternate CouncilorsTerm Ends 12312016Michael Singer Sophia R SuMary Shultz Mukund ChorghadeRobert Lichter Mary MahaneyHeidi Teng Raj RajurMarietta Schwartz Sonja Strah-PleynetTerm Ends 12312017Michael P Filosa John PodobinskiDoris I Lewis Patrick GordonChristine Jaworek-Lopes Anna SromekPatricia A Mabrouk Mary BurgessMark Tebbe Ralph ScannellMorton Z Hoffman Leland L Johnson JrTerm Ends 12312018Katherine Lee Kenneth MattesCatherine E Costello Jackie ONeilRuth Tanner Andrew ScholteMichaeline Chen Jerry P Jasinski

ContentsReport from Rabat Malta VII _____________________________2Frontiers of Science Research and Education in the Middle EastBy Morton Z HoffmanNational Recognition for NESACS Student Chapters ___________4Monthly Meeting _______________________________________5George M Whitesides to speak at Takeda-Millennium Cambridge MAWebstreaming of the March Meeting _______________________52016 NESACS Candidates for Election _____________________6Announcements ______________________________________67Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for OutstandingAchievement in the Teaching of Chemistry NESACS-Chemists Celebrate EarthDay NESACS at Fenway ParkStem Journey III________________________________________7By Jack Driscoll and Jennifer MaclachlanSummer Scholar Report _________________________________8Applying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterifi-cation of glycerol fatty acid triestersBy Leonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Bridgewater State UniversityNSYCC Meets the Next Generation of Scientists _____________10By Catherine Rawlins NSYCCSenior Chemists Luncheon ______________________________11April 20 2016 at Panera Bread Needham MANSCRC Conference and Career Symposium _________________16April 16-17 at the University of Massachusetts-BostonKeynote speaker Mircea Dinca MITCover March speaker George M Whitesides Woodford L and Ann A Flowers University Professor Harvard University Photo courtesy of ProfessorWhitesidesEditorial Deadlines May 2016 Issue March 15 2016 Summer-September 2016 Issue July 15 2016

All Chairs of standingCommittees the editor of THE NUCLEUS and the Trustees of SectionFunds are members of theBoard of Directors AnyCoun cilor of the American Chemical Soci-ety residing within the section area is an ex of-ficio member of the Board of Directors

4 The Nucleus March 2016

The ACS Committee on Education hasselected the following student chaptersin the Northeastern Section to receivespecial recognition for the programs andactivities described in their 2014-2015reportsOutstandingbull Northeastern University Boston MA

Jaime Conway and William Timsonchapter co-presidents Prof KathleenCameron faculty advisor

Commendable Recognitionbull Gordon College Wenham MA

Daruenie Andujar and Logan Walshchapter co-presidents Prof IrvinLevy faculty advisor

bull University of Massachusetts LowellLowell MA Megan Lulsdorf andTyler Harrison chapter co-presidentsProf Kwok-Fan Chow faculty advi-sor

Honorable Mentionbull Keene State College Keene NH

James Kraly and Denise Junge chap-ter co-presidents Prof James Ulci-ckas faculty advisor

bull Saint Anselm College ManchesterNH Catherine Muldoon and CharlesDooley chapter co-presidents ProfNicole Eyet faculty advisor

bull Simmons College Boston MACaitlin Horgan and Nina Chen chap-ter co-presidents Prof ChangqingChen faculty advisor

bull Suffolk University Boston MASalina Shrestha and Janice Bautistachapter co-presidents Prof EdithEnyedy faculty advisor

Community Interaction Grantsbull Plymouth State University Plymouth

NH Albert Lamonda student projectdirector Prof Anil Waghe faculty ad-visor Project title Chemistry in Art

bull University of Massachusetts LowellLowell MA Megan Lulsdorf andTyler Harrison chapter co-presidentsProf Kwok-Fan Chow faculty advi-sor

New Activities Grantsbull Suffolk University Boston MA Jan-

ice Bautista student project directorProf Edith Enyedy faculty advisorProject title Chemistry of Smell andTaste

Student involvement in applying greenchemistry principles and practices is es-sential to the integration of environmen-tally benign technologies in academiaand industry The ACS Green ChemistryInstitute recognizes ACS student chap-ters that have engaged in at least threegreen chemistry activities during the ac-ademic year Listed below are the 2014-2015 Green Chemistry Award recipientslocated within the Northeastern Sectionbull Gordon College Wenham MAbull Northeastern University Boston MAAll chapters receiving special recogni-tion will be honored at the 251st ACSNational Chemistry Meeting in SanDiego CA on Sunday March 13 2016

NESACS SponsorsCompany Contribution LevelAmgen PlatinumBiogen-Idec PlatinumJohnson-Matthey PlatinumSK Life Sciences PlatinumStrem PlatinumNova Biomedical GoldMerck SilverCelgene BronzeConditas Group BronzeCubist BronzeMillipore-Sigma BronzeTakeda BronzeVertex BronzeContribution Levels DonationPlatinum $5000+Gold $3500-5000Silver $2000-3500Bronze $500-2000Meeting HostsAmgenAstra ZenecaBiogen-IdecBurlington High SchoolGenzyme A Sanofi CompanyNova BiomedicalNovartisPfizerTufts UniversityVertex

National Recognition forNESACS Student Chapters

New MembersInvitation to attend a meetingYou are cordially invited to attend oneof our upcoming Section meetings as aguest of the Section at the social hourand dinner preceding the meeting

Please call Anna Singer at 781-272-1966 between 9am-6pm or email sec-retary(at)nesacsorg by noon the firstThursday of the month letting her knowthat you are a new member

The Nucleus March 2016 5

Monthly MeetingThe 959th Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the AmericanChemical SocietyThursday ndash March 3 2016Takeda-Millennium40 Landsdowne St Cambridge MA 02139430 pm NESACS Board Meeting (Seminar Room-1st floor)530 pm Social Hour (Cafeteria 1st floor)630 pm Dinner (Cafeteria 1st floor)730 pm Welcome Dr Jerry Jasinski NESACS Chair (Auditorium 1st floor)745 pm Evening program with Professor George M Whitesides Woodford

L and Ann A Flowers University Professor Harvard UniversityFor those who would like to join us for dinner register by noon Thursday Feb-ruary 25 2016 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select thepay with credit or debit card option and follow the additional instructions on thepage Cost Members $30 Non-members $35 Retirees $20 Students $10Dinner reservations not cancelled at least 24 hours in advance must be paid

If you wish to join us for this meeting and not eat dinner please register bynoon Thursday February 25 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select ldquoSeminar onlyrdquo The fee is $1 New members or those seeking ad-ditional information contact the NESACS administrative coordinator AnnaSinger at secretarynesacsorg or at (781) 272-1966 during regular businesshours only note the office is open on a part-time basis THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO THE EVENT ATTENDEES NEED TO BEAWARE THAT THE HOST FACILITY IS A PRIVATE FACILITY WITH ITSOWN SECURITY AND GUIDELINES FOR ADMISSION IT IS REQUIREDBY THE HOST SITE THAT ALL ATTENDEES BE REGISTERED IN AD-VANCE THOSE WHO FAIL TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE MAY NOT BEADMITTED TO THE PROGRAMDirections to Takeda-MilleniumBy subway Kendall Square T stop (Red Line)Parking Parking at 80 Landsdowne Street with validation stickersstamps avail-able from security at the time of check-in at Takeda Additional parking is avail-able at 55 Franklin Street and after 6 PM on the adjacent streets in meteredparkingSpecial Thanks tobull Mark Ashwell mashwellgmailcombull Alexis Arakelian AlexisArakeliantakedacombull Samantha Smiley SamanthaSmileytakedacombull Leland Johnson ljohnsontheconditasgroupcombull Tracie Smart (Whitesides Group)bull Kelly Le and Brenden Meisinger (Aramark Takeda)

Webstreamingof the MarchMeetingAjay Purohit NESACS Board of Publi-cationsDear members In the January 2016 edi-tion of the Nucleus we announced thatgoing forward NESACS will be livestreaming its monthly meetings Unfor-tunately we were unable to roll this fea-ture out starting with the Januarymeeting due to an upgrade that the serv-ice provider was implementing I onbehalf of the board of publications amhappy to announce that we now havethis issue resolved Beginning with theMarch 2016 meeting members will beable to participate in these meetings viaWebEx either on their computers orusing their mobile device

To join please go to httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings and click on ldquoGuestrdquoEnter your name to join in to the meet-

continued on page 12

BiographyMost recently Professor Whitesidesgave the Fred Kavli Innovations inChemistry Lecture entitled ldquoProblemsPuzzles and Inevitabilities in Researchrdquoduring the Fall ACS National Meetinghere in Boston

George M Whitesides was bornAugust 3 1939 in Louisville KY Hereceived an AB degree from HarvardUniversity in 1960 and a PhD from theCalifornia Institute of Technology (withJD Roberts) in 1964 He was a mem-ber of the faculty of the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology from 1963 to1982 He joined the Department ofChemistry of Harvard University in1982 and was Department Chairman1986 to 1989 and Mallinckrodt Profes-sor of Chemistry from 1982 to 2004 Heis now the Woodford L and Ann AFlowers University Professor

We encourage younger chemists tospeak with Professor Whitesides duringand after the meeting at Takeda

6 The Nucleus March 2016

2016 NESACSCandidates forElectionThe NESACS 2016 Nominating Com-mittee recommends the following slateof candidates for the 2016 NESACSelection Candidates may be submittedby petition until March 13 2016Chair-Elect

Dr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Mindy Levine

Trustee Dr Robert LichterDr Dorothy J Phillips

Treasurer Dr Ashis Saha

Director-at-Large Dr Michael FilosaDr David HarrisDr John NeumeyerMr James PhillipsDr Myron S SimonMs Vivian K Walworth

Nominating Committee Dr Thomas R GilbertMr James PhillipsDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Sophia Su

Norris Committee Dr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr George OrsquoDohertyDr Samuel PazicniDr Ajay Purohit

CouncilorAlternate CouncilorsMr Raymond E BorgDr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Thomas R GilbertDr Patrick M GordonDr Jerry P JasinskiMr Leland L Johnson JrDr Robert LichterDr Mary A MahaneyDr Lisa MarcaurelleDr Kenneth C MattesDr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr Carol MulrooneyDr Ajay PurohitDr Raj (SB) RajurMs Sofia SantosDr Marietta SchwartzDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Michael SingerDr Sonja Strah-Pleynet

Call forNominationsThe 2016 James Flack NorrisAward for OutstandingAchievement in the Teachingof ChemistryDeadline April 15 2016Nominations are invited for the 2016James Flack Norris Award which con-sists of a certificate and an honorariumof $3000 and is given annually by theNortheastern Section (NESACS) Thepresentation will take place at a cere-mony and dinner in November 2016and will include a formal address by theawardee The Award was established in1950 by NESACS to honor the memoryof James Flack Norris (1871-1940) aprofessor of chemistry at Simmons Col-lege and MIT chair of NESACS in1904 and ACS President in 1925-26

Nominees should have served withspecial distinction as teachers of chem-istry at any level secondary school col-lege andor graduate school With thepresentation of the first Award in 1951awardees have included many eminentteachers at all levels whose efforts havehad a wide-ranging effect on chemicaleducation The recipient will be se-lected from an international list of nom-inees who have served with specialdistinction as teachers of chemistry withsignificant achievements

A nomination in the form of a lettershould focus on the candidatersquos contri-butions to and effectiveness in teachingchemistry The nomineersquos curriculumvitae should be included and where ap-propriate a list of honors awards and

publications related to chemical educa-tion Seconding letters may also be in-cluded these should show the impact ofthe nomineersquos teaching for inspiring col-leagues and students toward an activelife in the chemical sciences and attestto the influence of the nomineersquos otheractivities in chemical education such astextbooks journal articles or other pro-fessional activity at the local nationaland international level

The nomination materials shouldconsist of the primary nomination lettersupporting letters and the candidatersquoscurriculum vitae Reprints or other pub-lications should NOT be included Thematerial should not exceed thirty (30)pages and should be submitted elec-tronically in Adobe PDF format throughApril 15 2016 to Ms Anna Singer NE-SACS Administrative Secretary ltsecre-tarynesacsorggt For more information about the Awardsee lthttpwwwnesacsorgawards_norrishtmlgt

Questions about the Award or thenomination process should be directedto the Chair of the Norris Award Com-mittee Professor Patricia A Mabroukltpmabroukneuedugt

AnnouncementNESACS - Chemists CelebrateEarth Day Theme The Great Indoors -The Home EcosystemApril 10 2016 - Museum ofScience BostonNESACS will be celebrating ChemistsCelebrate Earth Day Event at Blue Wingof MoS on Sunday April 10 2016 from12 - 4 pm There will be hands-on activ-ities from various institutions Thetheme for this event is ldquoThe Great In-doors - The Home Ecosystemrdquo coveringtopics pertaining to indoor air and waterquality of the homeNESACS will be participating in ACSsponsored CCED illustrated poem con-test for students in Kindergarten - 12thgrade

Petition Candidates Any group com-prising 2 per cent or more of the Northeastern Section may nominatecandidates rdquo See NESACS websitefor detailsRespectfully submitted NESACS 2016Nominating CommitteeKatherine Lee Chair John Burke An-drew Scholte Anna Sromek JohnWilliams

The Nucleus March 2016 7

NESACS atFenway ParkMay 11

This year our NESACS Red Sox outingis on Wednesday May 11 for the 700Red Sox vs Oakland Athletics gameBring your colleagues friends and fam-ily for a great ACS evening at FenwayHome plate grandstand seats are $3800and can be purchased at the NESACSPayPal link httpacssymposiumcompaypal-redsoxhtml This traditional NESACS event theWally Gleekman Memorial Sum-merthing is always a sellout and wehope to see you there

The third STEM Journey event consistsof the following enthusiastic volun-teers keynote speakers hands on sci-ence demonstrations and the earning ofBoy Scout Merit BadgesHistoryOur first event was on March 29 2014ldquoSpace Lab to Zero Grdquo and we attractedmore than 750 people (httpwwwne-sacsorgpub_nucleus2014Dec14pdf)The second event on March 28 2015was on Oceanography- ldquoGreat WhiteSharks to Deep Ocean Explorationrdquo Itis described in (httpnesacsorgsec-tion_actSTEM2015STEMJourneyII_715apdf)

STEM Journeys I-III are free eventsat Cape Cod Community College In2015 we had more than 1100 visitors100 volunteers 30 organizations and500 people who signed up to listen toour keynote speakers All of this was ona snowy day in March This event wasdescribed in the Dec 2015 issue of the

Nucleus httpnesacsorgpub_nucleus2015Dec15NUCLEUSpdf

We did get TV radio and Cape CodTimes coverage for this event which isthe largest STEM event on the SouthShore(httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=SeLRGsB7xYUhttpwwwcapecodtimescomarticle20150329NEWS1503294090SEARCH

This year our theme will be Trans-portation and the title is ldquoSTEM JourneyIII Transportation Air Ground andSeardquo One of our keynote speakers willbe discussing autonomous vehicles Weexpect to have 50 organizations 150volunteers and 1500 visitors on April 22016 at Cape Cod Community CollegeMission StatementThe STEM Journey program was organ-ized in 2014 by the Cape Cod Councilof the Boy Scouts of America the North-

Stem Journey IIIBy Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan NESACS Public Relations CommitteeApril 2 2016 at Cape Cod Community College

continued on page 13

For late breaking news job postings and the latest meeting and event

information please visit us atWWWNESACSORG

Photo credits Doris Lewis

8 The Nucleus March 2016

IntroductionBiodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME) is an alternativefuel made from renewable vegetable oils that can be used indiesel vehicles without engine modifications Biodiesel is apossible replacement for petroleum diesel due to reducedgreenhouse gas emissions unburned hydrocarbons carbonmonoxide particulate manner and nitrogen oxides1 A dieselengine can run on an 8020 (B20) mix of petroleum diesel tobiodiesel and with adjustments (to avoid possible clogging)can run 100 (B100) biodiesel2 Over the past 10 years ourresearch group has been studying the chemistry of small-scale(500mL-4L) biodiesel synthesis by base-catalyzed transester-ification of vegetable oils and determined that this process ishighly inefficient and wasteful3 A detailed model of the ki-netics and mechanism for glyceryl fatty acid transesterifica-tion has not been developed A better understanding of thischemical process could be important in solving these issuesthrough the application of green chemistry principles in mod-ifying reaction parameters and in the design of specific cata-lysts for transesterification

The transesterification of simple esters is a traditional chem-ical reaction taught in college-level organic chemistry Figure14 However understanding the transesterification of fattyacid triglycerides is more challenging due to complex sub-strate conformations reaction solubility challenges identifi-cation of intermediates and uncertainty as to the sequence oftri-ester exchange Figure 2 It is not clear for example if thetransesterification is a progression of three sequential reac-tions at each of the three tri-acyl glycerides (C1-C2-C3) or ifthere is rate limiting exchange of the methylene ester groups(C1 vs C3) versus the methine ester group (C2) Figure 2

1H NMR spectrometry is a rapid quantitative instrumentalmethod for time-based monitoring of transesterification reac-tions based on the integration of select proton signals Al-though vegetable oil transesterification into methyl esters hasbeen studied by 1H NMR5-7 very little work has been donestudying the reaction progress and kinetics by this methodThe goal of this work was to develop a 1H NMR experimentalmethod to study the time course of vegetable oil transesterifi-cation that may eventually lead to a detailed kinetic modelthat would identify whether rate limiting transesterificationoccurs at C1-C3 or C2 as the glyceryl triester is converted intothe di- and mono- ester and finally free glycerolMethodologyGeneral All reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrichor Fisher Scientific and used without further purificationTransesterification reactions were conducted using storebought brand name soybean oil All glassware was washedwith Micro-90 cleaner and then rinsed with deionized waterand acetone before oven drying at 80oCTransesterification Procedures Transesterification reactionswere run at constant temperature (60oC or 25oC) using a stan-dard 25 mL batch method with 31 mole ratios ofmethanolester (251 mmole triglyceride) and 251 mmolepotassium hydroxide as catalyst Aliquots were removed attimed intervals and quenched by dilution in acetone-d6 con-taining 005 TMS The molecular mass of the triglyceride(vegetable oil) and biodiesel product were estimated based onthe molecular mass of oleic acid as a model fatty acid Sampling and Sample Preparation Good signal-to-noiseratios were obtained using 10 mL of acetone-d6 to quench 25microL reaction aliquots Aliquot volumes were measured withgas-tight syringes flushed thoroughly between each aliquotto avoid contamination 1H NMR spectra were obtained im-mediately after being quenched and then scanned againtwenty-four hours later No changes in NMR spectra were ob-served over a 24-hour period Instrumentation and Analysis Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) spectra were obtained on a JEOL ECX-400 MHz in-strument Quantitative NMR (qNMR)8 was used to determinereaction progress based on theoretical percent yield In qNMRthe quantity of a particular analyte (biodiesel) is determinedby comparing the integrated value of an analyte signal ofknown number of protons to the integrated value of a knowninternal standard (Figure 3 equations 1 and 2) Maleic acidwas used as the reference standard (vinyl protons at 63 ppm2H)9 to quantitate the biodiesel formed based on the appear-ance of the -OCH3 methyl ester signal at 36 ppm (3H)

Summer Scholar ReportApplying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterification of glycerolfatty acid triestersLeonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Department of Chemical Sciences Bridgewater State University Bridgewater MA 02325

Continued on page 9

Figure 1 Chemical reaction for the transesterification of vegetable oil tobiodiesel

Figure 2 Triacyl glyceride transesterification with methoxide TAG = tri-acylglyceride DAG = diacylglyceride MAG = monoacylglyceride GLY =glycerol FAME123 = Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (biodiesel)

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 2: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

2 The Nucleus March 2016

The terrorist attacks in Beirut and Parisa few days earlier the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the continuinghumanitarian crisis in Syria and Iraqserved as the backdrop for the seventhbiennial Malta Conference (Malta VII)on scientific research and education inthe Middle East which was held at theSofitel Hotel in Rabat Morocco on No-vember 15-20 2015

The six previous Malta Confer-ences took place in Valletta Malta(2003 2005 2013) Istanbul Turkey(2007) Amman Jordan (2009) andParis France (2011 at UNESCO head-quarters as part of the celebration of theInternational Year of Chemistry) TheMalta Conferences Foundation (MCF)a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in-corporated in Washington DC organ-izes the Conferences and raises moneyfor their support

The recent horrifying events withinthe Middle East and around the worldled to an increased determination by themore than 90 participants at Malta VIIto unite with one another to build col-laborations as a bridge to peace Withscientists and science educators fromuniversities and national institutes in-cluding students and early-career scien-tists from 15 Middle East and NorthAfrica (MENA) countries (BahrainEgypt Iran Iraq Israel Jordan KuwaitLebanon Morocco Palestinian Author-ity Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkeyand the United Arab Emirates) as wellas speakers and meeting organizers fromUS and Europe the Conference fea-

tured plenary lectures by four NobelLaureates workshops on topics of im-portance to the participants from the re-gion oral and poster presentations andopportunities for everyone to make per-sonal and professional connections

Amazingly given the declared andundeclared states of war and politicalanimosities among the MENA coun-tries only one person a representativefrom Libya was denied a visa to enterMorocco Even the Syrians and Iraqiswho received their visas on the day be-fore the Conference was to begin wereable to come and tell us first-hand aboutthe hardships they encounter on a dailybasis in their lives and professionalwork as well as the obstacles they facedto make the trip to Morocco

The plenary lectures were given bychemistry Nobel Laureates Ada Yonath(Israel 2009) Borderless Science DanShechtman (Israel 2011) TechnologicalEntrepreneurship Key to World Peaceand Prosperity Roald Hoffmann (US1981) Two New Games for CarbonMartin Karplus (US 2013) MotionHallmark of Life From Marsupials toMolecules

Presentations were also made byYvonne Pope (Chemical Abstracts Serv-ices UK) SciFinder ndash The Choice forChemistry Research Olli Vuola (AaltoUniversity Finland) Entrepreneurshipand Innovation Nicholas Anthis (USAgency for International DevelopmentUS) The Middle East Regional Coop-eration (MERC) Program Leiv Sydnes(University of Bergen Norway) Chem-

ical Safety and Security Jonathan For-man (Organization for the Prohibition ofChemical Weapons The Netherlands)Educational Resources From OPCWFadila Boughanemi (European Com-mission on Research and InnovationEU) EU Builds Bridges Through Sci-ence Diplomacy Mohamed Ismail (AinShams University Egypt) SoftwareDemonstration of Molecular Modelingand Computer Aided Drug DesignDonna Nelson (President-Elect Ameri-can Chemical Society) The Science Be-hind ldquoBreaking Badrdquo

Report from Rabat Malta VIIFrontiers of Science Research and Education in the Middle EastMorton Z Hoffman (Boston University Treasurer Malta Conferences Foundation) lthoffmanbuedugt

continued on page 12

The Sofitel Rabat Hotel

Zafra Lerman (at left) with Fadila Boughanemi

The Nucleus March 2016 3

The Nucleus is published monthly except June and August by the Northeastern Section of the AmericanChemical Society Inc Forms close for advertising on the 1st of the month of the preceding issue Textmust be received by the editor six weeks before the date of issueEditor Michael P Filosa PhD 18 Tamarack Road Medfield MA 02052 Email

filosam(at)verizonnet Tel 508-843-9070Associate Editors Myron S Simon 60 Seminary Ave apt 272 Auburndale MA 02466

Morton HoffmanBoard of Publications James Phillips (Chair) Vivian K Walworth Mary Mahaney Ajay Purohit

Ken DrewBusiness Manager VacantAdvertising Manager Vacant contact Michael Filosa at admanagernesacsorgCalendar Coordinator Xavier Herault Email xherault(at)outlookcomPhotographers Morton Hoffman and James PhillipsProofreaders Donald O Rickter Vivian K Walworth Morton Z Hoffman Webmaster Roy HagenCopyright 2016 Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society Inc

The Northeastern Section of the American-Chemical Society IncOffice Anna Singer 12 Corcoran RoadBurlington MA 01803(Voice or FAX) 781-272-1966e-mail secretary(at)nesacsorgNESACS HomepagehttpwwwNESACSorgOfficers 2016ChairJerry P JasinskiKeene State CollegeKeene NH 03435-2001jjasinsk(at)keeneeduChair-ElectLeland L Johnson JrConditas Biotechnology GroupPO Box 540Brookline MA 02446ljohnson(at)theconditasgroupcom617-304-6474Immediate Past ChairKatherine L LeePfizer610 Main StreetCambridge MA 02139katherinelee(at)pfizercom617-674-7299SecretaryMichael SingerMilliporeSigma3 Strathmore Rd Natick MA 01360774-290-1391 michaelsinger(at)sialcomTreasurerJames Piper19 Mill Rd Harvard MA 01451978-456-3155 piper28(at)attglobalnetAuditorPatrick GordonArchivistKen MattesTrusteesDorothy Phillips Ruth Tanner Peter C MeltzerDirectors-at-LargeDavid Harris John Neumeyer Ralph Scannell John Burke Ioannis Papayannopoulos Christine Jaworek-LopesCouncilors Alternate CouncilorsTerm Ends 12312016Michael Singer Sophia R SuMary Shultz Mukund ChorghadeRobert Lichter Mary MahaneyHeidi Teng Raj RajurMarietta Schwartz Sonja Strah-PleynetTerm Ends 12312017Michael P Filosa John PodobinskiDoris I Lewis Patrick GordonChristine Jaworek-Lopes Anna SromekPatricia A Mabrouk Mary BurgessMark Tebbe Ralph ScannellMorton Z Hoffman Leland L Johnson JrTerm Ends 12312018Katherine Lee Kenneth MattesCatherine E Costello Jackie ONeilRuth Tanner Andrew ScholteMichaeline Chen Jerry P Jasinski

ContentsReport from Rabat Malta VII _____________________________2Frontiers of Science Research and Education in the Middle EastBy Morton Z HoffmanNational Recognition for NESACS Student Chapters ___________4Monthly Meeting _______________________________________5George M Whitesides to speak at Takeda-Millennium Cambridge MAWebstreaming of the March Meeting _______________________52016 NESACS Candidates for Election _____________________6Announcements ______________________________________67Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for OutstandingAchievement in the Teaching of Chemistry NESACS-Chemists Celebrate EarthDay NESACS at Fenway ParkStem Journey III________________________________________7By Jack Driscoll and Jennifer MaclachlanSummer Scholar Report _________________________________8Applying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterifi-cation of glycerol fatty acid triestersBy Leonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Bridgewater State UniversityNSYCC Meets the Next Generation of Scientists _____________10By Catherine Rawlins NSYCCSenior Chemists Luncheon ______________________________11April 20 2016 at Panera Bread Needham MANSCRC Conference and Career Symposium _________________16April 16-17 at the University of Massachusetts-BostonKeynote speaker Mircea Dinca MITCover March speaker George M Whitesides Woodford L and Ann A Flowers University Professor Harvard University Photo courtesy of ProfessorWhitesidesEditorial Deadlines May 2016 Issue March 15 2016 Summer-September 2016 Issue July 15 2016

All Chairs of standingCommittees the editor of THE NUCLEUS and the Trustees of SectionFunds are members of theBoard of Directors AnyCoun cilor of the American Chemical Soci-ety residing within the section area is an ex of-ficio member of the Board of Directors

4 The Nucleus March 2016

The ACS Committee on Education hasselected the following student chaptersin the Northeastern Section to receivespecial recognition for the programs andactivities described in their 2014-2015reportsOutstandingbull Northeastern University Boston MA

Jaime Conway and William Timsonchapter co-presidents Prof KathleenCameron faculty advisor

Commendable Recognitionbull Gordon College Wenham MA

Daruenie Andujar and Logan Walshchapter co-presidents Prof IrvinLevy faculty advisor

bull University of Massachusetts LowellLowell MA Megan Lulsdorf andTyler Harrison chapter co-presidentsProf Kwok-Fan Chow faculty advi-sor

Honorable Mentionbull Keene State College Keene NH

James Kraly and Denise Junge chap-ter co-presidents Prof James Ulci-ckas faculty advisor

bull Saint Anselm College ManchesterNH Catherine Muldoon and CharlesDooley chapter co-presidents ProfNicole Eyet faculty advisor

bull Simmons College Boston MACaitlin Horgan and Nina Chen chap-ter co-presidents Prof ChangqingChen faculty advisor

bull Suffolk University Boston MASalina Shrestha and Janice Bautistachapter co-presidents Prof EdithEnyedy faculty advisor

Community Interaction Grantsbull Plymouth State University Plymouth

NH Albert Lamonda student projectdirector Prof Anil Waghe faculty ad-visor Project title Chemistry in Art

bull University of Massachusetts LowellLowell MA Megan Lulsdorf andTyler Harrison chapter co-presidentsProf Kwok-Fan Chow faculty advi-sor

New Activities Grantsbull Suffolk University Boston MA Jan-

ice Bautista student project directorProf Edith Enyedy faculty advisorProject title Chemistry of Smell andTaste

Student involvement in applying greenchemistry principles and practices is es-sential to the integration of environmen-tally benign technologies in academiaand industry The ACS Green ChemistryInstitute recognizes ACS student chap-ters that have engaged in at least threegreen chemistry activities during the ac-ademic year Listed below are the 2014-2015 Green Chemistry Award recipientslocated within the Northeastern Sectionbull Gordon College Wenham MAbull Northeastern University Boston MAAll chapters receiving special recogni-tion will be honored at the 251st ACSNational Chemistry Meeting in SanDiego CA on Sunday March 13 2016

NESACS SponsorsCompany Contribution LevelAmgen PlatinumBiogen-Idec PlatinumJohnson-Matthey PlatinumSK Life Sciences PlatinumStrem PlatinumNova Biomedical GoldMerck SilverCelgene BronzeConditas Group BronzeCubist BronzeMillipore-Sigma BronzeTakeda BronzeVertex BronzeContribution Levels DonationPlatinum $5000+Gold $3500-5000Silver $2000-3500Bronze $500-2000Meeting HostsAmgenAstra ZenecaBiogen-IdecBurlington High SchoolGenzyme A Sanofi CompanyNova BiomedicalNovartisPfizerTufts UniversityVertex

National Recognition forNESACS Student Chapters

New MembersInvitation to attend a meetingYou are cordially invited to attend oneof our upcoming Section meetings as aguest of the Section at the social hourand dinner preceding the meeting

Please call Anna Singer at 781-272-1966 between 9am-6pm or email sec-retary(at)nesacsorg by noon the firstThursday of the month letting her knowthat you are a new member

The Nucleus March 2016 5

Monthly MeetingThe 959th Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the AmericanChemical SocietyThursday ndash March 3 2016Takeda-Millennium40 Landsdowne St Cambridge MA 02139430 pm NESACS Board Meeting (Seminar Room-1st floor)530 pm Social Hour (Cafeteria 1st floor)630 pm Dinner (Cafeteria 1st floor)730 pm Welcome Dr Jerry Jasinski NESACS Chair (Auditorium 1st floor)745 pm Evening program with Professor George M Whitesides Woodford

L and Ann A Flowers University Professor Harvard UniversityFor those who would like to join us for dinner register by noon Thursday Feb-ruary 25 2016 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select thepay with credit or debit card option and follow the additional instructions on thepage Cost Members $30 Non-members $35 Retirees $20 Students $10Dinner reservations not cancelled at least 24 hours in advance must be paid

If you wish to join us for this meeting and not eat dinner please register bynoon Thursday February 25 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select ldquoSeminar onlyrdquo The fee is $1 New members or those seeking ad-ditional information contact the NESACS administrative coordinator AnnaSinger at secretarynesacsorg or at (781) 272-1966 during regular businesshours only note the office is open on a part-time basis THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO THE EVENT ATTENDEES NEED TO BEAWARE THAT THE HOST FACILITY IS A PRIVATE FACILITY WITH ITSOWN SECURITY AND GUIDELINES FOR ADMISSION IT IS REQUIREDBY THE HOST SITE THAT ALL ATTENDEES BE REGISTERED IN AD-VANCE THOSE WHO FAIL TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE MAY NOT BEADMITTED TO THE PROGRAMDirections to Takeda-MilleniumBy subway Kendall Square T stop (Red Line)Parking Parking at 80 Landsdowne Street with validation stickersstamps avail-able from security at the time of check-in at Takeda Additional parking is avail-able at 55 Franklin Street and after 6 PM on the adjacent streets in meteredparkingSpecial Thanks tobull Mark Ashwell mashwellgmailcombull Alexis Arakelian AlexisArakeliantakedacombull Samantha Smiley SamanthaSmileytakedacombull Leland Johnson ljohnsontheconditasgroupcombull Tracie Smart (Whitesides Group)bull Kelly Le and Brenden Meisinger (Aramark Takeda)

Webstreamingof the MarchMeetingAjay Purohit NESACS Board of Publi-cationsDear members In the January 2016 edi-tion of the Nucleus we announced thatgoing forward NESACS will be livestreaming its monthly meetings Unfor-tunately we were unable to roll this fea-ture out starting with the Januarymeeting due to an upgrade that the serv-ice provider was implementing I onbehalf of the board of publications amhappy to announce that we now havethis issue resolved Beginning with theMarch 2016 meeting members will beable to participate in these meetings viaWebEx either on their computers orusing their mobile device

To join please go to httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings and click on ldquoGuestrdquoEnter your name to join in to the meet-

continued on page 12

BiographyMost recently Professor Whitesidesgave the Fred Kavli Innovations inChemistry Lecture entitled ldquoProblemsPuzzles and Inevitabilities in Researchrdquoduring the Fall ACS National Meetinghere in Boston

George M Whitesides was bornAugust 3 1939 in Louisville KY Hereceived an AB degree from HarvardUniversity in 1960 and a PhD from theCalifornia Institute of Technology (withJD Roberts) in 1964 He was a mem-ber of the faculty of the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology from 1963 to1982 He joined the Department ofChemistry of Harvard University in1982 and was Department Chairman1986 to 1989 and Mallinckrodt Profes-sor of Chemistry from 1982 to 2004 Heis now the Woodford L and Ann AFlowers University Professor

We encourage younger chemists tospeak with Professor Whitesides duringand after the meeting at Takeda

6 The Nucleus March 2016

2016 NESACSCandidates forElectionThe NESACS 2016 Nominating Com-mittee recommends the following slateof candidates for the 2016 NESACSelection Candidates may be submittedby petition until March 13 2016Chair-Elect

Dr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Mindy Levine

Trustee Dr Robert LichterDr Dorothy J Phillips

Treasurer Dr Ashis Saha

Director-at-Large Dr Michael FilosaDr David HarrisDr John NeumeyerMr James PhillipsDr Myron S SimonMs Vivian K Walworth

Nominating Committee Dr Thomas R GilbertMr James PhillipsDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Sophia Su

Norris Committee Dr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr George OrsquoDohertyDr Samuel PazicniDr Ajay Purohit

CouncilorAlternate CouncilorsMr Raymond E BorgDr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Thomas R GilbertDr Patrick M GordonDr Jerry P JasinskiMr Leland L Johnson JrDr Robert LichterDr Mary A MahaneyDr Lisa MarcaurelleDr Kenneth C MattesDr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr Carol MulrooneyDr Ajay PurohitDr Raj (SB) RajurMs Sofia SantosDr Marietta SchwartzDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Michael SingerDr Sonja Strah-Pleynet

Call forNominationsThe 2016 James Flack NorrisAward for OutstandingAchievement in the Teachingof ChemistryDeadline April 15 2016Nominations are invited for the 2016James Flack Norris Award which con-sists of a certificate and an honorariumof $3000 and is given annually by theNortheastern Section (NESACS) Thepresentation will take place at a cere-mony and dinner in November 2016and will include a formal address by theawardee The Award was established in1950 by NESACS to honor the memoryof James Flack Norris (1871-1940) aprofessor of chemistry at Simmons Col-lege and MIT chair of NESACS in1904 and ACS President in 1925-26

Nominees should have served withspecial distinction as teachers of chem-istry at any level secondary school col-lege andor graduate school With thepresentation of the first Award in 1951awardees have included many eminentteachers at all levels whose efforts havehad a wide-ranging effect on chemicaleducation The recipient will be se-lected from an international list of nom-inees who have served with specialdistinction as teachers of chemistry withsignificant achievements

A nomination in the form of a lettershould focus on the candidatersquos contri-butions to and effectiveness in teachingchemistry The nomineersquos curriculumvitae should be included and where ap-propriate a list of honors awards and

publications related to chemical educa-tion Seconding letters may also be in-cluded these should show the impact ofthe nomineersquos teaching for inspiring col-leagues and students toward an activelife in the chemical sciences and attestto the influence of the nomineersquos otheractivities in chemical education such astextbooks journal articles or other pro-fessional activity at the local nationaland international level

The nomination materials shouldconsist of the primary nomination lettersupporting letters and the candidatersquoscurriculum vitae Reprints or other pub-lications should NOT be included Thematerial should not exceed thirty (30)pages and should be submitted elec-tronically in Adobe PDF format throughApril 15 2016 to Ms Anna Singer NE-SACS Administrative Secretary ltsecre-tarynesacsorggt For more information about the Awardsee lthttpwwwnesacsorgawards_norrishtmlgt

Questions about the Award or thenomination process should be directedto the Chair of the Norris Award Com-mittee Professor Patricia A Mabroukltpmabroukneuedugt

AnnouncementNESACS - Chemists CelebrateEarth Day Theme The Great Indoors -The Home EcosystemApril 10 2016 - Museum ofScience BostonNESACS will be celebrating ChemistsCelebrate Earth Day Event at Blue Wingof MoS on Sunday April 10 2016 from12 - 4 pm There will be hands-on activ-ities from various institutions Thetheme for this event is ldquoThe Great In-doors - The Home Ecosystemrdquo coveringtopics pertaining to indoor air and waterquality of the homeNESACS will be participating in ACSsponsored CCED illustrated poem con-test for students in Kindergarten - 12thgrade

Petition Candidates Any group com-prising 2 per cent or more of the Northeastern Section may nominatecandidates rdquo See NESACS websitefor detailsRespectfully submitted NESACS 2016Nominating CommitteeKatherine Lee Chair John Burke An-drew Scholte Anna Sromek JohnWilliams

The Nucleus March 2016 7

NESACS atFenway ParkMay 11

This year our NESACS Red Sox outingis on Wednesday May 11 for the 700Red Sox vs Oakland Athletics gameBring your colleagues friends and fam-ily for a great ACS evening at FenwayHome plate grandstand seats are $3800and can be purchased at the NESACSPayPal link httpacssymposiumcompaypal-redsoxhtml This traditional NESACS event theWally Gleekman Memorial Sum-merthing is always a sellout and wehope to see you there

The third STEM Journey event consistsof the following enthusiastic volun-teers keynote speakers hands on sci-ence demonstrations and the earning ofBoy Scout Merit BadgesHistoryOur first event was on March 29 2014ldquoSpace Lab to Zero Grdquo and we attractedmore than 750 people (httpwwwne-sacsorgpub_nucleus2014Dec14pdf)The second event on March 28 2015was on Oceanography- ldquoGreat WhiteSharks to Deep Ocean Explorationrdquo Itis described in (httpnesacsorgsec-tion_actSTEM2015STEMJourneyII_715apdf)

STEM Journeys I-III are free eventsat Cape Cod Community College In2015 we had more than 1100 visitors100 volunteers 30 organizations and500 people who signed up to listen toour keynote speakers All of this was ona snowy day in March This event wasdescribed in the Dec 2015 issue of the

Nucleus httpnesacsorgpub_nucleus2015Dec15NUCLEUSpdf

We did get TV radio and Cape CodTimes coverage for this event which isthe largest STEM event on the SouthShore(httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=SeLRGsB7xYUhttpwwwcapecodtimescomarticle20150329NEWS1503294090SEARCH

This year our theme will be Trans-portation and the title is ldquoSTEM JourneyIII Transportation Air Ground andSeardquo One of our keynote speakers willbe discussing autonomous vehicles Weexpect to have 50 organizations 150volunteers and 1500 visitors on April 22016 at Cape Cod Community CollegeMission StatementThe STEM Journey program was organ-ized in 2014 by the Cape Cod Councilof the Boy Scouts of America the North-

Stem Journey IIIBy Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan NESACS Public Relations CommitteeApril 2 2016 at Cape Cod Community College

continued on page 13

For late breaking news job postings and the latest meeting and event

information please visit us atWWWNESACSORG

Photo credits Doris Lewis

8 The Nucleus March 2016

IntroductionBiodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME) is an alternativefuel made from renewable vegetable oils that can be used indiesel vehicles without engine modifications Biodiesel is apossible replacement for petroleum diesel due to reducedgreenhouse gas emissions unburned hydrocarbons carbonmonoxide particulate manner and nitrogen oxides1 A dieselengine can run on an 8020 (B20) mix of petroleum diesel tobiodiesel and with adjustments (to avoid possible clogging)can run 100 (B100) biodiesel2 Over the past 10 years ourresearch group has been studying the chemistry of small-scale(500mL-4L) biodiesel synthesis by base-catalyzed transester-ification of vegetable oils and determined that this process ishighly inefficient and wasteful3 A detailed model of the ki-netics and mechanism for glyceryl fatty acid transesterifica-tion has not been developed A better understanding of thischemical process could be important in solving these issuesthrough the application of green chemistry principles in mod-ifying reaction parameters and in the design of specific cata-lysts for transesterification

The transesterification of simple esters is a traditional chem-ical reaction taught in college-level organic chemistry Figure14 However understanding the transesterification of fattyacid triglycerides is more challenging due to complex sub-strate conformations reaction solubility challenges identifi-cation of intermediates and uncertainty as to the sequence oftri-ester exchange Figure 2 It is not clear for example if thetransesterification is a progression of three sequential reac-tions at each of the three tri-acyl glycerides (C1-C2-C3) or ifthere is rate limiting exchange of the methylene ester groups(C1 vs C3) versus the methine ester group (C2) Figure 2

1H NMR spectrometry is a rapid quantitative instrumentalmethod for time-based monitoring of transesterification reac-tions based on the integration of select proton signals Al-though vegetable oil transesterification into methyl esters hasbeen studied by 1H NMR5-7 very little work has been donestudying the reaction progress and kinetics by this methodThe goal of this work was to develop a 1H NMR experimentalmethod to study the time course of vegetable oil transesterifi-cation that may eventually lead to a detailed kinetic modelthat would identify whether rate limiting transesterificationoccurs at C1-C3 or C2 as the glyceryl triester is converted intothe di- and mono- ester and finally free glycerolMethodologyGeneral All reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrichor Fisher Scientific and used without further purificationTransesterification reactions were conducted using storebought brand name soybean oil All glassware was washedwith Micro-90 cleaner and then rinsed with deionized waterand acetone before oven drying at 80oCTransesterification Procedures Transesterification reactionswere run at constant temperature (60oC or 25oC) using a stan-dard 25 mL batch method with 31 mole ratios ofmethanolester (251 mmole triglyceride) and 251 mmolepotassium hydroxide as catalyst Aliquots were removed attimed intervals and quenched by dilution in acetone-d6 con-taining 005 TMS The molecular mass of the triglyceride(vegetable oil) and biodiesel product were estimated based onthe molecular mass of oleic acid as a model fatty acid Sampling and Sample Preparation Good signal-to-noiseratios were obtained using 10 mL of acetone-d6 to quench 25microL reaction aliquots Aliquot volumes were measured withgas-tight syringes flushed thoroughly between each aliquotto avoid contamination 1H NMR spectra were obtained im-mediately after being quenched and then scanned againtwenty-four hours later No changes in NMR spectra were ob-served over a 24-hour period Instrumentation and Analysis Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) spectra were obtained on a JEOL ECX-400 MHz in-strument Quantitative NMR (qNMR)8 was used to determinereaction progress based on theoretical percent yield In qNMRthe quantity of a particular analyte (biodiesel) is determinedby comparing the integrated value of an analyte signal ofknown number of protons to the integrated value of a knowninternal standard (Figure 3 equations 1 and 2) Maleic acidwas used as the reference standard (vinyl protons at 63 ppm2H)9 to quantitate the biodiesel formed based on the appear-ance of the -OCH3 methyl ester signal at 36 ppm (3H)

Summer Scholar ReportApplying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterification of glycerolfatty acid triestersLeonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Department of Chemical Sciences Bridgewater State University Bridgewater MA 02325

Continued on page 9

Figure 1 Chemical reaction for the transesterification of vegetable oil tobiodiesel

Figure 2 Triacyl glyceride transesterification with methoxide TAG = tri-acylglyceride DAG = diacylglyceride MAG = monoacylglyceride GLY =glycerol FAME123 = Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (biodiesel)

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 3: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

The Nucleus March 2016 3

The Nucleus is published monthly except June and August by the Northeastern Section of the AmericanChemical Society Inc Forms close for advertising on the 1st of the month of the preceding issue Textmust be received by the editor six weeks before the date of issueEditor Michael P Filosa PhD 18 Tamarack Road Medfield MA 02052 Email

filosam(at)verizonnet Tel 508-843-9070Associate Editors Myron S Simon 60 Seminary Ave apt 272 Auburndale MA 02466

Morton HoffmanBoard of Publications James Phillips (Chair) Vivian K Walworth Mary Mahaney Ajay Purohit

Ken DrewBusiness Manager VacantAdvertising Manager Vacant contact Michael Filosa at admanagernesacsorgCalendar Coordinator Xavier Herault Email xherault(at)outlookcomPhotographers Morton Hoffman and James PhillipsProofreaders Donald O Rickter Vivian K Walworth Morton Z Hoffman Webmaster Roy HagenCopyright 2016 Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society Inc

The Northeastern Section of the American-Chemical Society IncOffice Anna Singer 12 Corcoran RoadBurlington MA 01803(Voice or FAX) 781-272-1966e-mail secretary(at)nesacsorgNESACS HomepagehttpwwwNESACSorgOfficers 2016ChairJerry P JasinskiKeene State CollegeKeene NH 03435-2001jjasinsk(at)keeneeduChair-ElectLeland L Johnson JrConditas Biotechnology GroupPO Box 540Brookline MA 02446ljohnson(at)theconditasgroupcom617-304-6474Immediate Past ChairKatherine L LeePfizer610 Main StreetCambridge MA 02139katherinelee(at)pfizercom617-674-7299SecretaryMichael SingerMilliporeSigma3 Strathmore Rd Natick MA 01360774-290-1391 michaelsinger(at)sialcomTreasurerJames Piper19 Mill Rd Harvard MA 01451978-456-3155 piper28(at)attglobalnetAuditorPatrick GordonArchivistKen MattesTrusteesDorothy Phillips Ruth Tanner Peter C MeltzerDirectors-at-LargeDavid Harris John Neumeyer Ralph Scannell John Burke Ioannis Papayannopoulos Christine Jaworek-LopesCouncilors Alternate CouncilorsTerm Ends 12312016Michael Singer Sophia R SuMary Shultz Mukund ChorghadeRobert Lichter Mary MahaneyHeidi Teng Raj RajurMarietta Schwartz Sonja Strah-PleynetTerm Ends 12312017Michael P Filosa John PodobinskiDoris I Lewis Patrick GordonChristine Jaworek-Lopes Anna SromekPatricia A Mabrouk Mary BurgessMark Tebbe Ralph ScannellMorton Z Hoffman Leland L Johnson JrTerm Ends 12312018Katherine Lee Kenneth MattesCatherine E Costello Jackie ONeilRuth Tanner Andrew ScholteMichaeline Chen Jerry P Jasinski

ContentsReport from Rabat Malta VII _____________________________2Frontiers of Science Research and Education in the Middle EastBy Morton Z HoffmanNational Recognition for NESACS Student Chapters ___________4Monthly Meeting _______________________________________5George M Whitesides to speak at Takeda-Millennium Cambridge MAWebstreaming of the March Meeting _______________________52016 NESACS Candidates for Election _____________________6Announcements ______________________________________67Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for OutstandingAchievement in the Teaching of Chemistry NESACS-Chemists Celebrate EarthDay NESACS at Fenway ParkStem Journey III________________________________________7By Jack Driscoll and Jennifer MaclachlanSummer Scholar Report _________________________________8Applying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterifi-cation of glycerol fatty acid triestersBy Leonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Bridgewater State UniversityNSYCC Meets the Next Generation of Scientists _____________10By Catherine Rawlins NSYCCSenior Chemists Luncheon ______________________________11April 20 2016 at Panera Bread Needham MANSCRC Conference and Career Symposium _________________16April 16-17 at the University of Massachusetts-BostonKeynote speaker Mircea Dinca MITCover March speaker George M Whitesides Woodford L and Ann A Flowers University Professor Harvard University Photo courtesy of ProfessorWhitesidesEditorial Deadlines May 2016 Issue March 15 2016 Summer-September 2016 Issue July 15 2016

All Chairs of standingCommittees the editor of THE NUCLEUS and the Trustees of SectionFunds are members of theBoard of Directors AnyCoun cilor of the American Chemical Soci-ety residing within the section area is an ex of-ficio member of the Board of Directors

4 The Nucleus March 2016

The ACS Committee on Education hasselected the following student chaptersin the Northeastern Section to receivespecial recognition for the programs andactivities described in their 2014-2015reportsOutstandingbull Northeastern University Boston MA

Jaime Conway and William Timsonchapter co-presidents Prof KathleenCameron faculty advisor

Commendable Recognitionbull Gordon College Wenham MA

Daruenie Andujar and Logan Walshchapter co-presidents Prof IrvinLevy faculty advisor

bull University of Massachusetts LowellLowell MA Megan Lulsdorf andTyler Harrison chapter co-presidentsProf Kwok-Fan Chow faculty advi-sor

Honorable Mentionbull Keene State College Keene NH

James Kraly and Denise Junge chap-ter co-presidents Prof James Ulci-ckas faculty advisor

bull Saint Anselm College ManchesterNH Catherine Muldoon and CharlesDooley chapter co-presidents ProfNicole Eyet faculty advisor

bull Simmons College Boston MACaitlin Horgan and Nina Chen chap-ter co-presidents Prof ChangqingChen faculty advisor

bull Suffolk University Boston MASalina Shrestha and Janice Bautistachapter co-presidents Prof EdithEnyedy faculty advisor

Community Interaction Grantsbull Plymouth State University Plymouth

NH Albert Lamonda student projectdirector Prof Anil Waghe faculty ad-visor Project title Chemistry in Art

bull University of Massachusetts LowellLowell MA Megan Lulsdorf andTyler Harrison chapter co-presidentsProf Kwok-Fan Chow faculty advi-sor

New Activities Grantsbull Suffolk University Boston MA Jan-

ice Bautista student project directorProf Edith Enyedy faculty advisorProject title Chemistry of Smell andTaste

Student involvement in applying greenchemistry principles and practices is es-sential to the integration of environmen-tally benign technologies in academiaand industry The ACS Green ChemistryInstitute recognizes ACS student chap-ters that have engaged in at least threegreen chemistry activities during the ac-ademic year Listed below are the 2014-2015 Green Chemistry Award recipientslocated within the Northeastern Sectionbull Gordon College Wenham MAbull Northeastern University Boston MAAll chapters receiving special recogni-tion will be honored at the 251st ACSNational Chemistry Meeting in SanDiego CA on Sunday March 13 2016

NESACS SponsorsCompany Contribution LevelAmgen PlatinumBiogen-Idec PlatinumJohnson-Matthey PlatinumSK Life Sciences PlatinumStrem PlatinumNova Biomedical GoldMerck SilverCelgene BronzeConditas Group BronzeCubist BronzeMillipore-Sigma BronzeTakeda BronzeVertex BronzeContribution Levels DonationPlatinum $5000+Gold $3500-5000Silver $2000-3500Bronze $500-2000Meeting HostsAmgenAstra ZenecaBiogen-IdecBurlington High SchoolGenzyme A Sanofi CompanyNova BiomedicalNovartisPfizerTufts UniversityVertex

National Recognition forNESACS Student Chapters

New MembersInvitation to attend a meetingYou are cordially invited to attend oneof our upcoming Section meetings as aguest of the Section at the social hourand dinner preceding the meeting

Please call Anna Singer at 781-272-1966 between 9am-6pm or email sec-retary(at)nesacsorg by noon the firstThursday of the month letting her knowthat you are a new member

The Nucleus March 2016 5

Monthly MeetingThe 959th Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the AmericanChemical SocietyThursday ndash March 3 2016Takeda-Millennium40 Landsdowne St Cambridge MA 02139430 pm NESACS Board Meeting (Seminar Room-1st floor)530 pm Social Hour (Cafeteria 1st floor)630 pm Dinner (Cafeteria 1st floor)730 pm Welcome Dr Jerry Jasinski NESACS Chair (Auditorium 1st floor)745 pm Evening program with Professor George M Whitesides Woodford

L and Ann A Flowers University Professor Harvard UniversityFor those who would like to join us for dinner register by noon Thursday Feb-ruary 25 2016 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select thepay with credit or debit card option and follow the additional instructions on thepage Cost Members $30 Non-members $35 Retirees $20 Students $10Dinner reservations not cancelled at least 24 hours in advance must be paid

If you wish to join us for this meeting and not eat dinner please register bynoon Thursday February 25 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select ldquoSeminar onlyrdquo The fee is $1 New members or those seeking ad-ditional information contact the NESACS administrative coordinator AnnaSinger at secretarynesacsorg or at (781) 272-1966 during regular businesshours only note the office is open on a part-time basis THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO THE EVENT ATTENDEES NEED TO BEAWARE THAT THE HOST FACILITY IS A PRIVATE FACILITY WITH ITSOWN SECURITY AND GUIDELINES FOR ADMISSION IT IS REQUIREDBY THE HOST SITE THAT ALL ATTENDEES BE REGISTERED IN AD-VANCE THOSE WHO FAIL TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE MAY NOT BEADMITTED TO THE PROGRAMDirections to Takeda-MilleniumBy subway Kendall Square T stop (Red Line)Parking Parking at 80 Landsdowne Street with validation stickersstamps avail-able from security at the time of check-in at Takeda Additional parking is avail-able at 55 Franklin Street and after 6 PM on the adjacent streets in meteredparkingSpecial Thanks tobull Mark Ashwell mashwellgmailcombull Alexis Arakelian AlexisArakeliantakedacombull Samantha Smiley SamanthaSmileytakedacombull Leland Johnson ljohnsontheconditasgroupcombull Tracie Smart (Whitesides Group)bull Kelly Le and Brenden Meisinger (Aramark Takeda)

Webstreamingof the MarchMeetingAjay Purohit NESACS Board of Publi-cationsDear members In the January 2016 edi-tion of the Nucleus we announced thatgoing forward NESACS will be livestreaming its monthly meetings Unfor-tunately we were unable to roll this fea-ture out starting with the Januarymeeting due to an upgrade that the serv-ice provider was implementing I onbehalf of the board of publications amhappy to announce that we now havethis issue resolved Beginning with theMarch 2016 meeting members will beable to participate in these meetings viaWebEx either on their computers orusing their mobile device

To join please go to httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings and click on ldquoGuestrdquoEnter your name to join in to the meet-

continued on page 12

BiographyMost recently Professor Whitesidesgave the Fred Kavli Innovations inChemistry Lecture entitled ldquoProblemsPuzzles and Inevitabilities in Researchrdquoduring the Fall ACS National Meetinghere in Boston

George M Whitesides was bornAugust 3 1939 in Louisville KY Hereceived an AB degree from HarvardUniversity in 1960 and a PhD from theCalifornia Institute of Technology (withJD Roberts) in 1964 He was a mem-ber of the faculty of the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology from 1963 to1982 He joined the Department ofChemistry of Harvard University in1982 and was Department Chairman1986 to 1989 and Mallinckrodt Profes-sor of Chemistry from 1982 to 2004 Heis now the Woodford L and Ann AFlowers University Professor

We encourage younger chemists tospeak with Professor Whitesides duringand after the meeting at Takeda

6 The Nucleus March 2016

2016 NESACSCandidates forElectionThe NESACS 2016 Nominating Com-mittee recommends the following slateof candidates for the 2016 NESACSelection Candidates may be submittedby petition until March 13 2016Chair-Elect

Dr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Mindy Levine

Trustee Dr Robert LichterDr Dorothy J Phillips

Treasurer Dr Ashis Saha

Director-at-Large Dr Michael FilosaDr David HarrisDr John NeumeyerMr James PhillipsDr Myron S SimonMs Vivian K Walworth

Nominating Committee Dr Thomas R GilbertMr James PhillipsDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Sophia Su

Norris Committee Dr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr George OrsquoDohertyDr Samuel PazicniDr Ajay Purohit

CouncilorAlternate CouncilorsMr Raymond E BorgDr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Thomas R GilbertDr Patrick M GordonDr Jerry P JasinskiMr Leland L Johnson JrDr Robert LichterDr Mary A MahaneyDr Lisa MarcaurelleDr Kenneth C MattesDr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr Carol MulrooneyDr Ajay PurohitDr Raj (SB) RajurMs Sofia SantosDr Marietta SchwartzDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Michael SingerDr Sonja Strah-Pleynet

Call forNominationsThe 2016 James Flack NorrisAward for OutstandingAchievement in the Teachingof ChemistryDeadline April 15 2016Nominations are invited for the 2016James Flack Norris Award which con-sists of a certificate and an honorariumof $3000 and is given annually by theNortheastern Section (NESACS) Thepresentation will take place at a cere-mony and dinner in November 2016and will include a formal address by theawardee The Award was established in1950 by NESACS to honor the memoryof James Flack Norris (1871-1940) aprofessor of chemistry at Simmons Col-lege and MIT chair of NESACS in1904 and ACS President in 1925-26

Nominees should have served withspecial distinction as teachers of chem-istry at any level secondary school col-lege andor graduate school With thepresentation of the first Award in 1951awardees have included many eminentteachers at all levels whose efforts havehad a wide-ranging effect on chemicaleducation The recipient will be se-lected from an international list of nom-inees who have served with specialdistinction as teachers of chemistry withsignificant achievements

A nomination in the form of a lettershould focus on the candidatersquos contri-butions to and effectiveness in teachingchemistry The nomineersquos curriculumvitae should be included and where ap-propriate a list of honors awards and

publications related to chemical educa-tion Seconding letters may also be in-cluded these should show the impact ofthe nomineersquos teaching for inspiring col-leagues and students toward an activelife in the chemical sciences and attestto the influence of the nomineersquos otheractivities in chemical education such astextbooks journal articles or other pro-fessional activity at the local nationaland international level

The nomination materials shouldconsist of the primary nomination lettersupporting letters and the candidatersquoscurriculum vitae Reprints or other pub-lications should NOT be included Thematerial should not exceed thirty (30)pages and should be submitted elec-tronically in Adobe PDF format throughApril 15 2016 to Ms Anna Singer NE-SACS Administrative Secretary ltsecre-tarynesacsorggt For more information about the Awardsee lthttpwwwnesacsorgawards_norrishtmlgt

Questions about the Award or thenomination process should be directedto the Chair of the Norris Award Com-mittee Professor Patricia A Mabroukltpmabroukneuedugt

AnnouncementNESACS - Chemists CelebrateEarth Day Theme The Great Indoors -The Home EcosystemApril 10 2016 - Museum ofScience BostonNESACS will be celebrating ChemistsCelebrate Earth Day Event at Blue Wingof MoS on Sunday April 10 2016 from12 - 4 pm There will be hands-on activ-ities from various institutions Thetheme for this event is ldquoThe Great In-doors - The Home Ecosystemrdquo coveringtopics pertaining to indoor air and waterquality of the homeNESACS will be participating in ACSsponsored CCED illustrated poem con-test for students in Kindergarten - 12thgrade

Petition Candidates Any group com-prising 2 per cent or more of the Northeastern Section may nominatecandidates rdquo See NESACS websitefor detailsRespectfully submitted NESACS 2016Nominating CommitteeKatherine Lee Chair John Burke An-drew Scholte Anna Sromek JohnWilliams

The Nucleus March 2016 7

NESACS atFenway ParkMay 11

This year our NESACS Red Sox outingis on Wednesday May 11 for the 700Red Sox vs Oakland Athletics gameBring your colleagues friends and fam-ily for a great ACS evening at FenwayHome plate grandstand seats are $3800and can be purchased at the NESACSPayPal link httpacssymposiumcompaypal-redsoxhtml This traditional NESACS event theWally Gleekman Memorial Sum-merthing is always a sellout and wehope to see you there

The third STEM Journey event consistsof the following enthusiastic volun-teers keynote speakers hands on sci-ence demonstrations and the earning ofBoy Scout Merit BadgesHistoryOur first event was on March 29 2014ldquoSpace Lab to Zero Grdquo and we attractedmore than 750 people (httpwwwne-sacsorgpub_nucleus2014Dec14pdf)The second event on March 28 2015was on Oceanography- ldquoGreat WhiteSharks to Deep Ocean Explorationrdquo Itis described in (httpnesacsorgsec-tion_actSTEM2015STEMJourneyII_715apdf)

STEM Journeys I-III are free eventsat Cape Cod Community College In2015 we had more than 1100 visitors100 volunteers 30 organizations and500 people who signed up to listen toour keynote speakers All of this was ona snowy day in March This event wasdescribed in the Dec 2015 issue of the

Nucleus httpnesacsorgpub_nucleus2015Dec15NUCLEUSpdf

We did get TV radio and Cape CodTimes coverage for this event which isthe largest STEM event on the SouthShore(httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=SeLRGsB7xYUhttpwwwcapecodtimescomarticle20150329NEWS1503294090SEARCH

This year our theme will be Trans-portation and the title is ldquoSTEM JourneyIII Transportation Air Ground andSeardquo One of our keynote speakers willbe discussing autonomous vehicles Weexpect to have 50 organizations 150volunteers and 1500 visitors on April 22016 at Cape Cod Community CollegeMission StatementThe STEM Journey program was organ-ized in 2014 by the Cape Cod Councilof the Boy Scouts of America the North-

Stem Journey IIIBy Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan NESACS Public Relations CommitteeApril 2 2016 at Cape Cod Community College

continued on page 13

For late breaking news job postings and the latest meeting and event

information please visit us atWWWNESACSORG

Photo credits Doris Lewis

8 The Nucleus March 2016

IntroductionBiodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME) is an alternativefuel made from renewable vegetable oils that can be used indiesel vehicles without engine modifications Biodiesel is apossible replacement for petroleum diesel due to reducedgreenhouse gas emissions unburned hydrocarbons carbonmonoxide particulate manner and nitrogen oxides1 A dieselengine can run on an 8020 (B20) mix of petroleum diesel tobiodiesel and with adjustments (to avoid possible clogging)can run 100 (B100) biodiesel2 Over the past 10 years ourresearch group has been studying the chemistry of small-scale(500mL-4L) biodiesel synthesis by base-catalyzed transester-ification of vegetable oils and determined that this process ishighly inefficient and wasteful3 A detailed model of the ki-netics and mechanism for glyceryl fatty acid transesterifica-tion has not been developed A better understanding of thischemical process could be important in solving these issuesthrough the application of green chemistry principles in mod-ifying reaction parameters and in the design of specific cata-lysts for transesterification

The transesterification of simple esters is a traditional chem-ical reaction taught in college-level organic chemistry Figure14 However understanding the transesterification of fattyacid triglycerides is more challenging due to complex sub-strate conformations reaction solubility challenges identifi-cation of intermediates and uncertainty as to the sequence oftri-ester exchange Figure 2 It is not clear for example if thetransesterification is a progression of three sequential reac-tions at each of the three tri-acyl glycerides (C1-C2-C3) or ifthere is rate limiting exchange of the methylene ester groups(C1 vs C3) versus the methine ester group (C2) Figure 2

1H NMR spectrometry is a rapid quantitative instrumentalmethod for time-based monitoring of transesterification reac-tions based on the integration of select proton signals Al-though vegetable oil transesterification into methyl esters hasbeen studied by 1H NMR5-7 very little work has been donestudying the reaction progress and kinetics by this methodThe goal of this work was to develop a 1H NMR experimentalmethod to study the time course of vegetable oil transesterifi-cation that may eventually lead to a detailed kinetic modelthat would identify whether rate limiting transesterificationoccurs at C1-C3 or C2 as the glyceryl triester is converted intothe di- and mono- ester and finally free glycerolMethodologyGeneral All reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrichor Fisher Scientific and used without further purificationTransesterification reactions were conducted using storebought brand name soybean oil All glassware was washedwith Micro-90 cleaner and then rinsed with deionized waterand acetone before oven drying at 80oCTransesterification Procedures Transesterification reactionswere run at constant temperature (60oC or 25oC) using a stan-dard 25 mL batch method with 31 mole ratios ofmethanolester (251 mmole triglyceride) and 251 mmolepotassium hydroxide as catalyst Aliquots were removed attimed intervals and quenched by dilution in acetone-d6 con-taining 005 TMS The molecular mass of the triglyceride(vegetable oil) and biodiesel product were estimated based onthe molecular mass of oleic acid as a model fatty acid Sampling and Sample Preparation Good signal-to-noiseratios were obtained using 10 mL of acetone-d6 to quench 25microL reaction aliquots Aliquot volumes were measured withgas-tight syringes flushed thoroughly between each aliquotto avoid contamination 1H NMR spectra were obtained im-mediately after being quenched and then scanned againtwenty-four hours later No changes in NMR spectra were ob-served over a 24-hour period Instrumentation and Analysis Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) spectra were obtained on a JEOL ECX-400 MHz in-strument Quantitative NMR (qNMR)8 was used to determinereaction progress based on theoretical percent yield In qNMRthe quantity of a particular analyte (biodiesel) is determinedby comparing the integrated value of an analyte signal ofknown number of protons to the integrated value of a knowninternal standard (Figure 3 equations 1 and 2) Maleic acidwas used as the reference standard (vinyl protons at 63 ppm2H)9 to quantitate the biodiesel formed based on the appear-ance of the -OCH3 methyl ester signal at 36 ppm (3H)

Summer Scholar ReportApplying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterification of glycerolfatty acid triestersLeonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Department of Chemical Sciences Bridgewater State University Bridgewater MA 02325

Continued on page 9

Figure 1 Chemical reaction for the transesterification of vegetable oil tobiodiesel

Figure 2 Triacyl glyceride transesterification with methoxide TAG = tri-acylglyceride DAG = diacylglyceride MAG = monoacylglyceride GLY =glycerol FAME123 = Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (biodiesel)

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 4: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

4 The Nucleus March 2016

The ACS Committee on Education hasselected the following student chaptersin the Northeastern Section to receivespecial recognition for the programs andactivities described in their 2014-2015reportsOutstandingbull Northeastern University Boston MA

Jaime Conway and William Timsonchapter co-presidents Prof KathleenCameron faculty advisor

Commendable Recognitionbull Gordon College Wenham MA

Daruenie Andujar and Logan Walshchapter co-presidents Prof IrvinLevy faculty advisor

bull University of Massachusetts LowellLowell MA Megan Lulsdorf andTyler Harrison chapter co-presidentsProf Kwok-Fan Chow faculty advi-sor

Honorable Mentionbull Keene State College Keene NH

James Kraly and Denise Junge chap-ter co-presidents Prof James Ulci-ckas faculty advisor

bull Saint Anselm College ManchesterNH Catherine Muldoon and CharlesDooley chapter co-presidents ProfNicole Eyet faculty advisor

bull Simmons College Boston MACaitlin Horgan and Nina Chen chap-ter co-presidents Prof ChangqingChen faculty advisor

bull Suffolk University Boston MASalina Shrestha and Janice Bautistachapter co-presidents Prof EdithEnyedy faculty advisor

Community Interaction Grantsbull Plymouth State University Plymouth

NH Albert Lamonda student projectdirector Prof Anil Waghe faculty ad-visor Project title Chemistry in Art

bull University of Massachusetts LowellLowell MA Megan Lulsdorf andTyler Harrison chapter co-presidentsProf Kwok-Fan Chow faculty advi-sor

New Activities Grantsbull Suffolk University Boston MA Jan-

ice Bautista student project directorProf Edith Enyedy faculty advisorProject title Chemistry of Smell andTaste

Student involvement in applying greenchemistry principles and practices is es-sential to the integration of environmen-tally benign technologies in academiaand industry The ACS Green ChemistryInstitute recognizes ACS student chap-ters that have engaged in at least threegreen chemistry activities during the ac-ademic year Listed below are the 2014-2015 Green Chemistry Award recipientslocated within the Northeastern Sectionbull Gordon College Wenham MAbull Northeastern University Boston MAAll chapters receiving special recogni-tion will be honored at the 251st ACSNational Chemistry Meeting in SanDiego CA on Sunday March 13 2016

NESACS SponsorsCompany Contribution LevelAmgen PlatinumBiogen-Idec PlatinumJohnson-Matthey PlatinumSK Life Sciences PlatinumStrem PlatinumNova Biomedical GoldMerck SilverCelgene BronzeConditas Group BronzeCubist BronzeMillipore-Sigma BronzeTakeda BronzeVertex BronzeContribution Levels DonationPlatinum $5000+Gold $3500-5000Silver $2000-3500Bronze $500-2000Meeting HostsAmgenAstra ZenecaBiogen-IdecBurlington High SchoolGenzyme A Sanofi CompanyNova BiomedicalNovartisPfizerTufts UniversityVertex

National Recognition forNESACS Student Chapters

New MembersInvitation to attend a meetingYou are cordially invited to attend oneof our upcoming Section meetings as aguest of the Section at the social hourand dinner preceding the meeting

Please call Anna Singer at 781-272-1966 between 9am-6pm or email sec-retary(at)nesacsorg by noon the firstThursday of the month letting her knowthat you are a new member

The Nucleus March 2016 5

Monthly MeetingThe 959th Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the AmericanChemical SocietyThursday ndash March 3 2016Takeda-Millennium40 Landsdowne St Cambridge MA 02139430 pm NESACS Board Meeting (Seminar Room-1st floor)530 pm Social Hour (Cafeteria 1st floor)630 pm Dinner (Cafeteria 1st floor)730 pm Welcome Dr Jerry Jasinski NESACS Chair (Auditorium 1st floor)745 pm Evening program with Professor George M Whitesides Woodford

L and Ann A Flowers University Professor Harvard UniversityFor those who would like to join us for dinner register by noon Thursday Feb-ruary 25 2016 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select thepay with credit or debit card option and follow the additional instructions on thepage Cost Members $30 Non-members $35 Retirees $20 Students $10Dinner reservations not cancelled at least 24 hours in advance must be paid

If you wish to join us for this meeting and not eat dinner please register bynoon Thursday February 25 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select ldquoSeminar onlyrdquo The fee is $1 New members or those seeking ad-ditional information contact the NESACS administrative coordinator AnnaSinger at secretarynesacsorg or at (781) 272-1966 during regular businesshours only note the office is open on a part-time basis THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO THE EVENT ATTENDEES NEED TO BEAWARE THAT THE HOST FACILITY IS A PRIVATE FACILITY WITH ITSOWN SECURITY AND GUIDELINES FOR ADMISSION IT IS REQUIREDBY THE HOST SITE THAT ALL ATTENDEES BE REGISTERED IN AD-VANCE THOSE WHO FAIL TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE MAY NOT BEADMITTED TO THE PROGRAMDirections to Takeda-MilleniumBy subway Kendall Square T stop (Red Line)Parking Parking at 80 Landsdowne Street with validation stickersstamps avail-able from security at the time of check-in at Takeda Additional parking is avail-able at 55 Franklin Street and after 6 PM on the adjacent streets in meteredparkingSpecial Thanks tobull Mark Ashwell mashwellgmailcombull Alexis Arakelian AlexisArakeliantakedacombull Samantha Smiley SamanthaSmileytakedacombull Leland Johnson ljohnsontheconditasgroupcombull Tracie Smart (Whitesides Group)bull Kelly Le and Brenden Meisinger (Aramark Takeda)

Webstreamingof the MarchMeetingAjay Purohit NESACS Board of Publi-cationsDear members In the January 2016 edi-tion of the Nucleus we announced thatgoing forward NESACS will be livestreaming its monthly meetings Unfor-tunately we were unable to roll this fea-ture out starting with the Januarymeeting due to an upgrade that the serv-ice provider was implementing I onbehalf of the board of publications amhappy to announce that we now havethis issue resolved Beginning with theMarch 2016 meeting members will beable to participate in these meetings viaWebEx either on their computers orusing their mobile device

To join please go to httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings and click on ldquoGuestrdquoEnter your name to join in to the meet-

continued on page 12

BiographyMost recently Professor Whitesidesgave the Fred Kavli Innovations inChemistry Lecture entitled ldquoProblemsPuzzles and Inevitabilities in Researchrdquoduring the Fall ACS National Meetinghere in Boston

George M Whitesides was bornAugust 3 1939 in Louisville KY Hereceived an AB degree from HarvardUniversity in 1960 and a PhD from theCalifornia Institute of Technology (withJD Roberts) in 1964 He was a mem-ber of the faculty of the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology from 1963 to1982 He joined the Department ofChemistry of Harvard University in1982 and was Department Chairman1986 to 1989 and Mallinckrodt Profes-sor of Chemistry from 1982 to 2004 Heis now the Woodford L and Ann AFlowers University Professor

We encourage younger chemists tospeak with Professor Whitesides duringand after the meeting at Takeda

6 The Nucleus March 2016

2016 NESACSCandidates forElectionThe NESACS 2016 Nominating Com-mittee recommends the following slateof candidates for the 2016 NESACSelection Candidates may be submittedby petition until March 13 2016Chair-Elect

Dr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Mindy Levine

Trustee Dr Robert LichterDr Dorothy J Phillips

Treasurer Dr Ashis Saha

Director-at-Large Dr Michael FilosaDr David HarrisDr John NeumeyerMr James PhillipsDr Myron S SimonMs Vivian K Walworth

Nominating Committee Dr Thomas R GilbertMr James PhillipsDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Sophia Su

Norris Committee Dr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr George OrsquoDohertyDr Samuel PazicniDr Ajay Purohit

CouncilorAlternate CouncilorsMr Raymond E BorgDr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Thomas R GilbertDr Patrick M GordonDr Jerry P JasinskiMr Leland L Johnson JrDr Robert LichterDr Mary A MahaneyDr Lisa MarcaurelleDr Kenneth C MattesDr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr Carol MulrooneyDr Ajay PurohitDr Raj (SB) RajurMs Sofia SantosDr Marietta SchwartzDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Michael SingerDr Sonja Strah-Pleynet

Call forNominationsThe 2016 James Flack NorrisAward for OutstandingAchievement in the Teachingof ChemistryDeadline April 15 2016Nominations are invited for the 2016James Flack Norris Award which con-sists of a certificate and an honorariumof $3000 and is given annually by theNortheastern Section (NESACS) Thepresentation will take place at a cere-mony and dinner in November 2016and will include a formal address by theawardee The Award was established in1950 by NESACS to honor the memoryof James Flack Norris (1871-1940) aprofessor of chemistry at Simmons Col-lege and MIT chair of NESACS in1904 and ACS President in 1925-26

Nominees should have served withspecial distinction as teachers of chem-istry at any level secondary school col-lege andor graduate school With thepresentation of the first Award in 1951awardees have included many eminentteachers at all levels whose efforts havehad a wide-ranging effect on chemicaleducation The recipient will be se-lected from an international list of nom-inees who have served with specialdistinction as teachers of chemistry withsignificant achievements

A nomination in the form of a lettershould focus on the candidatersquos contri-butions to and effectiveness in teachingchemistry The nomineersquos curriculumvitae should be included and where ap-propriate a list of honors awards and

publications related to chemical educa-tion Seconding letters may also be in-cluded these should show the impact ofthe nomineersquos teaching for inspiring col-leagues and students toward an activelife in the chemical sciences and attestto the influence of the nomineersquos otheractivities in chemical education such astextbooks journal articles or other pro-fessional activity at the local nationaland international level

The nomination materials shouldconsist of the primary nomination lettersupporting letters and the candidatersquoscurriculum vitae Reprints or other pub-lications should NOT be included Thematerial should not exceed thirty (30)pages and should be submitted elec-tronically in Adobe PDF format throughApril 15 2016 to Ms Anna Singer NE-SACS Administrative Secretary ltsecre-tarynesacsorggt For more information about the Awardsee lthttpwwwnesacsorgawards_norrishtmlgt

Questions about the Award or thenomination process should be directedto the Chair of the Norris Award Com-mittee Professor Patricia A Mabroukltpmabroukneuedugt

AnnouncementNESACS - Chemists CelebrateEarth Day Theme The Great Indoors -The Home EcosystemApril 10 2016 - Museum ofScience BostonNESACS will be celebrating ChemistsCelebrate Earth Day Event at Blue Wingof MoS on Sunday April 10 2016 from12 - 4 pm There will be hands-on activ-ities from various institutions Thetheme for this event is ldquoThe Great In-doors - The Home Ecosystemrdquo coveringtopics pertaining to indoor air and waterquality of the homeNESACS will be participating in ACSsponsored CCED illustrated poem con-test for students in Kindergarten - 12thgrade

Petition Candidates Any group com-prising 2 per cent or more of the Northeastern Section may nominatecandidates rdquo See NESACS websitefor detailsRespectfully submitted NESACS 2016Nominating CommitteeKatherine Lee Chair John Burke An-drew Scholte Anna Sromek JohnWilliams

The Nucleus March 2016 7

NESACS atFenway ParkMay 11

This year our NESACS Red Sox outingis on Wednesday May 11 for the 700Red Sox vs Oakland Athletics gameBring your colleagues friends and fam-ily for a great ACS evening at FenwayHome plate grandstand seats are $3800and can be purchased at the NESACSPayPal link httpacssymposiumcompaypal-redsoxhtml This traditional NESACS event theWally Gleekman Memorial Sum-merthing is always a sellout and wehope to see you there

The third STEM Journey event consistsof the following enthusiastic volun-teers keynote speakers hands on sci-ence demonstrations and the earning ofBoy Scout Merit BadgesHistoryOur first event was on March 29 2014ldquoSpace Lab to Zero Grdquo and we attractedmore than 750 people (httpwwwne-sacsorgpub_nucleus2014Dec14pdf)The second event on March 28 2015was on Oceanography- ldquoGreat WhiteSharks to Deep Ocean Explorationrdquo Itis described in (httpnesacsorgsec-tion_actSTEM2015STEMJourneyII_715apdf)

STEM Journeys I-III are free eventsat Cape Cod Community College In2015 we had more than 1100 visitors100 volunteers 30 organizations and500 people who signed up to listen toour keynote speakers All of this was ona snowy day in March This event wasdescribed in the Dec 2015 issue of the

Nucleus httpnesacsorgpub_nucleus2015Dec15NUCLEUSpdf

We did get TV radio and Cape CodTimes coverage for this event which isthe largest STEM event on the SouthShore(httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=SeLRGsB7xYUhttpwwwcapecodtimescomarticle20150329NEWS1503294090SEARCH

This year our theme will be Trans-portation and the title is ldquoSTEM JourneyIII Transportation Air Ground andSeardquo One of our keynote speakers willbe discussing autonomous vehicles Weexpect to have 50 organizations 150volunteers and 1500 visitors on April 22016 at Cape Cod Community CollegeMission StatementThe STEM Journey program was organ-ized in 2014 by the Cape Cod Councilof the Boy Scouts of America the North-

Stem Journey IIIBy Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan NESACS Public Relations CommitteeApril 2 2016 at Cape Cod Community College

continued on page 13

For late breaking news job postings and the latest meeting and event

information please visit us atWWWNESACSORG

Photo credits Doris Lewis

8 The Nucleus March 2016

IntroductionBiodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME) is an alternativefuel made from renewable vegetable oils that can be used indiesel vehicles without engine modifications Biodiesel is apossible replacement for petroleum diesel due to reducedgreenhouse gas emissions unburned hydrocarbons carbonmonoxide particulate manner and nitrogen oxides1 A dieselengine can run on an 8020 (B20) mix of petroleum diesel tobiodiesel and with adjustments (to avoid possible clogging)can run 100 (B100) biodiesel2 Over the past 10 years ourresearch group has been studying the chemistry of small-scale(500mL-4L) biodiesel synthesis by base-catalyzed transester-ification of vegetable oils and determined that this process ishighly inefficient and wasteful3 A detailed model of the ki-netics and mechanism for glyceryl fatty acid transesterifica-tion has not been developed A better understanding of thischemical process could be important in solving these issuesthrough the application of green chemistry principles in mod-ifying reaction parameters and in the design of specific cata-lysts for transesterification

The transesterification of simple esters is a traditional chem-ical reaction taught in college-level organic chemistry Figure14 However understanding the transesterification of fattyacid triglycerides is more challenging due to complex sub-strate conformations reaction solubility challenges identifi-cation of intermediates and uncertainty as to the sequence oftri-ester exchange Figure 2 It is not clear for example if thetransesterification is a progression of three sequential reac-tions at each of the three tri-acyl glycerides (C1-C2-C3) or ifthere is rate limiting exchange of the methylene ester groups(C1 vs C3) versus the methine ester group (C2) Figure 2

1H NMR spectrometry is a rapid quantitative instrumentalmethod for time-based monitoring of transesterification reac-tions based on the integration of select proton signals Al-though vegetable oil transesterification into methyl esters hasbeen studied by 1H NMR5-7 very little work has been donestudying the reaction progress and kinetics by this methodThe goal of this work was to develop a 1H NMR experimentalmethod to study the time course of vegetable oil transesterifi-cation that may eventually lead to a detailed kinetic modelthat would identify whether rate limiting transesterificationoccurs at C1-C3 or C2 as the glyceryl triester is converted intothe di- and mono- ester and finally free glycerolMethodologyGeneral All reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrichor Fisher Scientific and used without further purificationTransesterification reactions were conducted using storebought brand name soybean oil All glassware was washedwith Micro-90 cleaner and then rinsed with deionized waterand acetone before oven drying at 80oCTransesterification Procedures Transesterification reactionswere run at constant temperature (60oC or 25oC) using a stan-dard 25 mL batch method with 31 mole ratios ofmethanolester (251 mmole triglyceride) and 251 mmolepotassium hydroxide as catalyst Aliquots were removed attimed intervals and quenched by dilution in acetone-d6 con-taining 005 TMS The molecular mass of the triglyceride(vegetable oil) and biodiesel product were estimated based onthe molecular mass of oleic acid as a model fatty acid Sampling and Sample Preparation Good signal-to-noiseratios were obtained using 10 mL of acetone-d6 to quench 25microL reaction aliquots Aliquot volumes were measured withgas-tight syringes flushed thoroughly between each aliquotto avoid contamination 1H NMR spectra were obtained im-mediately after being quenched and then scanned againtwenty-four hours later No changes in NMR spectra were ob-served over a 24-hour period Instrumentation and Analysis Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) spectra were obtained on a JEOL ECX-400 MHz in-strument Quantitative NMR (qNMR)8 was used to determinereaction progress based on theoretical percent yield In qNMRthe quantity of a particular analyte (biodiesel) is determinedby comparing the integrated value of an analyte signal ofknown number of protons to the integrated value of a knowninternal standard (Figure 3 equations 1 and 2) Maleic acidwas used as the reference standard (vinyl protons at 63 ppm2H)9 to quantitate the biodiesel formed based on the appear-ance of the -OCH3 methyl ester signal at 36 ppm (3H)

Summer Scholar ReportApplying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterification of glycerolfatty acid triestersLeonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Department of Chemical Sciences Bridgewater State University Bridgewater MA 02325

Continued on page 9

Figure 1 Chemical reaction for the transesterification of vegetable oil tobiodiesel

Figure 2 Triacyl glyceride transesterification with methoxide TAG = tri-acylglyceride DAG = diacylglyceride MAG = monoacylglyceride GLY =glycerol FAME123 = Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (biodiesel)

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 5: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

The Nucleus March 2016 5

Monthly MeetingThe 959th Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the AmericanChemical SocietyThursday ndash March 3 2016Takeda-Millennium40 Landsdowne St Cambridge MA 02139430 pm NESACS Board Meeting (Seminar Room-1st floor)530 pm Social Hour (Cafeteria 1st floor)630 pm Dinner (Cafeteria 1st floor)730 pm Welcome Dr Jerry Jasinski NESACS Chair (Auditorium 1st floor)745 pm Evening program with Professor George M Whitesides Woodford

L and Ann A Flowers University Professor Harvard UniversityFor those who would like to join us for dinner register by noon Thursday Feb-ruary 25 2016 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select thepay with credit or debit card option and follow the additional instructions on thepage Cost Members $30 Non-members $35 Retirees $20 Students $10Dinner reservations not cancelled at least 24 hours in advance must be paid

If you wish to join us for this meeting and not eat dinner please register bynoon Thursday February 25 using PayPal httpacssymposiumcompaypalhtml Select ldquoSeminar onlyrdquo The fee is $1 New members or those seeking ad-ditional information contact the NESACS administrative coordinator AnnaSinger at secretarynesacsorg or at (781) 272-1966 during regular businesshours only note the office is open on a part-time basis THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO THE EVENT ATTENDEES NEED TO BEAWARE THAT THE HOST FACILITY IS A PRIVATE FACILITY WITH ITSOWN SECURITY AND GUIDELINES FOR ADMISSION IT IS REQUIREDBY THE HOST SITE THAT ALL ATTENDEES BE REGISTERED IN AD-VANCE THOSE WHO FAIL TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE MAY NOT BEADMITTED TO THE PROGRAMDirections to Takeda-MilleniumBy subway Kendall Square T stop (Red Line)Parking Parking at 80 Landsdowne Street with validation stickersstamps avail-able from security at the time of check-in at Takeda Additional parking is avail-able at 55 Franklin Street and after 6 PM on the adjacent streets in meteredparkingSpecial Thanks tobull Mark Ashwell mashwellgmailcombull Alexis Arakelian AlexisArakeliantakedacombull Samantha Smiley SamanthaSmileytakedacombull Leland Johnson ljohnsontheconditasgroupcombull Tracie Smart (Whitesides Group)bull Kelly Le and Brenden Meisinger (Aramark Takeda)

Webstreamingof the MarchMeetingAjay Purohit NESACS Board of Publi-cationsDear members In the January 2016 edi-tion of the Nucleus we announced thatgoing forward NESACS will be livestreaming its monthly meetings Unfor-tunately we were unable to roll this fea-ture out starting with the Januarymeeting due to an upgrade that the serv-ice provider was implementing I onbehalf of the board of publications amhappy to announce that we now havethis issue resolved Beginning with theMarch 2016 meeting members will beable to participate in these meetings viaWebEx either on their computers orusing their mobile device

To join please go to httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings and click on ldquoGuestrdquoEnter your name to join in to the meet-

continued on page 12

BiographyMost recently Professor Whitesidesgave the Fred Kavli Innovations inChemistry Lecture entitled ldquoProblemsPuzzles and Inevitabilities in Researchrdquoduring the Fall ACS National Meetinghere in Boston

George M Whitesides was bornAugust 3 1939 in Louisville KY Hereceived an AB degree from HarvardUniversity in 1960 and a PhD from theCalifornia Institute of Technology (withJD Roberts) in 1964 He was a mem-ber of the faculty of the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology from 1963 to1982 He joined the Department ofChemistry of Harvard University in1982 and was Department Chairman1986 to 1989 and Mallinckrodt Profes-sor of Chemistry from 1982 to 2004 Heis now the Woodford L and Ann AFlowers University Professor

We encourage younger chemists tospeak with Professor Whitesides duringand after the meeting at Takeda

6 The Nucleus March 2016

2016 NESACSCandidates forElectionThe NESACS 2016 Nominating Com-mittee recommends the following slateof candidates for the 2016 NESACSelection Candidates may be submittedby petition until March 13 2016Chair-Elect

Dr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Mindy Levine

Trustee Dr Robert LichterDr Dorothy J Phillips

Treasurer Dr Ashis Saha

Director-at-Large Dr Michael FilosaDr David HarrisDr John NeumeyerMr James PhillipsDr Myron S SimonMs Vivian K Walworth

Nominating Committee Dr Thomas R GilbertMr James PhillipsDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Sophia Su

Norris Committee Dr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr George OrsquoDohertyDr Samuel PazicniDr Ajay Purohit

CouncilorAlternate CouncilorsMr Raymond E BorgDr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Thomas R GilbertDr Patrick M GordonDr Jerry P JasinskiMr Leland L Johnson JrDr Robert LichterDr Mary A MahaneyDr Lisa MarcaurelleDr Kenneth C MattesDr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr Carol MulrooneyDr Ajay PurohitDr Raj (SB) RajurMs Sofia SantosDr Marietta SchwartzDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Michael SingerDr Sonja Strah-Pleynet

Call forNominationsThe 2016 James Flack NorrisAward for OutstandingAchievement in the Teachingof ChemistryDeadline April 15 2016Nominations are invited for the 2016James Flack Norris Award which con-sists of a certificate and an honorariumof $3000 and is given annually by theNortheastern Section (NESACS) Thepresentation will take place at a cere-mony and dinner in November 2016and will include a formal address by theawardee The Award was established in1950 by NESACS to honor the memoryof James Flack Norris (1871-1940) aprofessor of chemistry at Simmons Col-lege and MIT chair of NESACS in1904 and ACS President in 1925-26

Nominees should have served withspecial distinction as teachers of chem-istry at any level secondary school col-lege andor graduate school With thepresentation of the first Award in 1951awardees have included many eminentteachers at all levels whose efforts havehad a wide-ranging effect on chemicaleducation The recipient will be se-lected from an international list of nom-inees who have served with specialdistinction as teachers of chemistry withsignificant achievements

A nomination in the form of a lettershould focus on the candidatersquos contri-butions to and effectiveness in teachingchemistry The nomineersquos curriculumvitae should be included and where ap-propriate a list of honors awards and

publications related to chemical educa-tion Seconding letters may also be in-cluded these should show the impact ofthe nomineersquos teaching for inspiring col-leagues and students toward an activelife in the chemical sciences and attestto the influence of the nomineersquos otheractivities in chemical education such astextbooks journal articles or other pro-fessional activity at the local nationaland international level

The nomination materials shouldconsist of the primary nomination lettersupporting letters and the candidatersquoscurriculum vitae Reprints or other pub-lications should NOT be included Thematerial should not exceed thirty (30)pages and should be submitted elec-tronically in Adobe PDF format throughApril 15 2016 to Ms Anna Singer NE-SACS Administrative Secretary ltsecre-tarynesacsorggt For more information about the Awardsee lthttpwwwnesacsorgawards_norrishtmlgt

Questions about the Award or thenomination process should be directedto the Chair of the Norris Award Com-mittee Professor Patricia A Mabroukltpmabroukneuedugt

AnnouncementNESACS - Chemists CelebrateEarth Day Theme The Great Indoors -The Home EcosystemApril 10 2016 - Museum ofScience BostonNESACS will be celebrating ChemistsCelebrate Earth Day Event at Blue Wingof MoS on Sunday April 10 2016 from12 - 4 pm There will be hands-on activ-ities from various institutions Thetheme for this event is ldquoThe Great In-doors - The Home Ecosystemrdquo coveringtopics pertaining to indoor air and waterquality of the homeNESACS will be participating in ACSsponsored CCED illustrated poem con-test for students in Kindergarten - 12thgrade

Petition Candidates Any group com-prising 2 per cent or more of the Northeastern Section may nominatecandidates rdquo See NESACS websitefor detailsRespectfully submitted NESACS 2016Nominating CommitteeKatherine Lee Chair John Burke An-drew Scholte Anna Sromek JohnWilliams

The Nucleus March 2016 7

NESACS atFenway ParkMay 11

This year our NESACS Red Sox outingis on Wednesday May 11 for the 700Red Sox vs Oakland Athletics gameBring your colleagues friends and fam-ily for a great ACS evening at FenwayHome plate grandstand seats are $3800and can be purchased at the NESACSPayPal link httpacssymposiumcompaypal-redsoxhtml This traditional NESACS event theWally Gleekman Memorial Sum-merthing is always a sellout and wehope to see you there

The third STEM Journey event consistsof the following enthusiastic volun-teers keynote speakers hands on sci-ence demonstrations and the earning ofBoy Scout Merit BadgesHistoryOur first event was on March 29 2014ldquoSpace Lab to Zero Grdquo and we attractedmore than 750 people (httpwwwne-sacsorgpub_nucleus2014Dec14pdf)The second event on March 28 2015was on Oceanography- ldquoGreat WhiteSharks to Deep Ocean Explorationrdquo Itis described in (httpnesacsorgsec-tion_actSTEM2015STEMJourneyII_715apdf)

STEM Journeys I-III are free eventsat Cape Cod Community College In2015 we had more than 1100 visitors100 volunteers 30 organizations and500 people who signed up to listen toour keynote speakers All of this was ona snowy day in March This event wasdescribed in the Dec 2015 issue of the

Nucleus httpnesacsorgpub_nucleus2015Dec15NUCLEUSpdf

We did get TV radio and Cape CodTimes coverage for this event which isthe largest STEM event on the SouthShore(httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=SeLRGsB7xYUhttpwwwcapecodtimescomarticle20150329NEWS1503294090SEARCH

This year our theme will be Trans-portation and the title is ldquoSTEM JourneyIII Transportation Air Ground andSeardquo One of our keynote speakers willbe discussing autonomous vehicles Weexpect to have 50 organizations 150volunteers and 1500 visitors on April 22016 at Cape Cod Community CollegeMission StatementThe STEM Journey program was organ-ized in 2014 by the Cape Cod Councilof the Boy Scouts of America the North-

Stem Journey IIIBy Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan NESACS Public Relations CommitteeApril 2 2016 at Cape Cod Community College

continued on page 13

For late breaking news job postings and the latest meeting and event

information please visit us atWWWNESACSORG

Photo credits Doris Lewis

8 The Nucleus March 2016

IntroductionBiodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME) is an alternativefuel made from renewable vegetable oils that can be used indiesel vehicles without engine modifications Biodiesel is apossible replacement for petroleum diesel due to reducedgreenhouse gas emissions unburned hydrocarbons carbonmonoxide particulate manner and nitrogen oxides1 A dieselengine can run on an 8020 (B20) mix of petroleum diesel tobiodiesel and with adjustments (to avoid possible clogging)can run 100 (B100) biodiesel2 Over the past 10 years ourresearch group has been studying the chemistry of small-scale(500mL-4L) biodiesel synthesis by base-catalyzed transester-ification of vegetable oils and determined that this process ishighly inefficient and wasteful3 A detailed model of the ki-netics and mechanism for glyceryl fatty acid transesterifica-tion has not been developed A better understanding of thischemical process could be important in solving these issuesthrough the application of green chemistry principles in mod-ifying reaction parameters and in the design of specific cata-lysts for transesterification

The transesterification of simple esters is a traditional chem-ical reaction taught in college-level organic chemistry Figure14 However understanding the transesterification of fattyacid triglycerides is more challenging due to complex sub-strate conformations reaction solubility challenges identifi-cation of intermediates and uncertainty as to the sequence oftri-ester exchange Figure 2 It is not clear for example if thetransesterification is a progression of three sequential reac-tions at each of the three tri-acyl glycerides (C1-C2-C3) or ifthere is rate limiting exchange of the methylene ester groups(C1 vs C3) versus the methine ester group (C2) Figure 2

1H NMR spectrometry is a rapid quantitative instrumentalmethod for time-based monitoring of transesterification reac-tions based on the integration of select proton signals Al-though vegetable oil transesterification into methyl esters hasbeen studied by 1H NMR5-7 very little work has been donestudying the reaction progress and kinetics by this methodThe goal of this work was to develop a 1H NMR experimentalmethod to study the time course of vegetable oil transesterifi-cation that may eventually lead to a detailed kinetic modelthat would identify whether rate limiting transesterificationoccurs at C1-C3 or C2 as the glyceryl triester is converted intothe di- and mono- ester and finally free glycerolMethodologyGeneral All reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrichor Fisher Scientific and used without further purificationTransesterification reactions were conducted using storebought brand name soybean oil All glassware was washedwith Micro-90 cleaner and then rinsed with deionized waterand acetone before oven drying at 80oCTransesterification Procedures Transesterification reactionswere run at constant temperature (60oC or 25oC) using a stan-dard 25 mL batch method with 31 mole ratios ofmethanolester (251 mmole triglyceride) and 251 mmolepotassium hydroxide as catalyst Aliquots were removed attimed intervals and quenched by dilution in acetone-d6 con-taining 005 TMS The molecular mass of the triglyceride(vegetable oil) and biodiesel product were estimated based onthe molecular mass of oleic acid as a model fatty acid Sampling and Sample Preparation Good signal-to-noiseratios were obtained using 10 mL of acetone-d6 to quench 25microL reaction aliquots Aliquot volumes were measured withgas-tight syringes flushed thoroughly between each aliquotto avoid contamination 1H NMR spectra were obtained im-mediately after being quenched and then scanned againtwenty-four hours later No changes in NMR spectra were ob-served over a 24-hour period Instrumentation and Analysis Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) spectra were obtained on a JEOL ECX-400 MHz in-strument Quantitative NMR (qNMR)8 was used to determinereaction progress based on theoretical percent yield In qNMRthe quantity of a particular analyte (biodiesel) is determinedby comparing the integrated value of an analyte signal ofknown number of protons to the integrated value of a knowninternal standard (Figure 3 equations 1 and 2) Maleic acidwas used as the reference standard (vinyl protons at 63 ppm2H)9 to quantitate the biodiesel formed based on the appear-ance of the -OCH3 methyl ester signal at 36 ppm (3H)

Summer Scholar ReportApplying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterification of glycerolfatty acid triestersLeonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Department of Chemical Sciences Bridgewater State University Bridgewater MA 02325

Continued on page 9

Figure 1 Chemical reaction for the transesterification of vegetable oil tobiodiesel

Figure 2 Triacyl glyceride transesterification with methoxide TAG = tri-acylglyceride DAG = diacylglyceride MAG = monoacylglyceride GLY =glycerol FAME123 = Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (biodiesel)

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 6: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

6 The Nucleus March 2016

2016 NESACSCandidates forElectionThe NESACS 2016 Nominating Com-mittee recommends the following slateof candidates for the 2016 NESACSelection Candidates may be submittedby petition until March 13 2016Chair-Elect

Dr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Mindy Levine

Trustee Dr Robert LichterDr Dorothy J Phillips

Treasurer Dr Ashis Saha

Director-at-Large Dr Michael FilosaDr David HarrisDr John NeumeyerMr James PhillipsDr Myron S SimonMs Vivian K Walworth

Nominating Committee Dr Thomas R GilbertMr James PhillipsDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Sophia Su

Norris Committee Dr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr George OrsquoDohertyDr Samuel PazicniDr Ajay Purohit

CouncilorAlternate CouncilorsMr Raymond E BorgDr Mukund S ChorghadeDr Thomas R GilbertDr Patrick M GordonDr Jerry P JasinskiMr Leland L Johnson JrDr Robert LichterDr Mary A MahaneyDr Lisa MarcaurelleDr Kenneth C MattesDr R Christian (Chris) MoretonDr Carol MulrooneyDr Ajay PurohitDr Raj (SB) RajurMs Sofia SantosDr Marietta SchwartzDr Mary Jane ShultzDr Michael SingerDr Sonja Strah-Pleynet

Call forNominationsThe 2016 James Flack NorrisAward for OutstandingAchievement in the Teachingof ChemistryDeadline April 15 2016Nominations are invited for the 2016James Flack Norris Award which con-sists of a certificate and an honorariumof $3000 and is given annually by theNortheastern Section (NESACS) Thepresentation will take place at a cere-mony and dinner in November 2016and will include a formal address by theawardee The Award was established in1950 by NESACS to honor the memoryof James Flack Norris (1871-1940) aprofessor of chemistry at Simmons Col-lege and MIT chair of NESACS in1904 and ACS President in 1925-26

Nominees should have served withspecial distinction as teachers of chem-istry at any level secondary school col-lege andor graduate school With thepresentation of the first Award in 1951awardees have included many eminentteachers at all levels whose efforts havehad a wide-ranging effect on chemicaleducation The recipient will be se-lected from an international list of nom-inees who have served with specialdistinction as teachers of chemistry withsignificant achievements

A nomination in the form of a lettershould focus on the candidatersquos contri-butions to and effectiveness in teachingchemistry The nomineersquos curriculumvitae should be included and where ap-propriate a list of honors awards and

publications related to chemical educa-tion Seconding letters may also be in-cluded these should show the impact ofthe nomineersquos teaching for inspiring col-leagues and students toward an activelife in the chemical sciences and attestto the influence of the nomineersquos otheractivities in chemical education such astextbooks journal articles or other pro-fessional activity at the local nationaland international level

The nomination materials shouldconsist of the primary nomination lettersupporting letters and the candidatersquoscurriculum vitae Reprints or other pub-lications should NOT be included Thematerial should not exceed thirty (30)pages and should be submitted elec-tronically in Adobe PDF format throughApril 15 2016 to Ms Anna Singer NE-SACS Administrative Secretary ltsecre-tarynesacsorggt For more information about the Awardsee lthttpwwwnesacsorgawards_norrishtmlgt

Questions about the Award or thenomination process should be directedto the Chair of the Norris Award Com-mittee Professor Patricia A Mabroukltpmabroukneuedugt

AnnouncementNESACS - Chemists CelebrateEarth Day Theme The Great Indoors -The Home EcosystemApril 10 2016 - Museum ofScience BostonNESACS will be celebrating ChemistsCelebrate Earth Day Event at Blue Wingof MoS on Sunday April 10 2016 from12 - 4 pm There will be hands-on activ-ities from various institutions Thetheme for this event is ldquoThe Great In-doors - The Home Ecosystemrdquo coveringtopics pertaining to indoor air and waterquality of the homeNESACS will be participating in ACSsponsored CCED illustrated poem con-test for students in Kindergarten - 12thgrade

Petition Candidates Any group com-prising 2 per cent or more of the Northeastern Section may nominatecandidates rdquo See NESACS websitefor detailsRespectfully submitted NESACS 2016Nominating CommitteeKatherine Lee Chair John Burke An-drew Scholte Anna Sromek JohnWilliams

The Nucleus March 2016 7

NESACS atFenway ParkMay 11

This year our NESACS Red Sox outingis on Wednesday May 11 for the 700Red Sox vs Oakland Athletics gameBring your colleagues friends and fam-ily for a great ACS evening at FenwayHome plate grandstand seats are $3800and can be purchased at the NESACSPayPal link httpacssymposiumcompaypal-redsoxhtml This traditional NESACS event theWally Gleekman Memorial Sum-merthing is always a sellout and wehope to see you there

The third STEM Journey event consistsof the following enthusiastic volun-teers keynote speakers hands on sci-ence demonstrations and the earning ofBoy Scout Merit BadgesHistoryOur first event was on March 29 2014ldquoSpace Lab to Zero Grdquo and we attractedmore than 750 people (httpwwwne-sacsorgpub_nucleus2014Dec14pdf)The second event on March 28 2015was on Oceanography- ldquoGreat WhiteSharks to Deep Ocean Explorationrdquo Itis described in (httpnesacsorgsec-tion_actSTEM2015STEMJourneyII_715apdf)

STEM Journeys I-III are free eventsat Cape Cod Community College In2015 we had more than 1100 visitors100 volunteers 30 organizations and500 people who signed up to listen toour keynote speakers All of this was ona snowy day in March This event wasdescribed in the Dec 2015 issue of the

Nucleus httpnesacsorgpub_nucleus2015Dec15NUCLEUSpdf

We did get TV radio and Cape CodTimes coverage for this event which isthe largest STEM event on the SouthShore(httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=SeLRGsB7xYUhttpwwwcapecodtimescomarticle20150329NEWS1503294090SEARCH

This year our theme will be Trans-portation and the title is ldquoSTEM JourneyIII Transportation Air Ground andSeardquo One of our keynote speakers willbe discussing autonomous vehicles Weexpect to have 50 organizations 150volunteers and 1500 visitors on April 22016 at Cape Cod Community CollegeMission StatementThe STEM Journey program was organ-ized in 2014 by the Cape Cod Councilof the Boy Scouts of America the North-

Stem Journey IIIBy Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan NESACS Public Relations CommitteeApril 2 2016 at Cape Cod Community College

continued on page 13

For late breaking news job postings and the latest meeting and event

information please visit us atWWWNESACSORG

Photo credits Doris Lewis

8 The Nucleus March 2016

IntroductionBiodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME) is an alternativefuel made from renewable vegetable oils that can be used indiesel vehicles without engine modifications Biodiesel is apossible replacement for petroleum diesel due to reducedgreenhouse gas emissions unburned hydrocarbons carbonmonoxide particulate manner and nitrogen oxides1 A dieselengine can run on an 8020 (B20) mix of petroleum diesel tobiodiesel and with adjustments (to avoid possible clogging)can run 100 (B100) biodiesel2 Over the past 10 years ourresearch group has been studying the chemistry of small-scale(500mL-4L) biodiesel synthesis by base-catalyzed transester-ification of vegetable oils and determined that this process ishighly inefficient and wasteful3 A detailed model of the ki-netics and mechanism for glyceryl fatty acid transesterifica-tion has not been developed A better understanding of thischemical process could be important in solving these issuesthrough the application of green chemistry principles in mod-ifying reaction parameters and in the design of specific cata-lysts for transesterification

The transesterification of simple esters is a traditional chem-ical reaction taught in college-level organic chemistry Figure14 However understanding the transesterification of fattyacid triglycerides is more challenging due to complex sub-strate conformations reaction solubility challenges identifi-cation of intermediates and uncertainty as to the sequence oftri-ester exchange Figure 2 It is not clear for example if thetransesterification is a progression of three sequential reac-tions at each of the three tri-acyl glycerides (C1-C2-C3) or ifthere is rate limiting exchange of the methylene ester groups(C1 vs C3) versus the methine ester group (C2) Figure 2

1H NMR spectrometry is a rapid quantitative instrumentalmethod for time-based monitoring of transesterification reac-tions based on the integration of select proton signals Al-though vegetable oil transesterification into methyl esters hasbeen studied by 1H NMR5-7 very little work has been donestudying the reaction progress and kinetics by this methodThe goal of this work was to develop a 1H NMR experimentalmethod to study the time course of vegetable oil transesterifi-cation that may eventually lead to a detailed kinetic modelthat would identify whether rate limiting transesterificationoccurs at C1-C3 or C2 as the glyceryl triester is converted intothe di- and mono- ester and finally free glycerolMethodologyGeneral All reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrichor Fisher Scientific and used without further purificationTransesterification reactions were conducted using storebought brand name soybean oil All glassware was washedwith Micro-90 cleaner and then rinsed with deionized waterand acetone before oven drying at 80oCTransesterification Procedures Transesterification reactionswere run at constant temperature (60oC or 25oC) using a stan-dard 25 mL batch method with 31 mole ratios ofmethanolester (251 mmole triglyceride) and 251 mmolepotassium hydroxide as catalyst Aliquots were removed attimed intervals and quenched by dilution in acetone-d6 con-taining 005 TMS The molecular mass of the triglyceride(vegetable oil) and biodiesel product were estimated based onthe molecular mass of oleic acid as a model fatty acid Sampling and Sample Preparation Good signal-to-noiseratios were obtained using 10 mL of acetone-d6 to quench 25microL reaction aliquots Aliquot volumes were measured withgas-tight syringes flushed thoroughly between each aliquotto avoid contamination 1H NMR spectra were obtained im-mediately after being quenched and then scanned againtwenty-four hours later No changes in NMR spectra were ob-served over a 24-hour period Instrumentation and Analysis Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) spectra were obtained on a JEOL ECX-400 MHz in-strument Quantitative NMR (qNMR)8 was used to determinereaction progress based on theoretical percent yield In qNMRthe quantity of a particular analyte (biodiesel) is determinedby comparing the integrated value of an analyte signal ofknown number of protons to the integrated value of a knowninternal standard (Figure 3 equations 1 and 2) Maleic acidwas used as the reference standard (vinyl protons at 63 ppm2H)9 to quantitate the biodiesel formed based on the appear-ance of the -OCH3 methyl ester signal at 36 ppm (3H)

Summer Scholar ReportApplying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterification of glycerolfatty acid triestersLeonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Department of Chemical Sciences Bridgewater State University Bridgewater MA 02325

Continued on page 9

Figure 1 Chemical reaction for the transesterification of vegetable oil tobiodiesel

Figure 2 Triacyl glyceride transesterification with methoxide TAG = tri-acylglyceride DAG = diacylglyceride MAG = monoacylglyceride GLY =glycerol FAME123 = Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (biodiesel)

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 7: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

The Nucleus March 2016 7

NESACS atFenway ParkMay 11

This year our NESACS Red Sox outingis on Wednesday May 11 for the 700Red Sox vs Oakland Athletics gameBring your colleagues friends and fam-ily for a great ACS evening at FenwayHome plate grandstand seats are $3800and can be purchased at the NESACSPayPal link httpacssymposiumcompaypal-redsoxhtml This traditional NESACS event theWally Gleekman Memorial Sum-merthing is always a sellout and wehope to see you there

The third STEM Journey event consistsof the following enthusiastic volun-teers keynote speakers hands on sci-ence demonstrations and the earning ofBoy Scout Merit BadgesHistoryOur first event was on March 29 2014ldquoSpace Lab to Zero Grdquo and we attractedmore than 750 people (httpwwwne-sacsorgpub_nucleus2014Dec14pdf)The second event on March 28 2015was on Oceanography- ldquoGreat WhiteSharks to Deep Ocean Explorationrdquo Itis described in (httpnesacsorgsec-tion_actSTEM2015STEMJourneyII_715apdf)

STEM Journeys I-III are free eventsat Cape Cod Community College In2015 we had more than 1100 visitors100 volunteers 30 organizations and500 people who signed up to listen toour keynote speakers All of this was ona snowy day in March This event wasdescribed in the Dec 2015 issue of the

Nucleus httpnesacsorgpub_nucleus2015Dec15NUCLEUSpdf

We did get TV radio and Cape CodTimes coverage for this event which isthe largest STEM event on the SouthShore(httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=SeLRGsB7xYUhttpwwwcapecodtimescomarticle20150329NEWS1503294090SEARCH

This year our theme will be Trans-portation and the title is ldquoSTEM JourneyIII Transportation Air Ground andSeardquo One of our keynote speakers willbe discussing autonomous vehicles Weexpect to have 50 organizations 150volunteers and 1500 visitors on April 22016 at Cape Cod Community CollegeMission StatementThe STEM Journey program was organ-ized in 2014 by the Cape Cod Councilof the Boy Scouts of America the North-

Stem Journey IIIBy Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan NESACS Public Relations CommitteeApril 2 2016 at Cape Cod Community College

continued on page 13

For late breaking news job postings and the latest meeting and event

information please visit us atWWWNESACSORG

Photo credits Doris Lewis

8 The Nucleus March 2016

IntroductionBiodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME) is an alternativefuel made from renewable vegetable oils that can be used indiesel vehicles without engine modifications Biodiesel is apossible replacement for petroleum diesel due to reducedgreenhouse gas emissions unburned hydrocarbons carbonmonoxide particulate manner and nitrogen oxides1 A dieselengine can run on an 8020 (B20) mix of petroleum diesel tobiodiesel and with adjustments (to avoid possible clogging)can run 100 (B100) biodiesel2 Over the past 10 years ourresearch group has been studying the chemistry of small-scale(500mL-4L) biodiesel synthesis by base-catalyzed transester-ification of vegetable oils and determined that this process ishighly inefficient and wasteful3 A detailed model of the ki-netics and mechanism for glyceryl fatty acid transesterifica-tion has not been developed A better understanding of thischemical process could be important in solving these issuesthrough the application of green chemistry principles in mod-ifying reaction parameters and in the design of specific cata-lysts for transesterification

The transesterification of simple esters is a traditional chem-ical reaction taught in college-level organic chemistry Figure14 However understanding the transesterification of fattyacid triglycerides is more challenging due to complex sub-strate conformations reaction solubility challenges identifi-cation of intermediates and uncertainty as to the sequence oftri-ester exchange Figure 2 It is not clear for example if thetransesterification is a progression of three sequential reac-tions at each of the three tri-acyl glycerides (C1-C2-C3) or ifthere is rate limiting exchange of the methylene ester groups(C1 vs C3) versus the methine ester group (C2) Figure 2

1H NMR spectrometry is a rapid quantitative instrumentalmethod for time-based monitoring of transesterification reac-tions based on the integration of select proton signals Al-though vegetable oil transesterification into methyl esters hasbeen studied by 1H NMR5-7 very little work has been donestudying the reaction progress and kinetics by this methodThe goal of this work was to develop a 1H NMR experimentalmethod to study the time course of vegetable oil transesterifi-cation that may eventually lead to a detailed kinetic modelthat would identify whether rate limiting transesterificationoccurs at C1-C3 or C2 as the glyceryl triester is converted intothe di- and mono- ester and finally free glycerolMethodologyGeneral All reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrichor Fisher Scientific and used without further purificationTransesterification reactions were conducted using storebought brand name soybean oil All glassware was washedwith Micro-90 cleaner and then rinsed with deionized waterand acetone before oven drying at 80oCTransesterification Procedures Transesterification reactionswere run at constant temperature (60oC or 25oC) using a stan-dard 25 mL batch method with 31 mole ratios ofmethanolester (251 mmole triglyceride) and 251 mmolepotassium hydroxide as catalyst Aliquots were removed attimed intervals and quenched by dilution in acetone-d6 con-taining 005 TMS The molecular mass of the triglyceride(vegetable oil) and biodiesel product were estimated based onthe molecular mass of oleic acid as a model fatty acid Sampling and Sample Preparation Good signal-to-noiseratios were obtained using 10 mL of acetone-d6 to quench 25microL reaction aliquots Aliquot volumes were measured withgas-tight syringes flushed thoroughly between each aliquotto avoid contamination 1H NMR spectra were obtained im-mediately after being quenched and then scanned againtwenty-four hours later No changes in NMR spectra were ob-served over a 24-hour period Instrumentation and Analysis Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) spectra were obtained on a JEOL ECX-400 MHz in-strument Quantitative NMR (qNMR)8 was used to determinereaction progress based on theoretical percent yield In qNMRthe quantity of a particular analyte (biodiesel) is determinedby comparing the integrated value of an analyte signal ofknown number of protons to the integrated value of a knowninternal standard (Figure 3 equations 1 and 2) Maleic acidwas used as the reference standard (vinyl protons at 63 ppm2H)9 to quantitate the biodiesel formed based on the appear-ance of the -OCH3 methyl ester signal at 36 ppm (3H)

Summer Scholar ReportApplying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterification of glycerolfatty acid triestersLeonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Department of Chemical Sciences Bridgewater State University Bridgewater MA 02325

Continued on page 9

Figure 1 Chemical reaction for the transesterification of vegetable oil tobiodiesel

Figure 2 Triacyl glyceride transesterification with methoxide TAG = tri-acylglyceride DAG = diacylglyceride MAG = monoacylglyceride GLY =glycerol FAME123 = Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (biodiesel)

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 8: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

8 The Nucleus March 2016

IntroductionBiodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME) is an alternativefuel made from renewable vegetable oils that can be used indiesel vehicles without engine modifications Biodiesel is apossible replacement for petroleum diesel due to reducedgreenhouse gas emissions unburned hydrocarbons carbonmonoxide particulate manner and nitrogen oxides1 A dieselengine can run on an 8020 (B20) mix of petroleum diesel tobiodiesel and with adjustments (to avoid possible clogging)can run 100 (B100) biodiesel2 Over the past 10 years ourresearch group has been studying the chemistry of small-scale(500mL-4L) biodiesel synthesis by base-catalyzed transester-ification of vegetable oils and determined that this process ishighly inefficient and wasteful3 A detailed model of the ki-netics and mechanism for glyceryl fatty acid transesterifica-tion has not been developed A better understanding of thischemical process could be important in solving these issuesthrough the application of green chemistry principles in mod-ifying reaction parameters and in the design of specific cata-lysts for transesterification

The transesterification of simple esters is a traditional chem-ical reaction taught in college-level organic chemistry Figure14 However understanding the transesterification of fattyacid triglycerides is more challenging due to complex sub-strate conformations reaction solubility challenges identifi-cation of intermediates and uncertainty as to the sequence oftri-ester exchange Figure 2 It is not clear for example if thetransesterification is a progression of three sequential reac-tions at each of the three tri-acyl glycerides (C1-C2-C3) or ifthere is rate limiting exchange of the methylene ester groups(C1 vs C3) versus the methine ester group (C2) Figure 2

1H NMR spectrometry is a rapid quantitative instrumentalmethod for time-based monitoring of transesterification reac-tions based on the integration of select proton signals Al-though vegetable oil transesterification into methyl esters hasbeen studied by 1H NMR5-7 very little work has been donestudying the reaction progress and kinetics by this methodThe goal of this work was to develop a 1H NMR experimentalmethod to study the time course of vegetable oil transesterifi-cation that may eventually lead to a detailed kinetic modelthat would identify whether rate limiting transesterificationoccurs at C1-C3 or C2 as the glyceryl triester is converted intothe di- and mono- ester and finally free glycerolMethodologyGeneral All reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrichor Fisher Scientific and used without further purificationTransesterification reactions were conducted using storebought brand name soybean oil All glassware was washedwith Micro-90 cleaner and then rinsed with deionized waterand acetone before oven drying at 80oCTransesterification Procedures Transesterification reactionswere run at constant temperature (60oC or 25oC) using a stan-dard 25 mL batch method with 31 mole ratios ofmethanolester (251 mmole triglyceride) and 251 mmolepotassium hydroxide as catalyst Aliquots were removed attimed intervals and quenched by dilution in acetone-d6 con-taining 005 TMS The molecular mass of the triglyceride(vegetable oil) and biodiesel product were estimated based onthe molecular mass of oleic acid as a model fatty acid Sampling and Sample Preparation Good signal-to-noiseratios were obtained using 10 mL of acetone-d6 to quench 25microL reaction aliquots Aliquot volumes were measured withgas-tight syringes flushed thoroughly between each aliquotto avoid contamination 1H NMR spectra were obtained im-mediately after being quenched and then scanned againtwenty-four hours later No changes in NMR spectra were ob-served over a 24-hour period Instrumentation and Analysis Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) spectra were obtained on a JEOL ECX-400 MHz in-strument Quantitative NMR (qNMR)8 was used to determinereaction progress based on theoretical percent yield In qNMRthe quantity of a particular analyte (biodiesel) is determinedby comparing the integrated value of an analyte signal ofknown number of protons to the integrated value of a knowninternal standard (Figure 3 equations 1 and 2) Maleic acidwas used as the reference standard (vinyl protons at 63 ppm2H)9 to quantitate the biodiesel formed based on the appear-ance of the -OCH3 methyl ester signal at 36 ppm (3H)

Summer Scholar ReportApplying 1H NMR spectroscopy to develop a kinetic model for the transesterification of glycerolfatty acid triestersLeonard Sprague and Edward J Brush Department of Chemical Sciences Bridgewater State University Bridgewater MA 02325

Continued on page 9

Figure 1 Chemical reaction for the transesterification of vegetable oil tobiodiesel

Figure 2 Triacyl glyceride transesterification with methoxide TAG = tri-acylglyceride DAG = diacylglyceride MAG = monoacylglyceride GLY =glycerol FAME123 = Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (biodiesel)

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 9: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

The Nucleus March 2016 9

Calibration Curves and Data Handling Maleic acid waskept constant at 25 mL of a 0689 M stock solution (00172mmole) and an aliquot of pure biodiesel was added (5 1015 20 and 25 microL) to create five standards qNMR analysiswith normalization of the maleic acid signal for each sampleresulted in integrations of the ndashOCH3 methyl ester signal (36ppm) for comparison to theoretical integration A straight linewith good correlation Rsup2 = 09749 was obtained (data notshown) Results and DiscussionAcetone-d6 was found to effectively and completely quenchthe transesterification reaction with no evidence of side reac-tions over a 24 hour period Also maleic acid functions as asuitable internal reference for qNMR quantification due to aclear signal downfield from all other signals of interest re-sulting in easy and accurate calculations of methyl ester con-centration

The rates of triacylglyceride transesterification were ex-amined at 60oC and 25oC We initially attempted to study thetransesterification kinetics at 60oC as this is the typical tem-perature for biodiesel production However it was found thatthe initial rate of transesterification at 60oC was too fast tomeasure by our sampling method and that equilibrium wasreached within one minute (data not shown) At 25oC a rapidinitial rate was clearly observed that was linear for approxi-mately 25-30 of the reaction as shown by the concentration-time data graphed in Figure 4 The rapid initial rate wasfollowed by a slower reaction phase which reaches equilib-rium in approximately 3 hours To our knowledge this is the first time a rapid initial phasehas been reported for vegetable oil transesterification As ourdata suggest that this rapid phase accounts for approximately25-30 of maximum yield it is tempting to speculate that thisimplies a rapid exchange of a C1 glyceryl methylene estergroup followed by slower (rate limiting) exchange of the re-maining two glyceryl esters Figure 2 At this time we werenot able to determine the equilibrium product compositionbased on the signals of the C1-C3 glyceryl methylene protons(41-44 ppm) Furthermore the C2 methine proton signal(525 ppm) overlaps with the fatty acyl olefinic proton signal(535 ppm) Figure 5 making it difficult to accurately integratethe two signals The equilibrium concentration of biodieselproduced at 25oC is approximately 60 of completion andunderlies the importance for using an excess of methanol andremoving the glycerol product to ldquoforcerdquo the reaction to com-

pletion

Conclusions and Future WorkWe have developed a simple efficient and reproducibleqNMR analytical method to monitor the transesterification offatty acyl triglycerides This method will be used to continueour work to better understand the kinetics and mechanism ofsmall-scale biodiesel synthesis and facilitate the optimizationof reaction parameters and screening of new catalysts Ourresults also suggest that room temperature (25oC) is preferredfor rate studies on fatty acyl transesterification reactions butmore must be done in order to finalize rate analysis and de-termining reaction order Our ongoing work is focused on de-termining the product distribution over the reaction timecourse The complex mixture may contain tri- di- and mono-

Summer ScholarContinued from page 8

Figure 4 Time course of increasing biodiesel concentration vs time at25oC from the transesterification of 251 mmol of vegetable oil Each datapoint represents a 25microL aliquot of the reaction mixture where the maxi-mum observed yield of biodiesel product in this plot would be 00753mmoles Figure 1

Figure 5 1H NMR spectrum of transesterification reaction taken at equi-librium Chemical shifts maleic acid vinyl protons (2H 64 ppm) C2glyceryl methine (1H 525 ppm) C1-C3 glyceryl methylenes (4H 41-44ppm) biodiesel ndashOCH3 methyl ester (3H 36 ppm) methanol (3H 325ppm) Signal at 535 ppm is attributed to fatty acyl olefinic protons

Figure 3 Equations used to determine reaction progress by QuantitativeNMR

Continued on page 13

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 10: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

10 The Nucleus March 2016

In the Fall of 2015 the NSYCC re-ceived a grant from the ACS Committeeon Community Activities to host an out-reach event The goal was to give backto the community in some way to spreadscience to a wider audience and engagethe future generation of scientists Wehad two successful endeavors in 2015and it has inspired us to seek out moreevents like this in the future Thanks toour Career Chair Ray Borg we collab-orated with graduate student Jerry Gilli-gan who has fostered connections withlocal schools especially East BostonHigh School He works closely with DrKristen Cacciatorersquos Advanced Place-ment Chemistry class to bring a more di-verse and interactive perspective to thescience curriculum The three of usspent an afternoon in November per-forming demonstrations of chemistrykits from Flinn Scientific such as ldquoTheDisappearing Rainbowrdquo and ldquoAmor-phous Monster Foamrdquo These same kitswill be used by the students for their an-nual Science Day where they will con-duct and explain the experiments infront of the parents and teachers Wehope to continue this connection withJerry and East Boston High School andvisit againFor our main outreach event of the yearwe hosted an event titled ldquoThe Magic of

Sciencerdquo at the Brighton Public Libraryon December 5th 2015 with over 50children in attendance Valerie IvancicNSYCC Webmaster designed four ex-periments for the participants that weresimple and safe for ages 12 and underEach table was decorated like the fourHogwarts houses Gryffindor Raven-claw Hufflepuff and Slytherin At theGryffindor table Matt Rosienski andAlicia Lee (Clark University) showedthe kids how to make their own sillyputty using cornstarch Elmerrsquos glueBorax and food coloring dye Mean-while at the Slytherin table Felicia Lucci(NSYCC Chair) had set up a nano -science demonstration with toy fuel cellcars and a scanning tunneling micro-scope that showed students atoms Va-lerie was at the Hufflepuff table showingthe iodine clock reaction using applesfor the Vitamin C and the potatoes asstarch Last but not least the Ravenclawtable had a milk dispersion experimentwith food coloring dye and dish soapdemonstrated by Sarah Lach and AsthaBilimoria (Clark University) Each childwas provided their own pair of glassesand glove to be ldquosafe like a real scien-tistrdquo There was also arts and crafts tablewhere they could paint their own magicwands and decorate their safety glassesIt was great to see the children show somuch enthusiasm with the different ex-periments Several kids said they wantto be scientists someday to quote one ldquoIwant to be an Ologist and study every-thing that ends in -ologyrdquo Approxi-mately six different K-8 schools wererepresented many from Winship Ele-mentary which is a block away from thelibrary We received great feedbackfrom parents and children alike and wealready looking to plan another one for2016

NSYCC Meets the Next Generation ofScientistsBy Catherine Rawlins NSYCC Chair-Elect

Ray Borg (right) helps Jerry Gilligan (left) witha demonstration - Photo credit - Catie Rawlins

Alicia Lee and Matt Rosienski at the Gryffindortable Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Sarah Lach at the Ravenclaw table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Valarie Ivancic at the Hufflepuff table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Felicia Lucci at the Slytherin table Photo credit Astha Bilimoria

Q Exactly how many awards andscholarships does NESACS sponsor

A) One b) Two c) Manywwwnesacsorgawards

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 11: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

The Nucleus March 2016 11

NationalHistoricChemicalLandmarkSiteBy Vivian WalworthThe American Chemical Society cele-brated its designation of the historicbuilding at the northeast corner of Mainand Osborn Streets in Cambridge as aNational Historic Chemical LandmarkIt is the site of the office and laboratoryof Dr Edwin H Land founder of Po-laroid Corporation and inventor of InstantPhotography Dr Landrsquos contributionsspan a wide range from the invention ofsheet polarizers and their application todisplay of stereoscopic images to one-step photography innovative imagingchemistry and new insights into colorperception The celebration took placeon August 13 at the nearby MIT Mu-seum which holds the major collectionof Polaroid photographic images andmaterials from the early experimentalstages onward On August 14 the MITMuseum hosted a public celebration thatincluded both Landrsquos work and contem-porary instant photography A session onAugust 16 during the ACS NationalMeeting in Boston centered on thechemistry and production of PolaroidrsquosSX-70 film

The historic building is recognizedby the City of Cambridge as a landmarkthe oldest intact industrial complex inthe city First constructed in the early1800s as a brick store the building wasoccupied by the Davenport Car Worksin 1842 Soon afterward the companyadded six one-story workshops and in1848 added two 2-story brick wings be-hind the front building Davenport pio-neered the design and construction ofrailroad passenger cars with centeraisles and reversible seats and con-structed freight cars and a few steam lo-comotives A plaque on the Main Street

Continued on page 13

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 12: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

12 The Nucleus March 2016

Greetings were offered at the open-ing ceremony by Zafra Lerman (Presi-dent MCF) Rachid BenmokhtarBenabdellah (Minister of National Edu-cation Morocco) Dwight Bush Sr(US Ambassador to Morocco) KarenBetts (UK Ambassador to Morocco)Anne Vasara (Finland Ambassador toMorocco) Are-Jostein Norheim (Nor-way Ambassador to Morocco) LahcenHaddad (Minister of Tourism Morocco)Fadila Boughanemi and Donna NelsonEvening receptions were held during theweek at the residences of AmbassadorsBush Vasara and Norheim The Moroc-can Ministry of National Education theAcademy of the Kingdom and the Has-san II Academy of Science and Technol-ogy hosted a farewell cocktail dinner

The following multi-session work-shops which were chaired by the listedorganizers were heldbull Organic Organo-metallic and Me-

dicinal Chemistry Cathy Costello(US) Masoud Mehrgardi (Iran)Mohammed El-Khateeb (Jordan)

bull Energy Materials and Nanotechnol-ogy for Resource Sustainability Mar-wan Mousa (Jordan) Ron Naaman(Israel) Pierre Karam (Lebanon)

bull Environment Air and Water QualityChuck Kolb (US) AbdelrahmanAlamarah Tamimi (Palestinian Au-thority) Abdallah Husein Malkawi(Jordan) Yossi Guttman (Israel)

bull Science and Technology EducationRachel Mamlok-Naaman (Israel)Morton Hoffman (US)

A total of 54 oral presentations weremade during the workshop sessions 21posters were on display throughout theentire meeting At the end of the con-ference the workshop organizers pro-vided summaries of the talks anddiscussions in their sessions Proposalswere presented for future action includ-ing the continuation of existing collab-orations on water and education and thedevelopment of new ones the dissemi-nation of the information from the work-shops to a broader audience and thesearch for funding to provide researchand international exchange opportuni-ties for students and faculty In the clos-

ing session the participants many ofwhom had attended previous Malta Con-ferences enthusiastically endorsed themotion that Malta VIII be held in 2017

Among the sponsors of Malta VIIwere the Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons (OPCW Re-cipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize)the United Nations Educational Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (UN-

ESCO) ACS and the Division of Chem-ical Education (CHED) the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) and the Committee ofConcerned Scientists (CCS) Signifi-cant financial support was received fromthe Carnegie Foundation of New Yorkthe Rockefeller Brothers Fund and theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation

The members of the MCF Board ofDirectors who attended Malta VII wereZafra Lerman (President US) AnnNalley (Vice President US) IonaBlack (Secretary US) Morton Hoff-man (Treasurer US) Cathy Costello(US) Chuck Kolb (US) Leiv Sydnes(Norway) and Hassan Bazzi (Qatar)More information about MCF and theMalta Conferences can be found athttpmaltaconferencesfoundationorg

Donna Nelson offered her perspec-tives about Malta VII and referenced theviews of participants from the MiddleEast in her ACS Comment ldquoBuildingRelationships Building Trustrdquo CampENVol 93 (48) Dec 714 2015 p 45

Report from RabatContinued from page 2

(l-r) Morton Hoffman (Boston University)Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar (University of IsfahanIran) Masoud Mehrgardi (University of Isfa-han Iran)

Distinguished guests (from the right) RachidBenmokhtar Benabdellah Minister of NationalEducation and Vocational Training MoroccoDwight L Bush Sr US Ambassador to Mo-rocco Karen Betts UK Ambassador to Mo-rocco Anne Vasara Finland Ambassador toMorocco Are-Jostein Norheim Norway Ambas-sador to Morocco Fadila Boughanemi Euro-pean Commission of the EU Not in the pictureDonna Nelson ACS President-elect

Ghita Wallin (at left) and Marianne Vikkula ofSLUSH at Aalto University Finland partici-pants in the presentation by Olli Vuola

ing Please note that you may have toupdate your Flash plug in (httpgetadobecomflashplayer)

For the Audio portion please dial 1-866-678-6823 and enter 3373604 asthe passcode

On your mobile device pleasedownload the ldquoOnSyncrdquo app by DigitalSamba After opening click on Join Ses-sion and input the above link (httpwwwvideoserverssitecomgo8350179nesacsmeetings) and follow the steps tojoin the meeting

Please note that the above link willbe used for all meetings in the future

We hope members who are unableto attend these meetings will take advan-tage of this service and still be able toparticipate This is the first time a serv-ice such as this is being offered by theNESACS As such there will be glitchesalong the way and we would like toapologize for this in advance As alwayswe would love to hear from you and re-ceive feedback so that we may fix anyissues Please email me at purohianverizonnet or call at 508 735 9693

Web StreamingContinued from page 5

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 13: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

face of the building commemorates theDavenport plant

The next occupant was an ironfoundry Allen amp Endicott which rentedout space to others including JJ Wal-worth amp Company early manufacturerof plumbing fittings and the iconic Still-son wrench On October 9 1876Alexander Graham Bell and his assis-tant Thomas Watson used the Walworthtelegraph line between the Cambridgeplant and the Walworth office in SouthBoston to make the first long-distancetelephone call The Telephone Pioneersof America later mounted a celebratoryplaque on the Main Street face of thebuilding

In 1927 the Kaplan Furniture Com-pany maker of fine furniture purchasedthe building That company rented someof its space to the Polaroid Corporationduring the early 1940s Founder EdwinLand opened a laboratory there and alsoestablished a training school on the sec-ond floor to train military personnel tomake Polaroid Vectograph stereoscopicimages in the field Polaroid providedfield kits and Vectograph images wereused throughoutWW2 in support of aer-ial reconnaissance

Dr Land conducted the first exper-iments in one-step photography in hisKaplan building laboratory and he con-tinued work in his office and laboratorythere until his retirement from Polaroidin 1982 Polaroid had occupied the en-tire building by 1960 and facilities thereincluded black-and-white and color re-search labs a projection room and sev-eral additional research laboratories anddarkrooms Supporting research facili-ties offices workshops engineering de-partments and a research libraryoccupied nearby buildings Polaroidpurchased the Kaplan building in1988and sold it to MIT in1998 In 2014 thePolaroid Retirees Association added aplaque commemorating Dr Landrsquosachievements

MIT has fully preserved the exter-nal facade of the building renovated theinterior and constructed an 80000square foot addition Completed in2002 the project received a Preservation

Award from the Cambridge HistoricalCommission in 2003 The building isnow managed by MIT and occupied bymodern Pfizer biotech research and sev-eral development laboratories

The ACS plaque which commem-orates Dr Landrsquos highly productive re-search contributions will join the earlierplaques on the building

Chemical LandmarkContinued from page 11

The Nucleus March 2016 13

What exactly goes on at NESACSrsquomonthly Board meetings

wwwnesacsorgreports

glycerides free glycerol biodiesel(methyl ester) and unreacted methanolFurthermore we need to conclusivelydetermine the sequence of transesterifi-cation for the methylene vs methine car-bons to conclusively identify reactionintermediates Due to the complexity ofthe C1-C3 methylene signals and over-lap of C2 methine signal with fatty acylolefinic protons (Figure 5) we will in-vestigate whether 2D NMR can be em-ployed to resolve these signals AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a Nor-ris-Richards Summer Scholarship fromthe Northeastern Section of the Ameri-can Chemical Society the BridgewaterState University Adrian Tinsley Pro-gram and a grant from the EPA P3 pro-gram (SU835696) The JEOL ECX-400MHz NMR was obtained through NSF-MRI grant 0421081References1 Kemp WH Biodiesel Basics and

Beyond A Comprehensive Guide toProduction and Use for the Home andFarm Aztext Press 2006

2 King Angela G and Marcus WWright ldquoRudolph Diesel Meets theSoy bean ldquoGreasingrdquo the Wheels ofChemical Educationrdquo Journal ofChemical Education 84 (2007) 203-206

3 Agnew R Chai M Lu M andDendramis N (2009) ldquoMakingBiodiesel from Recycled Cooking OilGenerated in Campus Dining Facili-tiesrdquo Sustainability The Journal ofRecord 2(5) 303-307

4 Behnia MS Emerson DW Stein-berg SM Alwis RM Duenas JAand Serafino JO (2011) ldquoA SimpleSafe Method for Preparation ofBiodieselrdquo J Chem Ed 88(9)1290ndash1292

5 Morgenstern Mark Cline JessicaMeyer Sally and Cataldo SimonDetermination of the Kinetics ofBiodiesel Production Using ProtonNuclear Magnetic Resonance Spec-troscopy (1H NMR) Energy amp Fuels2006 20 1350-1353

6 Guillen Maria and Ruiz Ainhoa

Summer ScholarContinued from page 9

eastern Section of the American Chem-ical Society and Cape Cod CommunityCollege to provide a stimulus and intro-duction to the sciences for K-12 studentsfrom the Cape and Islands and the SouthShore We feel that the US needs to im-prove science technology engineeringand math (STEM) education to remaincompetitive with the rest of the worldThis will not be truly effective unless weinspire young students through pro-grams like STEM Journey Keynote SpeakersGround-MIT Professor John Leonard(Mechanical and Ocean Engineering)Professor Leonard has been a key per-son in MITrsquos participation in the 2007DARPA program on robotic vehiclesHis interests are artificial intelligencerobotics and autonomous vehicles Histalk will be on rdquoAutonomous Carsrdquo

Air-Massachusetts State SenatorDan Wolf or Linda Markum Presidentof Cape Air (the only woman Presidentof a North American Airline) The talkwill be about ldquoAdvances in Aviationrdquo

Water-Meghan Carroll of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutewill speak on ldquoAutonomous UnderwaterVehicles (AUV)rdquoOrganizers The Cape and Islands Council of theBoy Scouts of America NortheasternSection of the American Chemical So-ciety and Cape Cod Community Col-lege

Stem Journey IIIContinued from page 7

Continued on page 15

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 14: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

Updated frequently bull Late-breaking news bull position postingsBack issues of the Nucleus archived bull Career-related Links bull Awards and Scholarships

WWWNESACSorg

The NESACS website

14 The Nucleus March 2016

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICESSERVICESCall forNominationsPhilip L Levins MemorialPrizeNominations for the Philip L LevinsMemorial Prize for outstanding per-formance by a graduate student on theway to a career in chemical scienceshould be sent to the NESACS Admin-istrative Secretary 12 Corcoran RdBurlington MA 01803 by April 8 2016

The graduate studentrsquos researchshould be in the area of organic analyticalchemistry and may include other areasof organic analytical chemistry such asenvironmental analysis biochemicalanalysis or polymer analysis Researchemphasis must be on novel uses of ana-lytical methods not routine analysis

Nominations may be made by afaculty member or the student may sub-mit an application A biographicalsketch transcripts of graduate and un-dergraduate grades a description ofpresent research activity and three ref-erences must be included The nomina-tion should be specific concerning thecontribution the student has made to theresearch and publications (if any) withmultiple authors

The award will be presented at theMay 2016 NESACS meeting

Email vwalworthcomcastnet

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 15: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

The Nucleus March 2016 15

CAREER SERVICESSERVICES

B U S I N E S S D I R E C T O R Y

SERVICES

Index of AdvertisersChemir 14Drew University 4Eastern Scientific Co 11Micron Inc 14NuMega Resonance Labs14Organix Inc15PCI Synthesis 7Rilas Technologies Inc 15Robertson Microlit Labs 14Tyger Scientific Inc 14

High resolution 1H nuclear magneticresonance in the study of edible oilsand fats Trends in Food Science ampTechnology 2001 12 328-338

7 Knothe G 1H-NMR Spectroscopy ofFatty Acids and Their DerivativesQuantification by 1H-NMR NationalCenter for Agricultural Utilization Re-search Agricultural Research Service2005 httplipidlibraryaocsorgnmr1NMRquanfilepdf (accessed March20 2015)

8 Peterson J ldquo1H NMR Analysis ofMixtures Using Internal StandardsrdquoJ Chem Educ 1992 69 (10) 843-5

9 JEOL Resonance Application NoteNM090009 ldquoWhat is qNMR (quan-titative NMR)rdquo 2011 httpwwwj-resonancecomenimagesapplicationnmrnm090009epdf (accessed Janu-ary 2016)

Summer ScholarContinued from page 13

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451

Page 16: VII NESACS at · Africa (MENA) countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, ... Call for Nominations for the 2016 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement

Check the NESACS home pagefor late Calendar additionshttpwwwNESACSorgNote also the Chemistry Department webpages for travel directions and updatesThese includehttpwwwbceduschoolscaschemistrysemina

rshtmlhttpwwwbueduchemistryseminarshttpwwwbrandeisedudepartmentschemistry

eventsindexhtmlhttpchemistryharvardeducalendarupcominghttpwwwnortheasterneducoschemistryevent

s-2httpchemistrymitedueventsallhttpchemtuftseduseminarshtmlhttpengineeringtuftseduchbenewsEventsse

minarSeriesindexasphttpwwwchemumbeduhttpwwwumassdeducaschemistryhttpwwwumleduScienceschemistrySeminar

s-and-ColloquiaaspxhttpwwwunheduchemistryeventsMarch 1Dr Keith Faucher (Maquet Getinge Group)ldquoThe Importance of Chemistry in the Design andManufacture of Medical DevicesrdquoUNH Room N104 1110 amProf Liz Nolan (MIT)ldquoExplorations of a host-defense peptide that self-assembles and entraps bacterial pathogensrdquoBoston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 2Prof Konstantin Sokolov (Univ Texas-Austin)ldquoClinical translation of plasmonic nanosensorsdesign synthesis and applicationsrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Christopher Chang (UCal-Berkeley) Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pm

March 7Prof Peter Zhang (Boston College)ldquoMetalloradical Catalysis for Homolytic Radi-cal ChemistryrdquoBrandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Yi Cui (Stanford)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf Joshua Price (BYU)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 8Prof Joshua Price (BYU)Tufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Emily Pentzer (Case Western)UNH Room N104 1110 amMarch 9Prof Thomas Gunnoe (Univ of Virginia)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 16Prof Xiang Wang (U Colorado-Boulder)ldquoBio-Inspired Synthesis of Functional Mole-culesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 17Dr Michael Z Hoemann (AbbVie BioresearchCenter)Boston College Merkert 130 330 pmProf Matthew S Sigman (Univ of Utah)Boston College Merkert 130 445 pmMarch 21Prof Brian Crane (Cornell)Brandeis Gerstenzang 121 400 pmProf Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)Harvard University Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmMarch 22Prof Amanda Jones (Wake Forest University)UNH Room N104 1110 am

March 23Prof David Beratan (Duke)ldquoDoes Evolution Care About Quantum Mechan-ics Electrons Bioenergetics and LiferdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmMarch 24Dr Molly OrsquoHagan (Pacific Northwest NationalLaboratory)Harvard Pfizer Lecture Hall 415 pmProf M Kevin Brown (Indiana)MIT Room 6-120 400 pmMarch 29Prof David Christianson (Penn)ldquoStructural Biology and Chemistry of HistoneDeacetylases in Human Disease and DrugrdquoTufts Pearson Room P-106 400 pmProf Kevin Rice (Colby College)UNH Room N104 1110 amProf Jason E Gestwicki (UCal-San Francisco)Boston College Merkert 130 400 pmMarch 30Prof Eric Heller (Harvard)ldquoThe Looming Battle over Raman Scattering inGraphene and Related Carbon CompoundsChemistry vs Physics PerspectivesrdquoBoston Univ Life Sciences and EngineeringBuilding Rm B01 400 pmProf Daniel Kahne (Harvard)Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gateway Park1002 1200 pmNotices for The NucleusCalendar of Seminars should besent toXavier Herault email xherault(at)outlookcom

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAID

NORTHEASTERN SECTION

AMERICAN CHEM

ICALSOCIETY

Calendar

19 Mill Road

Harvard MA 01451