CAS: Photochemistry of spatially confined organic molecules

在化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，迈阿密大学的Vaidhyanathan Ramamurthy教授从大自然的启示出发，致力于通过将光激活分子限制在略大于它们的空腔中来控制它们的行为。随着目前对可持续发展和安全的重视，他的事业将使用光作为能源，水作为溶剂。长期目标是找到有效的方法来捕获取之不尽的太阳能，并将其转化为化学能。这个涉及美国和国际合作的跨学科研究项目，为培训研究生在光活化化学的不同方面提供了一个独特的平台。认识到让年轻研究人员意识到发展新科学所涉及的途径的重要性，拉马穆尔西教授将在一个名为“成为科学家”的公开论坛上发表演讲，其中包括关于发现者的角色和发现的时间线的信息，以及概念的背景放置。他将继续每周组织活跃的研究科学家的在线非正式讲座，这些讲座已经证明对在世界各地较小和贫困的机构工作的学生和年轻研究人员非常有价值。这个研究项目的主要目标是找到在可持续的条件下进行有用和选择性反应的方法，而不涉及有毒试剂和溶剂。这项研究以光为能源，水为溶剂，结合了超分子原理。腔尺寸为几埃的水溶性合成宿主将被用作不溶于水的有机分子的反应容器。该计划的首要目标是找到条件，在这种条件下，能够以选择性、可持续和催化的方式进行能够产生高价值产品的光激活反应。将探索的反应将包括合成有用的和机械上感兴趣的加成，电子和质子转移引发的转化，裂解反应，氧化等。为了深入了解上述过程，将进行包括超快光谱实验和理论计算在内的机理研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Prof. Vaidhyanathan Ramamurthy of University of Miami, taking the cue from nature, aims to find ways to control the behavior of light activated molecules by confining them in cavities that are just slightly larger than them. With the current emphasis on sustainability and safety, his undertaking will use light as the energy source and water as the solvent. The long term goal is to find efficient ways to capture and store the inexhaustible solar energy into chemical energy. This interdisciplinary research project, which involves US and international collaborations, provides a unique platform for training graduate students on different aspects of light activated chemistry. Recognizing the importance of making the young researchers aware of the pathways involved in developing new science, Prof. Ramamurthy will present lectures in an open forum titled ‘Being a Scientist’ that include information on the roles of a discoverer and the time-line of the discoveries along with contextual placement of the concepts. He will continue to organize weekly online informal lecturers by active research scientists that have already proven to be of great value to students and young researchers working at smaller and underprivileged Institutions all over the world.The main goal of this research project is to find ways to perform useful and selective reactions under sustainable conditions without involving toxic reagents and solvents. This study employing light as the energy source and water as the solvent integrates supramolecular principles. Water-soluble synthetic hosts with cavity dimensions of a few angstroms will be utilized as reaction containers for organic molecules that are not water-soluble. The overarching goal of this program is to finding conditions under which light activated reactions that would yield high-value products could be carried out in a selective, sustainable and catalytic fashion. The reactions to be explored would include synthetically useful and mechanistically interesting addition, electron- and proton transfer initiated transformations, fragmentation reactions, oxidations etc. To get an insight into the above processes mechanistic studies that include ultrafast spectroscopic experiments and theoretical calculations will be performed.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.