New Acceptors for D-pi-A Dyes

Within the last couple of weeks my first fully written, corresponding author paper has been accepted and published in the RSC journal Chemical Communications and can be found here for those of you with a subscription to RSC journals. It has been assigned the DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17142B, with the title Modulating dye E(S+/S*) with efficient heterocyclic nitrogen containing acceptors for DSCs. I was going to wait for a proper reference with page numbers, but excitement has overcome my patience.  

Personally, I largely view the complete production of this paper as a significant step toward taking complete charge of my research which is something I wish to completely do shortly providing I prove to be a desirable academic candidate this fall for faculty positions at universities with graduate research programs.  My three largest concerns (mostly due to lack of experience) have been fully writing manuscripts, getting research funding, and getting hired.  Although I have plenty of room for improvement with my scientific writing, receiving the comment from a reviewer that this manuscript was "well written" is a nice addition to my confidence level.  

As for the science in the article, it isn't revolutionary, but it is both useful and should be empowering for future molecule design and optimization for dye-sensitized solar cell applications as well as for other applications that require the fine tuning of ground-state oxidation potentials and excited-state oxidation potentials.  

Finally, for people that just want to see some pretty picture/models of some of the molecules described in this work there, I fully respect your wishes...and I like seeing them too.

Below is dye JD7 which is really the star of this work.

Below are the other acceptors which were made by replacing the six member ring pictured at the far right of JD7 at each of the purple atoms.

And with that it is back to work/fun for me :)

"You're supposed to stop smoking crack."

Recently, Leah and I have spent our nights watching an episode or two of Cops.  It is mind numbingly entertaining satisfaction.   I legit had no idea there were so many drugs in the US being transported in plain sight.  I think a nice experiment would be to close down all entertainment made in the US at the boarder except for Cops.  If this show were my only knowledge of America, I would believe the country thrives in a perpetual state of lawlessness.  I have always felt that is my natural habitat...pure chaos.  So in an effort to prematurely balance out my disappointment before coming back, I am going to have to start watching House Hunters or Man vs Food before we move so that I don't feel like a I need to have a minimum .45 caliber extended magazine pistol on me at all times.  But before this we have roughly 18 of 23 seasons more to watch.

"Bad boys, bad boys...."

Year Down

We are on our last leg of our Swiss...*cliche coming*... adventure.  I like to use the cliche words here although I have many more at my disposal.  A date has been set as July 26, 2012.  This day will mark the end of an era for Leah and I.  It was a journey well worth taking and lessons were learned that I don't believe could be taught any other way.  There are certain things in life that I cannot begin to understand without the firsthand experience. I FEEL The Serious fading...

Top 10 List of Things I Will Miss From Switzerland (T1LTIWMFS)

1) Being able to look at someone talking to me and genuinely have nothing going on between my ears, much less a response.

2) Never having to worry about being in an automobile accident.

3) Sturdy walls.

4) A two tone color country. (do red and blue even go together?)

5) Army men with assembled rifles in fatigues on my trains, often. 

6) Un Super Carte! OUI!

7) Techno shows at 7 am. Red Bull!

8) No fears of being deported --- It added excitement those 2 months Leah and I were illegal!

9) My odds of apprehending Turkish gentlemen who thought some of us didn't need our computers anymore goes down drastically.  It's basic geography.

10) Parlez-vous Anglias?  My favorite french phrase.  Kinda like roflcopter in english.

11) Making T1LTIWMFS

A New Year Brings A New Quest

I am not one to make resolutions.  If I wanted to change something I wouldn't wait for the first of the year.  However, possibly the greatest task laid before me happens to coincide with midnight chimes to signal the new year.  This years chimes in Lausanne were not the chimes of merriment but instead the chimes to usher in a new sinister regime, one I cannot sit back and accept.  It is for this reason I have resolved to quit chemistry and take up my sword for the forces of good.  Last night, it was clearly evident that good had suffered a major defeat near the shores of Lake Geneva. A night of celebration was cut all too short as my wife and stared in horror at the dastardly attack which left the church eerily lit bright red for all to see.  In an impressive display of power, the forces of evil overtook the central catholic cathedral-turned-protestant church in our home city at the stroke of midnight.  Our guards were down to ring in a new year, yet evil did not wait, nor grant us a brief reprieve for celebration. It has foolishly struck amidst one of our most joyous moments. The message was clear: demoralization.  Unknowingly, the opposite effect has been achieved. Immediately, I have taken a vow to reclaim our strong hold and extinguish the Hellish flames from our town.  Dragons beware, my sword is raised.

(Photographic proof courtesy of Behind A Lens.)

I will return to chemistry once my quest is fulfilled.