Collaborative Research: Unraveling Interactions that Drive Water-Osmolyte Interactions in Confinement and Impact Self-Assembly

合作研究：揭示在限制和影响自组装中驱动水-渗透剂相互作用的相互作用

• 批准号: 1956198
• 负责人: Bridget Gourley
• 金额: $ 14.99万
• 依托单位: DePauw University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1956198&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Unraveling; Interactions; Drive

In this collaborative project funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics, and Mechanisms A (CSDM-A) Program of the Chemistry Division, Professors Nancy Levinger (Colorado State University) and Bridget Gourley (DePauw University) along with their research groups are using a combination of magnetic and laser techniques to shed light on water's dynamical properties when confined in minuscule structures that are nanometers, or approximately 40 billionths of an inch, in size. In these minuscule environments, water's molecular behavior does not match what happens in a glass full of water. Additionally, other molecules such as sugars, which are often found with water in such tight spaces, radically influence water’s properties. By creating and characterizing a range of systems, this work advances the understanding of water's behavior in environments that are important to processes such as chemical synthesis, environmental remediation, cellular activity, and beyond. Students involved in this research program develop expertise at the molecular level while with learning effective project collaboration skills by working together on an inter-institutional team of scientists at multiple career stages, undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate. To facilitate effective mentoring the project also creates and assesses a "mentor the mentor" program led by the PIs to guide graduate researchers as mentors of more novice researchers and thus nurture the development of the next generation of mentors and scientists. This program employs 1D and 2D NMR along with time-resolved and steady-state optical spectroscopies to characterize the confined environments created in reverse micelles and the interactions occurring within them. Combining data from these tools reveals the interplay of confinement and water-osmolyte interactions and feed predictive models. Having characterized the reverse micelle environments that encapsulate osmolytes, results reveal how these environments affect proton and electron transfer reactions. Additionally, the project investigates water-osmolyte interactions transitioning from bulk solution to nanoscopic contexts and explores the impact of osmolytes on reverse micelle structure, stability, and form. The project seeks to advance knowledge by developing predictive tools through direct correlation between observed behaviors and proposed mechanisms to uncover fundamental interactions that exist in confined aqueous environments. The broader impacts of this experimental program are two-fold. First, the program provides undergraduate and graduate students important training in NMR and time-resolved optical spectroscopies as well as experience working in a multi-institutional collaborative team. The science reveals details about crowded biological environments where osmolytes are active and provide predictive models that apply to big ideas like the food, energy, water nexus, and Rules of Life.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在这个由化学系化学结构、动力学和机理 A (CSDM-A) 项目资助的合作项目中，Nancy Levinger 教授（科罗拉多州立大学）和 Bridget Gourley（迪堡大学）教授及其研究小组正在使用磁性和激光技术的组合来揭示水在纳米（或大约 40）微小结构中的动力学特性。 大小为十亿分之一英寸。在这些微小的环境中，水的分子行为与装满水的玻璃杯中发生的情况并不相符。此外，其他分子（例如糖）经常与水一起存在于如此狭小的空间中，从根本上影响水的性质。通过创建和表征一系列系统，这项工作增进了对水在环境中行为的理解，这些行为对于化学合成、环境修复、细胞活动等过程很重要。参与该研究项目的学生在分子水平上发展专业知识，同时通过在本科生、研究生和研究生等多个职业阶段的跨机构科学家团队中合作，学习有效的项目协作技能。为了促进有效的指导，该项目还创建和评估了由PI领导的“导师导师”计划，引导研究生研究人员成为更多新手研究人员的导师，从而培育下一代导师和科学家的发展。该程序采用一维和二维核磁共振以及时间分辨和稳态光学光谱来表征反胶束中产生的受限环境以及其中发生的相互作用。结合这些工具的数据揭示了限制和水渗透剂相互作用以及饲料预测模型的相互作用。在表征了封装渗透剂的反胶束环境后，结果揭示了这些环境如何影响质子和电子转移反应。此外，该项目还研究了从本体溶液到纳米环境的水-渗透剂相互作用，并探讨了渗透剂对反胶束结构、稳定性和形式的影响。该项目旨在通过观察到的行为和提出的机制之间的直接关联来开发预测工具，以揭示有限水环境中存在的基本相互作用，从而增进知识。该实验计划的更广泛影响有两个方面。首先，该项目为本科生和研究生提供核磁共振和时间分辨光学光谱方面的重要培训，以及在多机构协作团队中工作的经验。该科学揭示了渗透剂活跃的拥挤生物环境的细节，并提供了适用于食品、能源、水关系和生命规则等重大思想的预测模型。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。