RUI: Photoreactive Crystalline Racemic and Quasiracemic Materials

本研究计划的目标是研究双分子晶体中前所未有的非映体和对映体特异性光二聚化反应。将开发同手性、外消旋和准外消旋肉桂酰磺酰胺家族，并对其晶体堆积倾向和光化学晶体反应进行探索。这些研究为学生提供了在有机合成、晶体工程、材料设计、x射线晶体学以及手性、晶体内聚、化学反应性和纳米技术等方面的广泛经验。在大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，东伊利诺伊大学化学系的惠勒教授将通过分子工程对组成单元进行微调固态反应性。该研究计划承诺描述分子结构与大块固体反应性之间的关系，其结果将导致固态反应和材料研究领域的变革性发展。这个项目的发现将在未来合理设计多组分固态反应的工作中特别有用，其中管理反应组分的空间取向通常是偶然的，而不是一个定义良好的预先设想的分子组装方法。该项目还旨在通过提高实验课程的研究相关性，设计将先进结构测定技术纳入本科课程的新方法，以及培养化学和相关领域学生的职业道路，在化学科学的招聘和培训方面取得一些其他发展。这个项目将对社会产生重要影响，因为目前的技术需要下一代的方法来制造功能材料（例如，光学材料和治疗剂）。

This research program targets the study of unprecedented diastereo- and enantiospecific photodimerization reactions in bimolecular crystals. Families of homochiral, racemic, and quasiracemic cinnamoylsulfonamides will be developed, and their crystal packing tendencies and photochemical crystal reactions explored. These studies provide student participants with broad experience in organic synthesis, crystal engineering, materials design, X-ray crystallography, and issues in chirality, crystal cohesion, chemical reactivity and nanotechnology.With the support of this award from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program, Professor Wheeler, of the Department of Chemistry at Eastern Illinois University, will fine-tune solid-state reactivity via molecular engineering of constituent building blocks. This research program promises to delineate the relationship between molecular structure and the reactivity of the bulk solid with results leading to transformative developments in the areas of solid-state reactions and materials research. Findings from this program will be especially useful in future work for rationally designed multi-component solid-state reactions, where managing the spatial orientation of reactive components is often by chance rather than a well-defined preconceived approach to molecular assembly. This project also targets a number of other developments regarding recruitment and training in the chemical sciences through enhancing the research relevance of laboratory courses, devising novel approaches for incorporating advanced structure determination techniques in the undergraduate curriculum, and fostering career paths of students in the chemical and related fields. This project will have an important impact on society because of the current technological need for next generation methods for fabricating functional materials (e.g., optical materials and therapeutic agents).