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

提案：9357094 PI: Colon波多黎各大学的Colon教授将研究远距离电子转移反应；他将在美国国家科学基金会无机、生物无机和有机金属化学项目的青年研究者奖的支持下进行这项研究。一种途径是通过光物理研究在不同的表面位置上含有氧化还原活性配位复合物的肌红蛋白。具体的目标将是评估，重组能量，并评估距离依赖。另一种非常不同的方法将是检查层状合成材料介质中的电子转移。这些材料将以磷酸锆为基础，并嵌入氧化还原供体和受体。通过这种技术，有可能系统地控制D-A距离，以及实现矢量光致电子转移。毫无疑问，在分子尺度上，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发生在很长的距离上。事实上，这些过程在生物体中是必不可少的。实验将用于探索驱动（或限制）这一现象的潜在因素，并开发简单的材料，使这一过程能够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，并将其应用于一种潜在的有用方式。

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.