With this CAREER award the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the work of Dr. Nathaniel Finney in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California at San Diego. The goal of the research is to discover and develop fluorescent chemosensors that can be used to measure low level concentrations of heavy metal ions and small organic molecules in water. The devices depend on changes in emission intensities or wavelengths which result from complexation of the analyte to the fluorescent molecule. Combinatorial methods will be used to identify sensors for further development, initially emphasizing the detection and measurement of Hg++. Fluorescence-based measurement of concentrations of mercury ions, as well as other heavy metal ions and small organic molecules in water, promise to be much more rapid and lower cost than conventional methods, with applications in both environmental protection and medicine. The educational activities to be carried out under this grant include: 1) development of a new laboratory course in combinatorial chemistry to go with a lecture course the PI has already developed, 2) an annual UCSD Combinatorial Chemistry Symposium, and 3) a summer seminar series on the History of Chemistry. Graduate students working with the PI will learn valuable skills useful to the growing biotech industry in the San Diego area.
