CAREER: sigma-Coupled Donor-Acceptor Interactions in Self-Assembly

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This CAREER award in the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports work by Professor Ronald K. Castellano at the University of Florida to study through-bond donor-acceptor interactions as tunable elements in the reversible self-assembly of small molecules. Tricyclic donor-sigma-acceptor compounds, 1-aza-adamantanetriones, will be synthesized and employed as vehicles for the studies. The emergent macromolecular properties of the molecules in solution, such as gelation, liquid crystallinity, and viscoelasticity, will be studied using materials characterization techniques while computation will be used to connect the bulk chemical behavior to the molecules ground-state electronic properties. Designed self-assembly has come to the fore as one of the most efficient and promising strategies to control the materials, optical, and photophysical properties of functional molecules in solution and their performance in devices. Traditionally emphasized in this approach are directional intermolecular interactions such as hydrogen bonding and aromatic sigma-stacking; the proposed work seeks to control materials properties at the molecular level using directional intramolecular interactions that can be uniquely tuned in the presence of much stronger noncovalent forces.Graduate and undergraduate students who engage in this multidisciplinary research will be trained in synthetic and physical organic chemistry, spectroscopy, computation, and advanced materials characterization in preparation for their future careers. Included in the career development plan is an outreach program, Partnerships in the Chemical and Materials Sciences (PITCAMS), that will enhance the chemical and materials science content knowledge of 8-12th grade Florida science teachers through workshops and inquiry-based activity modules suitable for the classroom. University graduate and undergraduate students will share their personal research experiences with teachers through this program and themselves become more skilled and enthusiastic communicators. The University of Florida Center for Precollegiate Education and Training (UF CPET) will assist with both the dissemination of the modules to the teachers and the delivery of teacher outcomes through campus-wide symposia.