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Background
I have completed one year of study towards a PhD at the University of Canterbury
after being fortunate enough to receive an Enterprise Scholarship from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology
in association with Canesis Network Ltd. Our work aims to examine the use of electrochemical techniques in wool-processing.
My research project has (or will) give me expertise in electrochemical methods, wet-chemistry methods and surface characterisation
techniques, e.g. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy. I am particularly interested in the applied nature
of the research which involves solving ‘real’ problems and interacting with a commercial organisation. I would
like to continue with applied research in my future employment.
In the summer of 2002-2003 I was awarded a Summer Research Scholarship to carry out research at the Australian National University. This research involved mainly organic synthesis and looked at the selectivity
of a-chymotrypsin for para-substituted aromatic amino acids.
Current research and professional activities
L-cystine and L-cysteine are both very important biological amino
acids and are widely used in the foodstuffs, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Industrial production of L-cysteine
(2) is based on the electrochemical reduction of L-cystine (1) in acidic electrolytes using lead or silver cathodes (scheme
1). The disadvantage of using a lead cathode is that the L-cysteine product can be contaminated with lead during the reduction
process. When silver is used as the cathode material, the product is free from contamination with heavy metals, however, the
current efficiency of the process is very low. Our work aims to examine methods for improving the electrode kinetics further.
This has involved investigating the reduction of the disulfide bond in L-cystine at alternative solid electrode surfaces,
of which, silver and gold have been observed to be the best. However, in an industrial process it is not feasible to use these
metals because they are so expensive. Therefore, ways of preparing silver and gold deposits on glassy carbon is being investigated
for the electrochemical reduction of L-cystine. The use of mediators
immobilized on the electrode surface e.g. transition metal phthalocyanines and polymer films containing metal ions and metal
ion complexes along with water soluble mediators such as cobalt porphyrins will also be investigated.
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Position
PhD Student in Chemistry
Field of Study
Electrochemistry
Qualifications
B.Sc (Hons)
Bright Futures TEC Scholar
Room
652
Contact Details
Telephone: +64 3 364 2987 Extn 7437
Fax: +64 3 364 2110 Email: acc54@student.canterbury.ac.nz
Representative Papers
Cruickshank, Amy C.; Downard, Alison J.; Roddick-Lanzilotta, Alisa D. “The Electroreduction of L-Cystine to L-Cysteine”,
poster presented at the NZIC Chemistry Conference, Nelson, 2003.
Cruickshank, Amy C.;
Downard, Alison J.; Roddick-Lanzilotta, Alisa D. “The Fabrication of Carbon Composite Electrodes for the Electroreduction
of L-Cystine”, poster presented at the Interact 2004 Conference, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, July 2004.
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