NAME: Eric Martin
PROJECT TITLE: Modeling Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) and Polypropylene Imine (PPI) Dendrimer Fragmentation Patterns Using Ab Initio Methods and Calculations

View Eric's webpage here: http://mupfc.marshall.edu/~martin270/index.mht

The polyamidoamine (PAMAM) and polypropylimine (PPI) dendrimers are highly-symmetric, branched polymers accompanied with dense terminal functionality. Both dendrimers show great potential for use as a chelating agent as well as site specific host-guest chemistry for controlled gene and drug delivery systems. Understanding the gas phase chemistry of these polymers provides insight into the fundamental chemical properties and reactions that dominate this particular type of molecule.
Collision induced dissociation (CID) mass spectra and computational methods will be used to investigate complexes composed of first-row divalent transition metals and early generation PPI and PAMAM dendrimers. CID data accompanied with strategic isotope labeling will provide structural information by indicating which particular atoms and functional groups are involved in a particular fragmentation pattern. Computational methods will be used to obtain the bonding, reaction and spectroscopic properties of the complexes. The use of these two parallel, yet complementary techniques will assist in the development of the analytical framework for these dendrimers.