CAREER: Functional Materials Derived from Molecular Containers

该职业计划的研究目标是开发和研究来自分子容器的新材料-能够完全封装较小分子底物的合成分子。 具体目标是：本论文的主要工作包括：（1）以容器分子为配体，合成一系列新型金属-有机“微腔内包合”材料;（2）建立分子容器独特的溶液-相络合行为与相关材料包合性质之间的动力学和热力学关系;（3）表征包合物种的分子运动并研究最近发现的分子“内爆”行为。 目标材料应具有由分子容器产生的强化微腔和由工程框架产生的伴随微孔。 特别感兴趣的是挥发性有机化合物（VOC）的吸附和/或解吸的动力学，预计这部分地由容器状分子构建块来控制。 该CAREER项目旨在开发和研究一类新的微孔材料，这些材料来自所谓的分子容器-能够完全封装较小分子的合成分子。 微孔材料代表了一类非常重要的工业化合物，近年来发现了提供结构设计优势的新分子基实例的快速增长。 这里要研究的材料，预计将拥有独特的“微腔中的微腔”的结构，与某些改进的物理性能伴随着嵌入的分子微腔。 这些研究将对挥发性有机化合物的储存（例如燃料和气体储存）、化学分离和纯化以及固态化学的更基本方面产生影响。 该计划还旨在通过将研究概念整合到新生的实验室课程中，并通过研究生水平和开发新的基于发现的实验来提高学生的培训。 此外，还将发起一个面向公众和各级科学界的外联方案，为个人和专业发展提供一个实验论坛，并促进固态化学知识和专业知识的广度。

The research objectives of this CAREER program are to develop and investigate new materials derived from molecular containers--synthetic molecules capable of completely encapsulating smaller molecular substrates. The specific goals are: i) to synthesize a series of new metal-organic "microcavity-within-micropore" materials using container molecules as ligands; ii) to establish kinetic and thermodynamic relationships between the unique solution-phase complexation behaviors of molecular containers and the inclusion properties of the related materials; iii) characterize the molecular motions of encapsulated species and investigate recently discovered molecular "implosion" behavior. The targeted materials should possess enforced microcavities, arising from the molecular containers, and concomitant microporosity, arising as a consequence of the engineered frameworks. Of particular interest will be the kinetics of sorption and/or desorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are expected to be governed, in part, by the container-like molecular building blocks. This CAREER project is aimed toward the development and study of a new class of microporous materials to be derived from so-called molecular containers--synthetic molecules capable of completely encapsulating smaller molecules. Microporous materials represent an enormously important class of industrial compounds, and recent years have seen rapid growth in the discovery of new molecule-based examples that provide the advantage of structural design. To be studied here are materials that are anticipated to possess unique "microcavity-within-micropore" structures, with certain improved physical properties concomitant with the embedded molecular microcavities. Such studies will have implications for storage of volatile organic compounds (e.g. fuel and gas storage), chemical separations and purification, as well as more fundamental aspects of solid-state chemistry. This program also seeks to improve the training of students by integrating research concepts into the laboratory curriculum at the freshman through graduate levels and through the development of new discovery-based experiments. Additionally, an outreach program will be instigated--directed toward the general public and various levels of the scientific community--that provides an experimental forum for personal and professional development and fosters breadth of knowledge and expertise in solid-state chemistry.