Susan Lees
White House High School
Chemistry, Honors Chemistry 

Dr. G. Kane Jennings - Organic Films Laboratory 

I was privileged to work with Dr. Jennings again this summer in a continuation of the program that I was introduced to last summer.  We extracted PSI (photosystem I) from spinach leaves in an exacting four hour process.  The PSI collected was then frozen in a freezer regulated to -80˚C.  We then used the product of the extraction, (actual PSI), adhering it through chemical means to silicon based, gold plated wafers.  Modification of the wafer took place next.  We used many means to bond the PSI to the gold layer.  The base layers tested were C_6, C_8, C_10, and C₁₂ thiols, a silver modification, and the covalent attachment that I worked with last summer.  We also used a new method of actually bonding the PSI.  We placed the samples in a vacuum to dry the PSI, forming a tightly bound monolayer.  I tested dilution factors of the mediating fluids for the voltage experiments.  I also tested a vacuum monolayer, with a multilayer attachment of the PSI.  To do this we changed the way we rinsed the samples after removal from the vacuum.  This attachment gave us twice the power of any PSI sample that has been tested in the laboratory.  We produced enough power to theoretically fuel a solar calculator using spinach as the power source and sodium ascorbate (in orange juice) as the mediator.  

I am writing a module to incorporate the formula writing and compound naming aspects of the curriculum and using my research to help me with the organic portion of the curriculum.