Synthetic Methods to Access Aromatic Molecular Belts

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The Chemical Synthesis Program of the Chemistry Division supports the project by Professor Ramesh Jasti. Professor Jasti is a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Oregon. The research being pursued is developing new synthetic methods and strategies to access a wide array of aromatic molecular ?belts?, structures that have eluded synthesis for decades. These targets are of fundamental interest for their structural, photophysical and electronic properties, supramolecular chemistry, as well as their potential to lead to the uniform synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This research program, deeply rooted in organic synthesis and new synthetic methods, is also relevant to the fields of materials science, biology, and physics. The PI?s choice of challenging synthetic targets provides graduate and undergraduate students with a thorough background in synthetic organic strategy, methodology development, and reaction mechanism. In addition, these targets provide students with opportunities to collaborate with physicists, engineers, and theorists to measure, utilize, and understand the physical properties of the newly created nanomaterials. Molecules with radially oriented pi-systems have been appreciated by chemists for decades, but have recently undergone a renaissance in that new developments in synthetic methodology have rendered what were previously mostly theoretical curiosities into now accessible structures. In this project, the Jasti research group aims to push the synthetic boundaries to the next logical class of structures in this intriguing field ? aromatic molecular belts. These structures are also molecules with radially oriented pi systems, but they are distinguished from their predecessors by the presence of upper and lower edges that are conjugated but never coincide. As opposed to the rotational freedom associated with previous structures in this class, these molecules are rigid and conformationally locked, features that are anticipated to lead to new optoelectronic and host-guest properties. In addition, these aromatic belt compounds are envisioned as suitable templates for chemical vapor deposition or Diels-Alder growth of carbon nanotubes, thus potentially leading to single chirality CNTs. The PI also partners with the UO Summer Science program to provide educational experiences that highlight interdisciplinary research and hands-on science to groups of students that are traditionally underserved in the state of Oregon.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.