Main Group Materials with Unique Electronic and Optical Properties

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With this award, the Chemical Synthesis program is supporting Professor John Protasiewicz of Case Western Reserve University to prepare conjugated main group element compounds to investigate how the identity of the heavier elements influence their photophysical properties (light absorption and light emission). This work focuses on the synthesis of compounds with group 15 elements such as phosphorus, antimony and bismuth. The investigation of conjugated systems allows the design of new materials that display unusual fluorescence and phosphorescence properties, which can aid the design and development of materials with potentially high impact in the energy, display, and lighting industries. Professor Protasiewicz will integrate the research and educational components of this project by working with a UNCF-Merck funded postdoctoral fellow, under the auspices of the university's the Leonard Gelfand STEM Center, to carry out a series of outreach and STEM activities to promote diversity in the sciences. Graduate and undergraduate students will receive education and training in interdisciplinary areas.In this research, new methods will be developed for the synthesis of conjugated main group compounds. As the electronic structure of conjugated materials is highly tunable by synthetic manipulation, a range of photophysical and redox properties will be accessed. This research will facilitate the design of materials that are photo- and electro-luminescent. Their individual electronic properties will be investigated and characterized, with particular attention to materials of potential interest for OLED and photovoltaic applications. Organo-bismuth compounds may offer materials that are phosphorescent and that are less toxic, sustainable, and more economical than related compounds having heavy transition metal elements. A number of heterocyclic compounds feature unusual main group-carbon double bonds. Photo-physical properties will be correlated with structural and theoretical results.