BIO

Hello!
My name is Ibukunolu Shofolu, I am a junior here at Florida State University. I am Nigerian but grew up in the city of Jacksonville, Florida. I am a biochemistry major on the pre-med track hoping to someday become an OB-GYN and primarily serve minority women in underrepresented communities in an effort to bridge healthcare disparities.

Investigating the stability of the TEMPO radical in the presence of phenol molecules

Abstract

Hyperpolarization is a method used to transfer energy from one molecule (the hyperpolarization agent) to another molecule (target molecule), This energy transfer sets the target molecules in a hyperpolarized state that is easier to detect with conventional NMR instruments. At this point, it is not clear which target molecule with an -OH group would be optimally bound by the nanoparticles without destroying the hyperpolarization agent attached on their surface: my task is to find out the optimal formulation of these systems (solvent, concentrations, type of target molecule) that allows for these experiments to be performed.
Molecules with -OH groups are usually quite reactive and they can easily destroy the hyperpolarization agents, which is an organic radical. Therefore, it is important to find a target molecule which carries an -OH group that doesn’t react with the hyperpolarization agent. To perform this experiment, I selected phenol (C6H5OH) as a target molecule and I used the organic radical TEMPO. The stability of TEMPO in the presence of phenol was tested with a systematic procedure. Continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (CW EPR) was performed at intervals of a few hours over four days to monitor the amount of radical present in the solution. An analysis of the data showed that the samples were stable, however as the time increased, the level of stability also changed. This experiment affirmed the importance of having a stable radical in the presence of a molecule with an OH group.

Keywords: Hyperpolarization, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, TEMPO