Attaining Configuration and Ligand Field Control over the Singly Occupied Molecular Orbital (SOMO)/Fermi Gap in Molecular Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) Films

表面活性剂是含有水溶性和水不溶性区域的分子。当添加到水中时，表面活性剂形成像单个分子一样薄的组织良好的膜，并且该膜可以转移到固体表面上。表面活性剂分子可以被设计为包含金属中心，以形成一种新的和先进的金属表面活性剂，可以定制以响应特定的电刺激。在NSF化学部的大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的资助下，底特律州立大学州立大学韦恩的Claudio Verani教授和他的研究小组正在研究如何设计和获得新的响应性金属表面活性剂，以及如何调整这些金属表面活性剂的性质以响应特定的刺激。 该团队还考虑如何使用这些金属表面活性剂在固体表面上形成响应膜。这项研究对于量子计算和刺激响应材料所需的定向电子传输等概念至关重要。外联目标促进传播尖端科学知识、研究生和本科生教育和研究，以及向更广泛的受众传播科学思想。Verani教授及其合作者正在研究金属表面活性剂的合成，氧化还原，电子和界面行为，无论是在溶液中还是作为沉积在电活性表面上的Langmuir-Blodgett单层膜。这个跨学科的项目旨在研究基于具有不同3d 0，3d 1，3d 2，3d 3和3d 4电子构型的金属离子的金属表面活性剂膜的单占据分子轨道（SOMO）/费米能隙的调制。 该团队还开发了推/拉不对称金属表面活性剂，以研究轨道扭曲和定向电子传输之间的关系，并生成方法，以实现新的“随需应变”类通过带电表面活性剂交换抗衡离子而获得的离子金属表面活性剂。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响进行评估而被认为值得支持审查标准。

Surfactants are molecules that contain water-soluble and water-insoluble regions. When added to water, surfactants form well-organized films as thin as a single molecule, and this film can be transferred onto a solid surface. Surfactant molecules can be designed to incorporate metal centers to form a new and advanced class of metallosurfactants that can be tailored to respond to specific electrical stimuli. With funding from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry program of the NSF Division of Chemistry, Professor Claudio Verani and his research group at Wayne State University in Detroit are studying how to design and obtain new responsive metallosurfactants, and how to tune the properties of these metallosurfactants to respond to specific stimuli. The team also considers how to use these metallosurfactants to form responsive films on solid surfaces. This research is fundamental to concepts such as directional electron transport needed in quantum computing and stimuli-responsive materials. The outreach goals foster the dissemination of cutting edge scientific knowledge, graduate and undergraduate education and research, and the diffusion of scientific ideas to broader audiences. Professor Verani and collaborators are studying the synthesis, redox, electronic, and interfacial behavior of metallosurfactants, both in solution and as Langmuir-Blodgett monolayer films deposited onto electroactive surfaces. This interdisciplinary project aims to study the modulation of the Singly Occupied Molecular Orbital (SOMO)/Fermi gap on metallosurfactant films based on metal ions with distinct 3d0, 3d1, 3d2, 3d3, and 3d4 electronic configurations. The team also develops push/pull asymmetric metallosurfactants to study the relationship between orbital distortion and directional electron transport, and generates methodology to enable a new class of "on demand" ionic metallosurfactants obtained through the exchange of counterions by charged surfactants.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.