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教授从自然界中得到启示，旨在通过将光激活分子限制在略大于它们的空腔中来找到控制光激活分子行为的方法。 随着当前对可持续性和安全性的强调，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和储存取之不尽的太阳能转化为化学能。 这个跨学科的研究项目涉及美国和国际合作，为培养研究生提供了一个独特的平台。 认识到让年轻的研究人员意识到参与发展新科学的途径的重要性，教授. Ramamurthy将在一个题为“作为一个科学家”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，沿着概念的上下文位置。 他将继续组织每周一次的在线非正式讲师，由活跃的研究科学家组成，这些科学家已经被证明对世界各地小型和贫困机构的学生和年轻研究人员具有巨大价值。该研究项目的主要目标是找到在可持续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。本研究以光为能源，以水为溶剂，结合了超分子原理。具有几埃的空腔尺寸的水溶性合成主体将被用作非水溶性有机分子的反应容器。该计划的总体目标是找到条件，在此条件下，可以以选择性，可持续和催化的方式进行光活化反应，从而产生高价值的产品。待探索的反应将包括合成上有用的和机械上有趣的加成，电子和质子转移引发的转化，断裂反应，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，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.