Designer Photocatalysts for Asymmetric Photochemistry

在化学系化学合成计划的支持下，威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的尹特智教授正在研究如何利用光来改进结构复杂的分子框架的发现和合成，这将对化学生物学、药物化学和材料化学产生影响。在光合作用中，植物利用光能产生糖：这是一个最终维持地球上所有生命的化学过程。虽然化学家们也学会了如何在化学合成中使用光，但他们还没有开发出能够达到与自然光合作用相同水平的结构复杂性和原子精确度的合成工艺。为了应对这一重大挑战，Yoon实验室正在设计光催化剂，这种催化剂可以直接与小分子相互作用，并控制它们如何反应形成更复杂的产品。由于这项工作有可能改变制药和材料化学领域的发现，因此完成这项研究所需的技术技能需求很高。因此，这项研究的一个更广泛的影响是培训了一支多样化的年轻化学家团队，以便在化工行业的前沿从事职业。Yoon小组还利用社交媒体工具向全球科学新手社区展示当代化学的主题，否则他们可能不会接触到这些想法。在这个奖项下，Yoon教授和他的团队将利用最近在太阳能转换方面的发现来设计新颖的光催化剂。该团队将通过引入可通过氢键或Lewis酸碱相互作用与简单有机底物结合的极性官能团来修改最坚固和活性最高的分子光催化剂的结构。这种强化的接近有望提高光催化剂影响化学反应的效率。它还提供了调整光催化剂结构以改变光化学反应结果的机会。Yoon和他的团队将采取跨学科的方法进行这项研究，将化学合成与计算和光谱学相结合，以阐明光催化反应的详细机制。因此，这项研究的结果将包括合成复杂分子化合物的新方法，以及对光能在化学合成中的使用方式的基本见解。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 Chemical Synthesis Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Tehshik Yoon of the University of Wisconsin–Madison is studying how to use light to improve the discovery and synthesis of structurally complex molecular frameworks, with implications for chemical biology, medicinal chemistry and materials chemistry. In photosynthesis, plants use the energy of light to produce sugars: this is a chemical process that ultimately is responsible for sustaining all life on earth. While chemists have also learned how to use light in chemical synthesis, they have developed no synthetic processes that can achieve the same level of structural complexity and atomic precision as natural photosynthesis. To approach this grand challenge, the Yoon laboratory is designing photocatalysts that can interact directly with small molecules and control how they react to form more complex products. Because this work has the potential to transform discovery in pharmaceutical and materials chemistry, the technical skill sets required to complete this research are in high demand. Thus, one broader impact of this research is the training of a diverse team of young chemists for careers at the cutting edge of the chemical industries. The Yoon group is also leveraging social media tools to present topics in contemporary chemistry to a global community of novice science students who might not otherwise have any exposure to these ideas.Under this award, Professor Tehshik Yoon and his team will design novel photocatalysts take advantage of recent discoveries in solar energy conversion. The team will modify the structures of the most robust and active molecular photocatalysts by introducing polar functional groups that can bind to simple organic substrates through hydrogen-bonding or Lewis acid-base interactions. This enforced proximity is expected to increase the efficiency by which the photocatalyst can influence a chemical reaction. It also provides an opportunity to tune the structure of the photocatalyst to modify the outcomes of the photochemical reaction. Yoon and his team will take an interdisciplinary approach to this research that combines chemical synthesis with computation and spectroscopy to elucidate the detailed mechanisms of photocatalytic reactions. Thus, the outcomes of this research will include both new methods for the synthesis of complex molecular compounds but also fundamental insights into the ways in which light energy can be used in chemical synthesis.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.