(66m) A Peptide Based Separator for 2,4,6- Trinitro-Toluene

Long term monitoring of waste disposal sites for Munitions Constituents, MCs, using the Environmental Protection Agency Method 8330A, high performance liquid chromatography, is a costly analytical technique for which there is not a current comparable alternative. This has inspired research and development of fast, low cost techniques to detect parts per billion concentrations of MCs such as such as 2,4,6-TNT, 2,4-DNT, 2,6-DNT, 1,3,5-TNB, 1,3-DNB and Tetryl as well as other MCs in ground water. In collaboration with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, MS, Columbia University Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Chemistry and Life Science at the United States Military Academy have on-going research efforts combining electrochemical engineering, microfluidics, and protein engineering with a goal of developing engineering fundamentals to enable in-situ detection of MCs. Recent efforts included examination of a separation stage based on a peptide. The current focus is on development of methods that will selectively detect concentrations of an MC from roughly nanomolar quantities to reliably detectable levels via electrochemical methodologies using a peptide separation unit in line with a electrochemical sensor. During this AIAD, progress was made toward the ultimate goal of a Peptide Separator Electrochemical Sensor (PSES) designed to detect TNT. A technique was developed for using a peptide to separate and concentrate TNT from salt water solution. Using a peptide, a resin, and a separation column, the effect of the loading concentration of TNT in salt water solution was studied. Optical measurements of the concentration of the loading solution, supernatant after reaction in batch system, and the eluent were taken using a spectrophotometer and compared as part of an initial kinetics study.