CAREER: sigma-Coupled Donor-Acceptor Interactions in Self-Assembly

这一有机和高分子化学项目的职业奖支持佛罗里达大学的Ronald K.Castellano教授的工作，他研究了作为小分子可逆自组装中可调元素的直通键供体-受体相互作用。将合成三环供体-西格玛-受体化合物1-氮杂-金刚烷三酮，并将其用作研究的载体。分子在溶液中出现的大分子性质，如凝胶性、液晶性和粘弹性，将通过材料表征技术进行研究，而计算将用于将整体化学行为与分子的基态电子性质联系起来。设计的自组装作为控制溶液中功能分子的材料、光学和光物理性质以及它们在器件中的性能的最有效和最有前途的策略之一而脱颖而出。这种方法传统上强调的是定向分子间相互作用，如氢键和芳香族Sigma堆积；拟议的工作寻求使用定向分子内相互作用在分子水平上控制材料的性质，这种定向分子内相互作用可以在更强的非共价力存在的情况下进行独特的调节。从事这一多学科研究的研究生和本科生将接受合成和物理有机化学、光谱学、计算和高级材料表征方面的培训，为他们未来的职业生涯做准备。职业发展计划中包括一项名为化学与材料科学伙伴关系(PITCAMS)的外联计划，该计划将通过适合课堂的研讨会和探究式活动模块来增强佛罗里达州8-12年级科学教师的化学和材料科学内容知识。大学研究生和本科生将通过这个项目与教师分享他们的个人研究经验，他们自己也会成为更熟练和热情的沟通者。佛罗里达大学学前教育和培训中心(UF CPET)将协助向教师传播模块，并通过校园研讨会提供教师成果。

This CAREER award in the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports work by Professor Ronald K. Castellano at the University of Florida to study through-bond donor-acceptor interactions as tunable elements in the reversible self-assembly of small molecules. Tricyclic donor-sigma-acceptor compounds, 1-aza-adamantanetriones, will be synthesized and employed as vehicles for the studies. The emergent macromolecular properties of the molecules in solution, such as gelation, liquid crystallinity, and viscoelasticity, will be studied using materials characterization techniques while computation will be used to connect the bulk chemical behavior to the molecules ground-state electronic properties. Designed self-assembly has come to the fore as one of the most efficient and promising strategies to control the materials, optical, and photophysical properties of functional molecules in solution and their performance in devices. Traditionally emphasized in this approach are directional intermolecular interactions such as hydrogen bonding and aromatic sigma-stacking; the proposed work seeks to control materials properties at the molecular level using directional intramolecular interactions that can be uniquely tuned in the presence of much stronger noncovalent forces.Graduate and undergraduate students who engage in this multidisciplinary research will be trained in synthetic and physical organic chemistry, spectroscopy, computation, and advanced materials characterization in preparation for their future careers. Included in the career development plan is an outreach program, Partnerships in the Chemical and Materials Sciences (PITCAMS), that will enhance the chemical and materials science content knowledge of 8-12th grade Florida science teachers through workshops and inquiry-based activity modules suitable for the classroom. University graduate and undergraduate students will share their personal research experiences with teachers through this program and themselves become more skilled and enthusiastic communicators. The University of Florida Center for Precollegiate Education and Training (UF CPET) will assist with both the dissemination of the modules to the teachers and the delivery of teacher outcomes through campus-wide symposia.