NSF Young Investigator:Long-Range Electron Transfer in Metalloproteins and Layered Zirconium Phosphates

提案：9357094 PI：结肠 波多黎各大学的科隆教授将研究长距离电子转移反应;他将在无机，生物无机和有机化学计划的NSF青年研究者奖的支持下这样做。 攻击的一个途径将是通过在不同的表面位点的肌红蛋白轴承氧化还原活性的配位复合物的物理研究。 具体的目标将是评估λ，重组能量，并评估λ的距离依赖性。 另一个非常不同的方法将是检查分层合成材料介质中的电子转移。 这些材料将基于膦酸锆，其将与氧化还原供体和受体插层。 通过这种技术，应该有可能系统地控制D-A距离，以及实现矢量光诱导电子转移。 毫无疑问，电子从一个分子位置转移到另一个分子位置的化学过程可以在分子尺度上发生很长的距离。 事实上，这些过程对生物体至关重要。 将进行实验，以探索驱动（或限制）这种现象的潜在因素，并开发简单的材料，在这种材料中，这种过程可以以模仿生物光合作用的方式发生。 这项工作将有助于建立远程电子转移理论，并以一种潜在有用的方式应用它。

Proposal: 9357094 PI: Colon Professor Colon of the University of Puerto Rico will investigate long-distance electron transfer reactions; he will do so with support in the form of an NSF Young Investigator Award from the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program. One avenue of attack will be through photophysical studies of myoglobin bearing redox-active coordination complexes at various surface sites. The specific objective will be to evaluate lambda, the reorganizational energy, and to assess the distance dependence of lambda. Another very different approach will be to examine electron transfer within the medium of layered synthetic materials. These materials will be based on zirconium phosphonates, which will be intercalated with redox donors and acceptors. By this technique it should be possible to systematically control the D-A distance, as well as to achieve vectorial photoinduced electron transfer. %%% There is no doubt that the chemical process of transferring an electron from one molecular site to another can occur over distances long on the molecular scale. These processes, in fact, are essential in living organisms. Experiments will be conducted both to probe the underlying factors that drive (or limit) this phenomenon, and also to develop simple materials where this process can occur in such a way as to mimic biological photosynthesis. This work should help to establish the theory of long-range electron transfer as well as to apply it in a potentially useful way.