From primers to pipettes: An immersive course introducing high school students to qPCR for quantifying chemical defense gene expression.

We created a 2-week, dual-module summer course introducing high school students to environmental toxicology by teaching them quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) as a way to quantify gene expression of chemical defense proteins in response to exposure to environmental pollutants. During the course, students are guided through the various stages of a successful qPCR experiment: in silico primer design and quality control, total RNA extraction and isolation, cDNA conversion, primer test PCR, and evaluation of results via agarose gel electrophoresis or UV/Vis spectra. The course combines lectures, discussions, and demonstrations with dry and wet laboratory sections to give students a thorough understanding of the scope, utility, and chemical principles of qPCR.

Enhancing knowledge of chemical exposures and fate in honey bee hives: Insights from colony structure and interactions.

Honey bees are unintentionally exposed to a wide range of chemicals through various routes in their natural environment, yet research on the cumulative effects of multi-chemical and sublethal exposures on important caste members, including the queen bee and brood, is still in its infancy. The hive's social structure and food-sharing (trophallaxis) practices are important aspects to consider when identifying primary and secondary exposure pathways for residential hive members and possible chemical reservoirs within the colony. Secondary exposures may also occur through chemical transfer (maternal offloading) to the brood and by contact through possible chemical diffusion from wax cells to all hive members.

Isolation of a Bimetallic Cobalt(III) Nitride and Examination of Its Hydrogen Atom Abstraction Chemistry and Reactivity toward H.

Room temperature photolysis of the bis(azide)cobaltate(II) complex [Na(THF)][(guan)Co(N)] (guan = [(BuCN)C(NDipp)], Dipp = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl) () in THF cleanly forms the binuclear cobalt nitride Na(THF){[(guan)Co(N)](μ-N)} (). Compound represents the first example of an isolable, bimetallic cobalt nitride complex, and it has been fully characterized by spectroscopic, magnetic, and computational analyses. Density functional theory supports a Co═N═Co canonical form with significant π-bonding between the cobalt centers and the nitride atom.

Titanium-Mediated Catalytic Hydrogenation of Monocyclic and Polycyclic Arenes.

Two electron-reduction of the Ti guanidinate complex (Im N)( guan)TiCl gives (η -Im N)( guan)Ti (1 ) and (Im N)( guan)Ti(η -C H ) (1 ) ( guan=[(tBuC=N)C(NXylyl) ] , Xylyl=2,5-dimethylphenyl) in the absence or presence of benzene, respectively. These complexes have been found to hydrogenate monocyclic and polycyclic arenes under relatively mild conditions (150 psi, 80 °C)-the first example of catalytic, homogeneous arene hydrogenation with TON >1 by a Group IV system.