RUI: Gas Phase Studies of Organic Reaction Mechanisms

这项研究将结合实验和计算技术来研究气相中的基本有机反应。虽然人们早就认识到，使用质谱技术对气相有机反应的研究可以获得有价值的信息，但由于有机产物不带电，因此在质谱仪中是看不见的，因此研究经常受到阻碍。格罗涅特教授将绕过这个问题，用离子作为反应物来研究有机化学中两个最重要的反应：SN2取代和E2消去。这些研究将扩展到旨在探测离子对在这些反应中的作用的系统。这样，将在气相反应和溶液反应之间建立一个重要的桥梁。有机和大分子化学项目通过本本科院校研究奖（RUI）支持旧金山州立大学的Scott Gronert的研究。格罗内特教授正在研究有机化合物在气相中的反应。由于这些研究是在没有复杂溶剂分子的情况下进行的，因此它们有可能揭示控制这些反应的基本相互作用的本质。将把这些研究中获得的数据与计算模型得出的数据进行比较，从而评估这种计算模型的可靠性。本科生和硕士生的参与和培训是该项目的一个组成部分，该项目旨在让这些学生体验现代化学技术。

This research will use a combination of experimental and computational techniques to study fundamental organic reactions in the gas phase. While it has long been recognized that investigations of gas phase organic reactions using mass spectrometric techniques yield valuable information, studies have often been hampered by the fact that the organic products are not charged and hence invisible in a mass spectrometer. Professor Gronert will circumvent this problem by employing dianions as reactants to study two of the most important reactions in organic chemistry, SN2 substitutions and E2 eliminations. These studies will be extended to systems designed to probe the effect of ion pairs in these reactions. In this way, an important bridge between gas phase and solution reactions will be constructed.With this Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) Award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the research of Scott Gronert of San Francisco State University. Professor Gronert is investigating reactions of organic compounds in the gas phase. Since these studies are carried out in the absence of complicating solvent molecules, they have the potential to reveal the nature of the fundamental interactions governing these reactions. The data obtained in these studies will be compared to that resulting from computational models allowing an assessment of the reliability of such computational models. The involvement and training of undergraduate and masters students is an integral part of this project, which has been designed to give these students experience in modern chemical techniques.