ISOTOPICS
The Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society
Volume 86
Issue 6
On Deck:
October 20, 2010
Joint Meeting with SAS and
Akron
Lubrizol
Speaker: TBD
Cleveland ACS Officers
Chair:
Dr. Mekki Bayachou
Department of Chemistry
Cleveland State University
Phone: 216-875-9716
m.bayachou@csuohio.edu
Chair-Elect:
John Protasiewicz
Department of Chemistry
Case Western Reserve Univ.
Phone: 216-368-5060
john.protasiewicz@case.edu
Treasurer:
Theresa Nawalaniec
Michael Schwartz Library
Cleveland State University
Phone: 216-687-3504
t.nawalaniec@csuohio.edu
Secretary:
Alice McFarland
mcfarlands1@earthlink.net
Cleveland Section Web Site:
http://www.csuohio.edu/sciences
/dept/cleveland_acs/
September 2010
September Meeting Notice
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Dolan Science Center, John Carroll University
4:30 pm
5:30 pm
6:30 pm
7:30 pm
Executive Committee Meeting
Social Hour
Dinner
Presentation
What do batteries run on?: A physical chemistry view of
electrochemical energy storage
Daniel A. Scherson, Director of the Ernest B. Yeager Center for
Electrochemical Sciences at Case Western Reserve University
This presentation will introduce at a very basic level fundamental aspects of
the design and operation of batteries with particular emphasis on lithiumion as the system of choice for vehicular propulsion and multiple other
applications. To be discussed are the physicochemical principles underlying
the voltage, power and capacity of these ubiquitous devices as well as the
factors that have hampered introduction of advanced ion lithium batteries
into the transportation market.
DINNER RESERVATIONS REQUIRED:
Please RSVP by
contacting John Protasiewicz, by phone at 216-368-5060 or by e-mail at
john.protasiewicz@case.edu by 5 pm on Friday, September 10. (For
phone reservations, please clearly spell your last name and leave a return
phone number). Cost of the dinner is $20 for members & guests and $10
for students/retirees/unemployed. Checks made out to “Cleveland ACS”
are greatly appreciated. Dinner will include Garden Salad, Garlic
Breadsticks, Chicken Marsala, Pasta Primavera, Baby Carrots and Peapods,
Tiramisu, Regular/Decaffeinated Coffee, Tea and water.
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Isotopics September 2010
Directions to John Carroll University
From I-271: Take I-271 to Exit 32 (Cedar/
Brainard Roads). Follow Cedar Road west for 2.5
miles to South Belvoir Blvd. Turn left onto South
Belvoir and travel south 0.7 miles. The entrance
to campus will be on your right after crossing
Washington Blvd. The Dolan Science Center is
highlighted on the map below.
For directions from other locations, please see:
www.jcu.edu/map.htm. For the campus map, see:
http://www.jcu.edu/pubaff/ABOUTJCU/campus_
map.htm.
Speaker Bio
The speaker is currently the Frank Hovorka
Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Ernest
B. Yeager Center for Electrochemical Sciences at
Case Western Reserve University. The speaker
received his Licenciado in Chemistry degree from
the University of Chile in 1974, and went on to
receive his Ph.D. in Statistical Thermodynamics
at the University of California, Davis in 1979
(while working with Prof. Joel Keizer). He also
had postdoctoral experiences at the University of
California, Berkeley (1978-79 with Prof. John
Newman), at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
(1979-80 with Dr. Phil Ross), and at Case
Western Reserve University (1980-81 with Prof.
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
Ernest Yeager).
The speaker is the Editor of the Journal of the
Electrochemical Society. His research spans many
experimental and theoretical areas including
electrocatalysis, energy conversion and energy
storage. He has also developed new methods and
applications of in-situ spectroscopic techniques for
the study of solid-liquid interfaces. His highly
productive career has already resulted in 230
publications in peer reviewed Journals and six
patents. He has also been the recipient of many
awards and fellowships, including Vittorio de
Nora - Diamond Shamrock Postdoctoral
Fellowship (1981), Max Planck Gesellschaft
Fellowship (1982-83), IBM Faculty Development
Award (1983-85), Japan Society for the Promotion
of Science Fellowship (1993-94), David C.
Grahame Award of the Physical Electrochemistry
Division of ECS (2000), Alexander von Humboldt
Senior Fellowship Award (2002), Faraday Medal
of the Electrochemistry Groups of the Royal
Chemical Society (2004), Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science Travel Fellowship (2007),
and a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society
(2007). He has also served the greater chemical
community in many ways, including Chair Elect
of the Gordon Conference in Electrochemistry
2012, Chair of the ACS Regional Meeting,
Cleveland 2009, Chair of the Electrified Interfaces
Conference, New York State, 2010, Chair of the
Battery Division of the Electrochemical Society,
2004-2006, and Chair of the Physical
Electrochemistry Division of the Electrochemical
Society, 1996-1998.
Call for Nomination: The Morley Medal
The Cleveland Section annually sponsors a
regional award, which consists of the Morley
Medal and an honorarium of $2,000. The next
presentation of the Morley Medal will take place
at the meeting of the Cleveland Section ACS in
May 2010. The award is presented at a banquet, at
which time the recipient will deliver the Edward
W. Morley Lecture for that year. Travel expenses
for the medalist and spouse will be provided.
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Isotopics September 2010
The purpose of the award is to recognize
significant contributions to chemistry through
achievements in research, teaching, engineering,
research administration and public service,
outstanding service to humanity, or to industrial
progress.
The area of eligibility includes those parts of the
United States and Canada within about 250 miles
of Cleveland. The contributions for which the
award is given should have been made by the
awardee when a resident of this area, or if a major
contribution was made elsewhere, the nominee
should have continued to make contributions
while a resident of this area. Nominations may be
made by any member of the American Chemical
Society, The Chemical Society or the Chemical
Institute of Canada.
Nominations for the Morley Medal should include
a letter of nomination and curriculum vitae
including the candidate's education, professional
experience & activities, awards & honors, offices
held and specifics on significant contributions.
The letter of nomination should highlight these
significant contributions. A representative list of
references to the candidate's more important
contributions, an evaluation of the significance of
these achievements, and a listing of the nominee's
most significant publications and patents are also
appropriate. Strong seconding letters are
suggested. The specific reference for every
publication or patent is neither required nor
encouraged. Electronic submissions are preferred.
Deadline for receipt of nominations is
December 10, 2010. Send nomination and
supporting material to:
Dr. Kenneth Street
Chair, Cleveland Section Awards Committee
NASA-GRC
MS 23-2
21000 Brookpark Road
Cleveland, OH 44135
Ph: 216-433-5032
E-mail: kenneth.w.street@nasa.gov
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
Selected from ACS Discoveries!
New evidence that drinking coffee may reduce
the risk of diabetes
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Scientists are reporting new evidence that drinking
coffee may help prevent diabetes and that caffeine
may be the ingredient largely responsible for this
effect. Their findings, among the first animal
studies to demonstrate this apparent link, appear in
ACS‟ bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry.
Fumihiko Horio and colleagues note that past
studies have suggested that regular coffee drinking
may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. The disease
affects millions in the United States and is on the
rise worldwide. However, little of that evidence
comes from studies on lab animals used to do
research that cannot be done in humans.
The scientists fed either water or coffee to a group
of laboratory mice commonly used to study
diabetes. Coffee consumption prevented the
development of high-blood sugar and also
improved insulin sensitivity in the mice, thereby
reducing the risk of diabetes. Coffee also caused a
cascade of other beneficial changes in the fatty
liver and inflammatory adipocytokines related to a
reduced diabetes risk. Additional lab studies
showed that caffeine may be “one of the most
effective anti-diabetic compounds in coffee,” the
scientists say.
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Isotopics September 2010
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
Chemistry is for the birds-9
By Dwight Chasar
In two earlier installments of this series, I began an explanation of bird coloration. Part 7 covered the
physical interactions of light with feathers which generate blues and whites and part 8 the role of some
basic pigments, namely melanin and carotenoids. These latter two pigments are not the only ones that
contribute colors (red, orange, yellow) to bird feathers and other body parts, e.g., skin, beak, eyes, etc.
Variations of structure on the porphyrin macrocycle (see below) also play an important role in bird
coloration. These pigments are responsible for some of the brown and rufous colors, e.g., owl feathers
and brown eggs, and reds in bare skin parts, like turkey wattles and chicken combs. Birds do not obtain
these from their diet as with the carotenoids but manufacture these structures themselves. The macrocycle
is synthesized from succinyl coenzyme A (Krebs cycle) and glycine (a non-essential amino acid) and
generally posseses methyl and vinyl groups on the pyrrole rings as well as various other organic
substituents on the macrocycle. In addition, a metal may be complexed within the macrocycle by
coordination with the four nitrogen atoms of the pyrroles. We all know that chlorophyll, based on this
porphyrin structure, has magnesium complexed in the cycle while hemoglobin has iron. These
macrocycles in birds can contain iron, copper, zinc, or no metal at all. Copper complexes, whose
structures have not been completely elucidated, contribute to both greenish and reddish colors in Fischer‟s
and other turacos, birds of Africa. Green colors, generally formed by combinations of yellow pigments
and blues from physical effects, are rare from pigments in birds. Obviously, iron complexes contribute to
reds, as in blood in bare skin parts.
When one of the methine carbons between the pyrrole rings in the macrocycle is oxidized, the macrocycle
can be opened to a chain, forming bilirubins and biliverdins. The latter is the blue or blue-green pigment
that is responsible for bird eggs of those colors, e.g., robin eggs. Often times, the zinc chelate is also
present. Blue pigments in birds are also rare.
Porphyrin ring macrocycle
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Isotopics September 2010
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
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Isotopics September 2010
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
September Historical Events in Chemistry
By Leopold May
The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
Sept. 3-5, 1860 One hounded and fifty years ago during these dates, the Karlsruhe Congress, 1860, the
first international meeting of chemists was held in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Sept. 12, 1897
Seventy-five years ago in 1835, Irène Joliot Curie and her husband, Fredéric Joliot Curie,
were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of their synthesis of new
radioactive elements. She was born on this date.
Sept. 17, 1677
Stephen Hales studied the role of air and water in the maintenance of both plant and animal
life, developed the pneumatic trough, and discovered that „air‟ is released in decomposition
of plant and animal substances. He was born on this date.
Sept.29, 1920
Peter D. Mitchell, researcher on chemiosmotic reactions and reaction systems, was born on
this date. In 1978, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for chemisomotic theory and
its contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer.
ISOTOPICS STAFF
Editor:
Daniel Tyson
Day-Glo Color Corporation
Phone: 216-391-7384
daniel_s_tyson@yahoo.com
Business and Advertising:
Alice McFarland
mcfarlands1@earthlink.net
Associate Editor
Dwight Chasar
dwight.chasar@yahoo.com
Associate Editor
Richard L. Middaugh
Phone: 440-785-0293
rlmiddaugh@ameritech.net
Associate Editor
Dr. Lily Ng
Cleveland State University
Phone: 216-687-2467
l.ng@csuohio.edu
Associate Editor
Daniel Scheiman
QSC/NASA GRC
Phone: 216-433-3223
daniel.a.scheiman@nasa.gov
Isotopics is looking to highlight local chemistry professionals, companies, teachers, research groups, students,
events, and more. If you have an idea for an Isotopics article, please contact the editor. Isotopics is also looking
for local members to join our staff. Time commitments for staff members are minimal (a few hours a year!) and
your contributions will be invaluable to our local section. If you are interested in joining Isotopics, please
contact the editor.