Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-4-2022

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

First Advisor

Eden Tanner

Second Advisor

Nathan Hammer

Third Advisor

Steven Davis

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The term cancer is used to define a large set of medical conditions that result from uncontrolled cell proliferation. The severity of cancer ranges depending on several factors, but it is one of the leading causes of death in approximately 60% of the world. Current treatment options are often not efficacious and face many limitations especially regarding limiting the secondary damage to healthy cells. Gold nanorods have shown to be a potential solution for effectively overcoming many of these barriers, but their employment is limited due to toxicity concerns stemming from the use of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in their synthesis. This research has thus aimed to develop a methodology for synthesizing gold nanorods that utilizes ionic liquids in replacement of CTAB. This was attempted by following standard seed-mediated methods in which first gold salt is reduced and combined with the surfactant CTAB to create a seed solution, then a growth solution is created with silver to promote deposition, and finally the combination promotes growth. The end goal would allow for the synthesis of gold-nanorods whose size and aspect ratios are able to be manipulated for use in biological systems.

Through this project, it was shown the size of the nanostructure produced was dependent on many variables. The identity of the ionic liquid, the amount of silver ions, and the potential for competing reduction pathways all proved to be significant challenges towards controlling the nanostructure produced. Unfortunately, UV-Vis spectroscopy indicated the production of spherical geometries over the rod-like geometries that were intended. While the research was not successful, it provided insight towards the mechanisms that could lead towards successful experimentation in the future.

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