US- Nigeria Planning Visit: Synthesis and Characterization of Some Reactive Sulfur-Containing Intermediates

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In this planning grant, Dr. Simoyi will work with his Nigerian collaborator, Dr. Jonathan Ojo, to study sulfur-containing compounds and oxyhalogens that are very important species in chemistry, environmental and biological chemistry. Despite their importance, very little work has been done towards the elucidation of their basic chemistry and reaction mechanisms of these compounds. The oxidation of sulfur proceeds through many intermediate species, and the purpose of this international cooperative planning grant is to synthesize some of these postulated reactive intermediates to gain an insight into the complete oxidation mechanisms of these organosulfur compounds.Humans are exposed to organosulfur compounds everyday in the workplace (e.g, in paints and agrochemicals), and ingestion of these compounds can sometimes result in inadvertent toxicity (e.g. diisocyanates are ashtmatogens). These compounds are metabolically disposed of by the human body through oxidation; the resultant metabolites can be studied to assess the toxicities of the organosulfur. We postulate that these metabolites should be the series of sulfur oxo-acids that are formed as the sulfur center is successively oxidized to the sulfate, which is then eluted out of the physiological environment. The studies undertaken in this planning activity will help in framing research on predicting the toxicities of several previously uncharacterized organosulfur compounds. This award is co-funded by the Division of Chemistry.