Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The research described in this proposal concerns the synthesis of novel heterocyclic structures that will ultimately be used for the development of new polymer materials. Electropolymerizable structures involving bithiazole and biimidazole cores will be used for the synthesis of polymerizable metal complexes. The helical arrangement of organic molecules around the metal center in these complexes will endow them with interesting optical, catalytic, and sensory properties. The untapped potential for these structures to act as "chiral catalysts" in electrochemical hydrogenation experiments is something that needs to be explored. ) The proposal is divided into two sections: the synthesis of heterocyclic molecules for subsequent complexation with metal centers, and the synthesis and electrochemical investigations of metal (ruthenium and rhodium) monomer and polymer complexes. Some of the heterocyclic structures proposed in the first section will possess imidazole moieties. Reports of imidazole-containing electroactive polymers are not common. Still, the imidazole systems of this work should demonstrate useful features that other, more popular systems do not. For example, they should be able to be chemically altered (protonated/deprotonated or functionalized), either prior to or following complexation to metal centers. This feature should permit some degree of tunability over their chemical properties. The potential for the metallopolymer materials of the proposed work to influence asymmetric transformations would be of immense interest to pharmaceutical and synthetic companies. Studies aimed at understanding their electron and ion transport processes in chiral environments are also of interest, for their application to sensory technologies. ) The work, which will be carried out in our lab by undergraduate and graduate students, will provide invaluable training for scientific careers, covering an unusually broad group of techniques.