Chemistry Proposal Defense – Hope Lackey, Chemistry Graduate Student

About the event

Speaker: Hope Lackey

Group: Xiaofeng Guo and Amanda Lines

Title: Leveraging chemometrics of optical spectroscopy in challenging systems

Abstract: On-line and in-line monitoring provides near real-time quantitative information about a chemical process, allowing process workers to alter conditions for process efficiency, divert contaminated products, mark when a process has gone to completion, and more. Optical spectroscopy methods are rapid, non-invasive, and non-destructive, and excellent systems are commercially available. However, additional research is needed to verify the efficacy of optical spectroscopic on-line monitoring. This work focuses on three challenging systems: microfluidic sampling channels, systems with unstable references or no references available, and variable temperature systems. The first aim explores the use of Raman and UV-visible spectroscopy for milli- and microliter volume solutions containing dissolved uranium. Chemometrics is used to deconvolute highly overlapped signatures from various species of uranium in multiple oxidation states, and it is also used to quantify analytes in the aqueous and organic phases. Errors are comparable in a standard cuvette and a custom microfluidic device. The second aim focuses on revising the traditional approach to UV-visible spectroscopy, using signal processing and multivariate analysis to negate the need for references in UV-visible spectroscopy. The third aim sees the development and optimization of coupled UV-visible spectroscopy and calorimetry, providing chemical and physical data for temperature-sensitive, endothermic, or exothermic systems.