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Professor / Associate Chair for the Graduate Program

Office: 328 Chemistry & 319 Chemistry

Phone: 517-355-9715 224 /

Websites: Research Group - Area

Awards & Honors

Genealogy/Graduates

Synthesis and Spectroscopy of Interfaces

(Research Description PDF - 1271 kb)

My research is focused on several problems that are important to the analytical chemistry and interfacial science communities. These are the design and synthesis of interfaces of molecular thickness that can be used to alter the properties of the substrates on which they are formed.

Polymer surfaces. Using alternating copolymers to modify a variety of substrates (figure at right), we have created chemically selective surfaces, and we are presently focused on understanding the chemical reasons for the chemical selectivity of these 10 nm thick interfaces. We have devised a novel means to measure the equilibrium constant of a given analyte interacting with our multilayers, where we use ultra-sensitive picosecond fluorescence lifetime measurements to determine Keq for each layer.

Gold nanoparticles. We have also been active in research on gold nanoparticles because of their utility for a variety of areas, such as chemical sensing and separations. The key challenges in this area are controlling the average size and distribution of nanoparticles during their synthesis, and the decoration of the nanoparticles once they are formed. By controlling the chemical functionality on the surface of the gold nanoparticles (see figure, below left), we can alter their properties at will. We use the reaction chemistry we have developed for gold surfaces that allows facile covalent bond formation to the metal nanoparticle, opening the door to a host of surface modification strategies that have not been available to date.

Lipid bilayers. The interfaces we have concentrated on until recently have all been two-dimensional solids. Fluid interfaces are widespread in biology because of their tendency to be "self-healing" upon the creation of a defect, and also because of their ability to accommodate many different types of molecules. Lipid bilayers, which comprise cell walls, are arguably the best example of a fluid interface, and they exhibit many interesting properties that depend on their composition. We use lipid bilayers in the form of unilamellar vesicles (see picture, below) and have incorporated fluorescent probe molecules into these structures. This work has shown that we can selectively interrogate different regions of the bilayers and get highly localized structural information on these systems. Our goal in this work is to first understand why bilayers tend to phase-separate and what the relevant molecular forces are in this process. Ultimately we want to control the domain size and morphology of these bilayer interfaces because gaining this level of control could lead to the treatment of a range of disease processes that are known to act at the cellular level

Selected Publications

Optical Organophosphate Sensor Based upon Gold Nanoparticle Functionalized Fumed Silica Gel, J. D. S. Newman, J. M. Roberts and G. J. Blanchard, Analytical Chemistry, 2007, 79, 3448-3454.

Quantitating the Association of Charged Molecules with Ionic Micelles, S. A. Stevenson and G. J. Blanchard, Spectrochimica Acta A, 2007, 67, 98-104.

Probing Organization and Communication at Layered Interfaces, M. Dominska, M. Mazur, K. P. Greenough, M. M. Koan, P. G. Krysinski and G. J. Blanchard, Bioelectrochemistry, 2007, 70, 421-434.

Evaluating the Role of Chromophore Side Group Identity in Mediating Solution Phase Rotational Motion, K. P. Greenough and G. J. Blanchard, Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2007, 111, 558-566.

Gauging the Effect of Impurities on Lipid Bilayer Phase Transition Temperature, M. M. Koan and G. J. Blanchard, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2006, 110, 16584-16590.

Formation of Gold Nanoparticles using Amine Reducing Agents, J. D. S. Newman and G. J. Blanchard, Langmuir, 2006, 22, 5882-5887.

Investigating Internal Structural Differences Between Micelles and Unilamellar Vesicles of Decanoic Acid/Sodium Decanoate, S. A. Stevenson and G. J. Blanchard, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2006, 110, 13005-13010.