CAREER: Utilization of Mechanochemistry for Solvent Waste Reduction

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With the support of this CAREER Award from the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program, Professor James Mack II, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati, will advance green chemistry by a thorough study of ball-milling reactions, which avoids the use of solvents. He proposes to vary ball size, number of balls, and vial length, and to try 15 different ball compositions ranging from stainless steel to polypropylene to achieve control of the regiochemistry, stereochemistry and chemoselectivity of many organic reactions. This work falls in an area that has received very little attention in the United States with more modest attention in Japan and Europe. The proposed research will help elucidate the mechanisms of ball-milled organic reactions and examine the principles that control the energy of ball-milled reactions.Professor James Mack II, with the support of the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program, will use solid-state chemistry to reduce chemical waste by developing alternative processes to environmentally harmful reactions. Professor Mack is an innovative teacher, who has introduced a Personal Response System at Cincinnati that allows immediate feedback from students to professors. An important part of his educational plans, based on his expertise with computer graphics programs, is the development of computer animations that will help students understand organic reactions. He will introduce experiments involving ball milling into the undergraduate laboratories and emphasize green chemistry in both lectures and laboratory work. He will contribute to the education of underrepresented minority students.