Porphyrins are vital pigments involved in biological energy transduction processes. Their abilities to absorb light, then convert it to energy, have raised the interest of using porphyrin nanoparticles as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy. A recent study showed that self- assembled porphyrin-silica composite nanoparticles can selectively destroy tumor cells, but detection of the cellular uptake of porphyrin-silica composite nanoparticles was limited to imaging microscopy. Here we developed a novel method to rapidly identify porphyrin-silica composite nanoparticles using Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe-Mass Spectrometry (ASAP-MS). ASAP-MS can directly analyze complex mixtures without the need for sample preparation. Porphyrin-silica composite nanoparticles were vaporized using heated nitrogen desolvation gas, and their thermo-profiles were examined to identify distinct mass- to-charge (M/Z) signatures. HeLa cells were incubated in growth media containing the nanoparticles, and after sufficient washing to remove residual nanoparticles, the cell suspension was loaded onto the end of ASAP glass capillary probe. Upon heating, HeLa cells were degraded and porphyrin-silica composite nanoparticles were released. Vaporized nanoparticles were ionized and detected by MS. The cellular uptake of porphyrin-silica composite nanoparticles was identified using this ASAP-MS method.
This document summarizes a three year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program effort to improve our understanding of algal flocculation with a key to overcoming harvesting as a techno-economic barrier to algal biofuels. Flocculation is limited by the concentrations of deprotonated functional groups on the algal cell surface. Favorable charged groups on the surfaces of precipitates that form in solution and the interaction of both with ions in the water can favor flocculation. Measurements of algae cell-surface functional groups are reported and related to the quantity of flocculant required. Deprotonation of surface groups and complexation of surface groups with ions from the growth media are predicted in the context of PHREEQC. The understanding of surface chemistry is linked to boundaries of effective flocculation. We show that the phase-space of effective flocculation can be expanded by more frequent alga-alga or floc-floc collisions. The collision frequency is dependent on the floc structure, described in the fractal sense. The fractal floc structure is shown to depend on the rate of shear mixing. We present both experimental measurements of the floc structure variation and simulations using LAMMPS (Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator). Both show a densification of the flocs with increasing shear. The LAMMPS results show a combined change in the fractal dimension and a change in the coordination number leading to stronger flocs.