WCS Chemistry Research 2018-2019

Martian Conundrum Solved: Viking Lander Data Reexamined for Organics             In 1976, NASA sent two Viking landers to Mars.   They purpose of sending them was to see if life was sustainable on the planet by searching the soil for organic compounds.   These Viking landers used GC/MS instruments to examine the soil.   When scientists were examining the data from the GC/MS, they didn’t find any organics from the Martial soil itself; all that they found was chlorobenzene and dichloromethane which was attributed to terrestrial contamination from cleaning fluids.   This came as a huge surprise to scientists because they completely expected to find organic matter.   Organic compounds should have rained down into mars on meteorites and comets, so it didn’t make sense as to why none were found.               In 2008, NASA sent a Phoenix lander. ...

Title: Forensic Application of Gas Chromatography-Differential Mobility Spectrometry with Two-Way Classification of Ignitable Liquids from Fire Debris         In this article, Yao Lu and Peter B. Harrington explore alternate methods to solve cases of arson. The key part of their study was to find cheaper and more accurate detection methods for ignitable liquids. The second leading cause of deaths and injuries and the leading cause of fires is arson. Throughout the article, Lu and Harrington use gas chromatography along with other methods to find a solution.             One of the main problems in detecting ignitable chemicals is the fact that chemicals can evaporate, and additional pyrolysis products can be produced that can alter the composition of the chemicals. This results in Lu and Harrington designing a new type of GC-DMS (Gas Chromatograph – Differential mobility Spectrum) that will use a comp...

Title: Sensitive Determination of Volatile Organic Compounds and Aldehydes in Tattoo Inks                      The popularity of a tattoo gone from sub-culture to pop culture in recent years, however, getting a tattoo can potentially put your health at risk. A tattoo is a form of external body modification in which a needle is inserted in the dermis layer in order to transfer the pigments. Tattoo inks are a mixture of organic and metal complex dyes in various solvents; the solvents with ethyl alcohol are more commonly used as the alcohol increases the skin’s permeability but also carries more hazardous materials into the blood. Despite the high numbers of tattooed individuals, there has been no study until now of the harmful solvents and impurities contained in tattoo products.              This study used gas chromatography to develop analytical methods pertaining t...

Validation of biofilm formation on human skin wound models and demonstration of clinically translatable bacteria-specific volatile signatures The purpose of this experiment was to develop and assess bacterial biofilm formation and identify their unique VOC profiles to help stop the creation of antibiotic resistant bacteria at an early stage. It was also to supply experimental models to assess theranostics ( combining specific targeted therapy based on specific targeted diagnostic tests). The scientists grew biofilms on plastic coverslips for one, three, and five days, at 37 degrees Celsius in incisional and excisional human cutaneous wound tissues in a specific broth medium. They used six different methods to evaluate the formations and their structure was reviewed. The Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are unique to various disease states and can be associated with these certain biofilms, were identified using gas chromatography. All their experiments were done twice in ...

Establishment of analysis method for methane detection by gas chromatography The purpose of this study was to find a good analysis method for methane detection, using GC. Methane’s greenhouse effect is as great as 25 times that of carbon dioxide. The point of this experiment is to establish a method for monitoring amounts of methane.             The gas chromatograph is used because it has many advantages, including accuracy, visualization, and adaptability. The detector that was used in this experiment was the hydrogen flame ionization detector (FID). The FID detector is most commonly used for carbon-containing organics analysis, and so it was used for this experiment as the substance involved is methane (CH 4 ). The methane detection method by gas chromatography was first used, and then the methane content from biogas that is produced from anaerobic digestion system was measured, in order to verify the previous method. Th...

Establishment of analysis method for methane detection by gas chromatography An analysis of methane levels in biogas determined whether the levels detected by gas chromatography in the process of food waste fermentation were safe. As methane has greenhouse effects twenty-five times stronger than those of carbon, the analysis is vital to determine the safety of basic food fermentation. First, a sample of biogas was collected from a digestion reactor. After analyzing this substance, only one peak that belonged to methane appeared in the chromatogram as the only other substance was air. According to a table created by the researchers, methane content rose slightly to 12.75% in the initial fermentation phase before shooting to 63.03% in the next phase and settling to 50.76% in the last phase. Since the working curve range unfortunately only went up to 44%, the method of collection used was not acceptable for determining methane levels in biogas.       ...

A Prehistoric Egyptian Mummy: Evidence for an ‘Embalming Recipe’ and the Evolution of Early Formative Funerary Treatments When one mentions the word ‘mummy,’ Egyptian pharaohs, massive pyramids, lavish burial tombs, and an equally lavish embalming process probably come to mind. These funerary rituals were thought to have begun c. 2500 BCE. However, a recent analysis of the prehistoric Turin mummy shows that rudimentary preparations were made before then. This mummy was the perfect specimen for testing because there was no record of any preservation measures employed after the body had been discovered, which is not true for many other mummies from this period (c. 3600 BCE). Scientists took the opportunity to take textile and tissue samples and perform a battery of tests to determine many things about the life and death of the Turin mummy, but most notably, when  three textile samples from different parts of the mummy were analyzed, gas chromatography showed remnants of plant oil ...