Research by John Peters, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, has received nearly $1.5 million in funding from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
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The focus of this project revolves around investigating the mechanisms involved in carbon dioxide fixation, a critical research area aimed at mitigating the levels of atmospheric carbon that contribute to global climate warming.
This project meets two of DOE's modern energy priorities. They want to understand how microbes capture carbon dioxide molecules and incorporate them into biomass in a different way than photosynthetic organisms. They also want to know how electrons are moved around in fuel production. In molecules associated with life - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen – electrons have to be moved around to make these fuel molecules.
John Peters PhD, Chair, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma
In Peters’ research, one facet involves organisms that utilize acetone and carbon dioxide as their exclusive sources of nourishment to generate biomass. Another area of his work delves into the phenomenon of electron bifurcation, a process that enables the splitting of pairs of electrons in various ways to surmount specific thermodynamic obstacles. Notably, Peters was a member of a research collective that was honored with a Faraday Horizon Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry for their pioneering work in this field.
We don’t fully understand how these enzymes work, and that’s one of the reasons the DOE is funding our research. But we know that they do a fuel upcycling reaction. Fuel upcycling takes waste molecules and converts them into molecules that can be used for fuel. We’re trying to discover how biology does fuel upcycling.
John Peters PhD, Chair, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma
The research undertaken by Peters' group falls under the category of basic science, which implies that its primary aim is not to address specific, well-defined problems. Instead, it serves as the foundational groundwork for comprehending processes that have wide-ranging applications in potential future solutions.
Carboxylation chemistry is challenging, and I like a challenge. Ultimately, we're interested in fundamental, basic science because we know it opens the doors for lots of solutions.
John Peters PhD, Chair, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma
Source: https://ou.edu/