EAPSI: Synthesis of Thiolated Carboranes for Self-Assembled Monolayers on a Dy-doped CdO Surface

该项目旨在合成硫代碳硼烷，这是一种在水和极端高温下稳定的有机分子。这些有机分子将附着在等离子体活性物质上——掺杂镝的氧化镉（CdO:Dy）——以保护其不溶于水和酸性溶液。最近有报道称，CdO:Dy是第一个可以在中红外区域承载表面等离子体激元的半导体，也是中红外生物传感器芯片的理想材料。除了探索将CdO:Dy用作生物传感器芯片的可能性外，还将研究这些有机分子附着在CdO:Dy上时，使用表面等离子体共振（SPR）光谱法是否可以检测到这些有机分子的红外振动。该项目将在中国浙江大学与碳硼烷合成专家Simon Duttwyler教授一起进行。这项工作将导致一种灵敏的中红外生物传感器的发展，可用于药物发现和科学研究的小分子检测。最近报道了一种等离子体活性材料，镝掺杂氧化镉（CdO:Dy）具有极高的迁移率峰值和可调的载流子浓度，从而在中红外范围内产生表面等离子体共振。虽然CdO:Dy是一种理想的中红外生物传感器材料，但其在水中的溶解度和在酸性溶液中的不稳定性给实验带来了许多挑战。为了克服这些障碍，EAPSI项目的一个目标是合成极度疏水和热稳定的分子，硫代碳硼烷，它不仅可以保护CdO底物不受（酸性）溶液的影响，还可以通过表面等离子体共振（SPR）光谱对这些分子进行后续检测；这也将有助于同时研究将CdO:Dy用作生物传感器的可能性。此外，硫代碳硼烷将通过自组装单层沉积在CdO:Dy衬底上，进一步加深对Dy掺杂CdO表面与有机分子之间表面化学的基本认识。该奖项隶属于东亚和太平洋暑期研究所项目，由美国国家科学基金会和中国科技部共同资助，支持美国研究生的暑期研究。

This project aims to synthesize thiolated carboranes, organic molecules that are stable in water and extreme heat. These organic molecules will be attached to a plasmonic active material - cadmium oxide doped with dysprosium (CdO:Dy) - to protect it from being soluble in water and acidic solutions. CdO:Dy was recently reported as the first semiconductor that can host surface plasmons in the mid-infrared region as well as being an ideal material for mid-infrared biosensor chips. Investigation regarding whether or not the infrared vibration of these organic molecules can be detected when attached on CdO:Dy using Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) spectrometry will be performed in addition to exploring the possibility of using CdO:Dy as a biosensor chip. This project will be conducted at Zhejiang University in China with Professor Simon Duttwyler, an expert in carboranes synthesis. This work will lead to development of a sensitive mid-IR biosensor that can be used in drug discovery and also in small molecule detection for scientific research.A recently reported plasmonic active material, dysprosium doped cadmium oxide (CdO:Dy) possesses extreme peak of mobility and tunable carrier concentration giving rise to Surface Plasmon Resonance across the mid-IR range. Though CdO:Dy is an ideal mid-IR material for a biosensor due to its spectrally narrow and sharp plasmonic band, its solubility in water and instability in acidic solution pose many challenges experimentally. To overcome these obstacles, an objective of this EAPSI project aims to synthesize extremely hydrophobic and thermally stable molecules, thiolated carboranes, that will not only protect CdO substrate from (acidic) solutions, but also permit subsequent detection of these molecules through Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) spectroscopy; this will also facilitate the simultaneous investigation of potentially using CdO:Dy as a biosensor. Furthermore, thiolated carboranes will be deposited on CdO:Dy substrate using self-assembled monolayer, furthering the fundamental understanding of surface chemistry between Dy-doped CdO surface and organic molecules.This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.