Dr. Plambeck's research interests center on electroanalytical techniques and their applications in analysis. Considerable work has been done on molten salts, with emphasis on LiCl-KCl eutectic, NaCl-AlCl₃ melts, and Ca(NO₃)₂^.H₂O. Electrochemical techniques are also applied to antitumor antibiotics and to DNA, with the intention of establishing the details of reductive activation of these drugs and their effect upon the conformation of DNA. Major emphasis is currently in this area. Redox properties of the drugs are measured by cyclic voltammetry and the binding of drug to DNA by a novel step-sweep technique. More fundamental studies by electrochemical techniques of reoxidation by dissolved molecular oxygen are being carried out using the rotating ring-disk electrode.

Other interests include environmental studies and corrosion. Instrument development is being carried out in support of these electrochemical studies with the intention of developing microprocessor-controlled data acquisition and analysis systems. Dr. Plambeck has also worked in the areas of electrochemical thermodynamics, ionic solution theory, electrochemical nucleation and crystal growth, and statistical interference from experimental data. Ancillary techniques such as absorption spectroscopy and NMR of high-temperature systems have also been used, but the main research thrust has always been electroanalytical; electroanalytical techniques used range from classical polarography to the rotating ring-disk electrode.

Publications:

A.R. Fernando and J.A. Plambeck, "Effects of Background Electrolyte and Oxygen on Trace Analysis for Lead and Cadmium by Anodic Stripping Voltammetry", Anal. Chem., 1989, 61, 2609.

A.R. Fernando and J.A. Plambeck, "Determination of Theoflavin in Tea Liquors Using Voltammetric Methods", Analyst, 1988, 113, 479.

C.O. Obuekwe, D.W.S. Westlake F.D. Cook and J.A. Plambeck, "Corrosion of Mild Steel in Cultures of Ferric Iron-Reducing Bacterium Isolated from Crude Oil. II. Mechanism of Anodic Depolarization", Corrosion, 1981, 37, 461.

J.W. Lown, H.H. Chen, J.A. Plambeck and E.M. Acton, "Further Studies on the Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species from Activated Anthracyclines and the Relationship to Cytotoxic Action and Cardiotoxicity", Biochem. Pharmacol., 1982, 31, 575.

J.W. Lown and J.A. Plambeck, "Electrochemical Studies of Antitumor Antibiotics. V. An Electrochemical Method of Measurement of the Binding of Doxorubicin and Danorubicin Derivatives to DNA", J. Electrochem. Soc., 1984, 131, 2556.