Ultrafast Inorganic Ground States as Dynamical Probes and Molecular Devices

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This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports research by Dr. Clifford P. Kubiak at the University of California at San Diego to develop molecular probes for picosecond chemical dynamics based on redox coupled mixed-valent states; and molecular electronic devices that exhibit electronic bistability and picosecond switching times. The development of ultrafast inorganic ground states as dynamical probes provides a simple spectroscopic method based on molecules that can be designed to interrogate many different environments where knowledge of the local dynamics is important. In principle, ultrafast mixed valence states can be used to probe the dynamics of any process that can be coupled to electron transfer. Ultrafast inorganic ground states as molecular devices will be investigated based on the paradigm provided by "mixed valence isomers". Success in this research would impact the broader scientific and engineering communities involved in electronic device technologies, as the mixed valence isomers under study can switch between stable states at the rate of one trillion times per second or roughly a thousand fold increase in clock speed compared to current technology. Study of these systems will likely influence chemical, physical, and engineering issues that will bring molecular electronic devices into the mainstream. The project will involve undergraduate men and women through the UCSD undergraduate research mentoring program. The project will interface with existing outreach programs at UCSD to recruit underrepresented groups into Ph. D. programs.