In this project supported by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Yong Ba of the California State University at Los Angeles will employ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to explore the diffusion of large molecules and polymeric nanoparticles in viscous liquids approximating biological mucus media. NMR diffusion studies will focus on fluorinated adamantane enclosed in different cyclodextrins in mucus models. The fluorinated adamantane will enable the exploration via the NMR active 19F nucleus, and diffusion parameters will be extracted using pulsed-field gradient techniques. The research will also involve the synthesis of cyclodextrin derivatives; characterization of these will entail mass spectrometric, proton NMR, and light scattering techniques.
Cyclodextrin has potential as drug delivery vehicle, and an understanding of its diffusion properties across materials resembling nasal or gastrointestinal membranes is thus desirable. The PI will heavily rely on student contributions to research from the large pool of students from underrepresented minority groups at CSULA. Students involved in this research will have access to a modern NMR facility, where they will be introduced not only to specialized diffusion techniques, but conventional 1D and 2D NMR experiments as well.
