RUI: Reaction Dynamics of Small Hydrocarbons

刘易斯教授和他的合作者成功地研究了环丙烷和环己烯等环烃的热异构化和解离反应机理。 这项工作提供了重要的有机反应，其中两个或两个以上的键断裂和/或形成的机械信息。 在新的资助期内，专门标记氘和碳-13的化合物将用于研究环丙烷异构化和重排的细节，标记的环己烯将用于研究逆Diels-Alder反应。一些相关的四中心消除反应也将被检查。 仔细的实验测量的反应速率，能量和熵的障碍和竞争反应的分支比将进行计算研究的结果进行比较。 有了这个奖项，有机和高分子化学计划是支持博士的研究大卫K。康涅狄格大学化学系的刘易斯说。刘易斯博士和他的合作者将致力于了解涉及小碳氢化合物分子的基本化学反应的机制。 这些分子主要来自石油原料，仔细了解它们的反应化学可能与石油原料转化为特种化学品的化学过程有关。 从事该项目的本科研究生将获得合成，动力学和分子建模方面的跨学科培训，所有这些都是制药和特种化学品行业所需的技能。

Professor Lewis and his collaborators have successfully studied thermal isomerization and dissociation reaction mechanisms for cyclic hydrocarbons such as cyclopropanes and cyclohexenes. This work provides important mechanistic information about organic reactions where two or more bonds are broken and/or formed simultanteously. In the new grant period, compounds which are specifically deuterium and carbon-13 labelled will be used to investigate details of cyclopropane isomerizations and rearrangements and labelled cyclohexenes will be used for the study of retro Diels-Alder reactions. Some related four-center elimination reactions will also be examined. Careful experimental measurements of reaction rates, energy and entropy barriers and branching ratios of competing reactions will be performed and compared with the results of computational studies. With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research of Dr. David K. Lewis of the Department of Chemistry at Connecticut College. Dr. Lewis and his collaborators will work on understanding the mechanisms of fundamental chemical reactions involving small hydrocarbon molecules. These molecules come primarily from petroleum feedstocks and a careful understanding of their reaction chemistry may have relevance to chemcial processes whereby petroleum feedstocks are converted into speciality chemicals. Undergraduate research students who work on this project will gain interdisciplinary training in aspects of synthesis, kinetics, and molecular modelling, all of which are skills needed by the pharmaceutical and speciality chemicals industries.