Research
Environmental Chemistry
The environmental chemistry/analytical chemistry group studies the fate and effects of xenobiotics in the terrestrial and aquatic environment. Focuses are sources, inputs, persistence, transformation and metabolism as well as toxic effects
of pollutants in the respective compartments. Within these projects new analytical procedures are elaborated and validated to identify and quantify analytes that are not included in standard protocols. Of special interest are compounds for which no or no sufficient regulations exist.
Research projects
- Structural identification of unknown xenobiotics, their metabolites as well as of biogenic compounds (GC-MS, LC-MS)
- Metabolism of pesticides in the environment (14C-Experiments)
- Veterinary drugs: on the passage: pigs->manure->soil->water
- Input, sources, fate and toxicology of phosphororganic flame retardants in sewage treatment plants and surface waters.
- Distribution of polycyclic- and nitroaromatic musk fragrances as well as transformation in sewage treatment plants (wastewater and sludge), surface waters and soils.
- Enantioselective degradation of xenobiotics in sewage plants and soil and method development for chiral analysis
- Endocrine disruptors in industrial waste, waste water, municipal sewage treatment plants and surface waters
- Interactions of xenobiotics with humic compounds
Contact
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Spiteller
M.Spiteller@infu.uni-dortmund.de
Phone: +49-(0)231-755-4080
Molecular imprinting
ur research is focused on molecular imprinting and on template synthesised materials in a more general sense. Polymerisable functional monomers are here designed to strongly and reversibly associate with a template molecule. The resulting assemblies are stabilised by polymerisation with extensive crosslinking leading to the formation of specific binding or catalytic sites for the template or an analogue molecule.
The resulting network polymers (MIPs) can rebind the template molecule with a very high affinity and selectivity. Moreover the materials are readily made and stable which has spurred a search for applications in the fields of separation science, analytical chemistry, chiral technologies, therapeutics and in catalysis. Antibody like recognition properties have been demonstrated for instance for drugs, toxins and environmental pollutants present in complex matrices. The use of imprinted polymers as selective sorbents for solid phase extraction is one of the most promising applications of MIPs (see www.miptechnologies.se). In our previous EU sponsored TMR Network project (MICA), the objective was to explore MIPs for selective sample clean-up in the area of bioanalysis, food analysis and environmental analysis. This project is now being continued within the framework of a new 5th FP IHP project named AquaMIP (http://www.aquamip.org).
Other important applications of MIPs are as recognition elements in chemical sensors, as stationary phases in chromatography, as catalysts or therapeutic agents. The following projects are being pursued in Dortmund:
Research projects:
- Syntheses and use of porous network polymers and spherical polymer vesicles with molecular recognition properties.
- Water-compatibility and recognition of large target molecules
- Reversible selfassembly of aromatic amidines for mono- and multi-layer buildup, molecular recognition of DNA and proteins and as linkers for the buildup of ordered nanocomposites.
- High throughput and combinatorial techniques in MIP development.
- The use of peptide solid phase synthesis products as templates to generate surface confined imprinted sites with good accessibility.
- Synthesis of composite materials containing thin imprinted films prepared by the “grafing from” process.
Contact
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Börje Sellergren
B.Sellergren@infu.uni-dortmund.de
Phone: +49-(0)231-755-4082