Donor-stabilzation and Atom Exchange Chemistry as Important Tools for Advanced Materials Synthesis

现代社会的许多舒适设施，如LED照明、电视显示器、计算机和清洁能源发电，都是利用无机化学的基本发现建立起来的。如果人们能够控制原子如何组装成更高级的有序结构，那么就可以开发出具有改进的发光、绝缘/导电或刺激响应行为的先进材料的逻辑制造。在本提案中，我们采用双管齐下的方法来获得功能性固态材料（如用于纳米级电路的高效电绝缘体）和柔性塑料基电子产品，重点是经济，安全和温和的制造过程。在方法#1中，我们将使用分子镊子（称为供体）来固定未知的活性分子，或者只能在气相或低温条件下以自由形式分离。一旦被捕获，我们将通过温和加热或化学处理诱导供体释放其活性分子货物，使具有预编程结构和功能的材料自发生长。重点将放在在常见的有机溶剂中操作的方法上，以便以后以具有成本效益的方式制造光电器件。在方法#2中，我们将有效的原子交换化学与诺贝尔奖（2010年）化学键形成化学相结合，生成用于柔性发光器件（led）的聚合物（塑料）材料。这种结合的方法使我们能够选择适当的原子组合和结构安排（例如环形单元），这将使我们能够快速获得高性能材料。这两种方法都有可能被科学界和工业界普遍采用，并通过为下一代设备组件提供新途径，有助于提高加拿大在清洁能源（即通过无毒led进行低能耗照明）和计算/信息存储方面的领先创新地位。

Many of the comforts of modern society such as LED lighting, TV displays, computers and clean energy generation are built using fundamental discoveries in inorganic chemistry. If one can control how atoms are assembled into higher ordered structures then the logical fabrication of advanced materials with improved light emitting, insulating/conducting or stimuli responsive behavior can be developed. In this proposal we adopt a two-pronged approach to access functional solid state materials (such as efficient electrical insulators for nanoscale circuitry) and flexible plastic-based electronics by focusing on economical, safe and mild fabrication procedures. In approach #1, we will use molecular tweezers, termed donors, to hold onto reactive molecular species that were either unknown, or only isolable in free form in the gas phase or under cryogenic conditions. Once trapped, we will then coax the donors to release their reactive molecular cargo by either mild heating or chemical treatment to enable the spontaneous growth of materials with pre-programmed structure and function. Focus will be given to methods that operate in commonly available organic solvents in order to later fabricate optoelectronic devices in a cost-effective manner. In approach #2, we combine efficient atom exchange chemistry with Nobel Prize (2010) winning chemical bond-forming chemistry to generate polymeric (plastic) materials for flexible light emitting devices (LEDs). This combined approach gives us the power to dial in the appropriate atom combinations and structural arrangements (e.g. ring shaped units) which should give us rapid access to high performance materials. Both of these approaches have the potential to be universally adopted by the scientific and industrial communities and should help to advance Canada's position as a leading innovator in clean energy (i.e. low energy lighting via non-toxic LEDs) and computing/information storage by providing new routes to next generation device components.