Simon’s Rock Senior Admitted to University of Connecticut’s Organic Synthesis and Catalysis Graduate Program

GREAT BARRINGTON, MA — Simon’s Rock Senior Sophia Krans has recently accepted an offer of admission to the University of Connecticut’s graduate program in Organic Synthesis and Catalysis.

Krans, currently pursuing a Chemistry concentration with a strong interest in Organic Chemistry, will be attending the program in the fall, and is finishing her senior thesis here at Simon’s Rock.

“This thesis allows me to design and conduct my own research project. It explores a low-budget synthetic route for the lithium cation-specific crown ether, 12-crown-4 (12C4), and its effects on a model organism, Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. pombe),” said Krans. “Once the ether is synthesized, it will be combined with lithium chloride (LiCl) into an agar plate for yeast cultivation. The growth rates of the yeast exposed to 12C4 and LiCl, just LiCl, and unmodified agar will be quantified, and the lithium uptake levels will be analyzed. If the yeast has arrested growth on the 12C4 coordinated lithium plates, it suggests a higher uptake due to S. pombe’s salt sensitivity. If this is true, it has implications for a long-acting injectable form of lithium used to treat bipolar disorder and manic schizophrenia.”

Krans explained that her thesis is an independent project with minimal faculty supervision. “I wrote a proposal and had it accepted by a committee. I also created all my procedures and designed my synthetic route using the knowledge I have gained from my undergraduate coursework and my summer research.”