Year

Phase

Objective

Activities

2010

Unique

1. Structural modeling and study of the amino acids reactivity.

Study of the mechanism transfer of the oxygen atom from hydrogen peroxide to amino acids.

(aprox. 3 months)

1.1. Documentation and identification of computational methods.

1.2. Development of theoretical models with high predictive power for the evaluation of both reactivity and properties of amino acids.

1.3. Development of theoretical models with high predictive power for the study of the transfer mechanism of the oxygen atom from hydrogen peroxide to amino acids both in the absence and in the presence of metallic ions.

1.4. Interpretation of results, writing of scientific reports/papers.

2. Experimental investigation of the synthesis possibilities of α-keto acids from DL-amino acids.

(aprox. 2 months)

2.1. Documentation and analysis of theoretical data regarding the reactivity of amino acids towards hydrogen peroxide.

2.2. Preliminary investigations regarding the synthesis of α-keto acids starting from the racemic mixture of the amino acid in the presence of hydrogen peroxide.

2011

Unique

1. Synthesis of α-keto acids. Experimental investigations regarding the synthesis of L-amino acids labeled with ¹⁵N from the synthesized α-keto acids.

 (aprox. 4 months)

1.1. Synthesis of α-keto acids; determination of the ratio carboxylic acid/α-keto acid/aldehyde for each used oxidative system.

1.2. Experimental investigations on the ¹⁵N labeled L-amino acid synthesis from the synthesized α-keto acids. Characterization of the obtained L-amino acids.

1.3. Interpretation of results, writing of scientific reports/papers.

2. Synthesis of gold nanoparticles functionalized with ¹⁵N L-amino acids.

 (aprox. 4 months)

2.1. Documentation, choice of optimum preparation method for the gold nanostructures functionalized with ¹⁵N labeled L-amino acids.

2.2. Synthesis of the nanostructures formed by colloidal gold and ¹⁵N labeled L-amino acid using the amino acid both as reducing agent and as stabilizing agent.

3. Characterization of gold nanoparticles functionalized with labeled L-amino acids.

(aprox. 4 months)

3.1. Characterization of the nanostructures by theoretical methods (Gaussian 03)..

2012

Unique

1. Characterization of gold nanoparticles functionalized with labeled L-amino acids.

(aprox. 5 months)

1.1. Characterization of the nanostructures by experimental methods (TEM, AFM, SERS, IR, XPS, NMR).

1.2. Interpretation of theoretical and experimental results.

 2. Final report.

 (aprox. 2 months)

2.1. Interpretation of the obtained results, comparison of theoretical and experimental results; writing of final report/ papers.