All rights reserved. iv DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my wife Jingyi Zhao, my daughter Rachel Cui, my parents Yongchun Cui and Junping Wang. I also dedicate this work and give special thanks to all my lab mates, faculties and staff of Chemistry department. Without their understanding, encouragement, support and help, the completion of this work would not have been possible. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all my committee members who were more than generous with their expertise and

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... precious time. A special thanks to Dr. Yong Cai, my major advisor, for his incredible supervision, guidance and the patience through the entire process.