With this award the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry program supports the work of Dr. Silas C. Blackstock in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa. The work involves the synthesis and study of macromolecular organic poly redox arrays involving spin alignment in new non-Kekule pi-systems, and charge transport along redox chains. Medium effects on the energy ordering of the polyradical ion spin states will also be determined. Parallel work will investigate charge transport in new dendridic poly redox structures with radial redox gradients.
Poly radicals, organic compounds with two or more unpaired electron spins, will be studied using electrochemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron spin resonance, and theoretical computations, looking for interesting electrical and magnetic properties. Dendrimeric structures with redox active elements that change as one goes from the center to the periphery are expected to behave as charge funnel devices, and have a potential use as novel charge storage nano-components in redox-imaging media. The work is expected to provide valuable training for students in synthesis, instrumental measurements, and chemical computation.
