18. GOALS FOR FELLOWSHIP TRAINING AND CAREER I believe the Stoddart group will be an excellent environment to continue my training toward an independent academic career in chemistry. I have been extremely fortunate that my Ph.D. research in the Dervan group has exposed me to a variety of problems and techniques at the frontiers of biology and medicine. While molecular recognition and synthesis are central themes of both the Stoddart and Dervan groups, in the Stoddart group I will be exposed to frontiers of chemistry which will be completely new to me, such as supramolecular chemistry, nanotechnology, and materials science. Ultimately, I hope to apply both the specific skills and different approaches to scientific problems that I learn in the diverse areas of my Ph.D. and postdoctoral research to an independent academic program focused on applying synthesis and molecular recognition to biological and therapeutic problems. --liPi_l-'P]i 19. NAMEANDDEGREE(S)J Fraser Stoddart, BSc, PhD, DSc 20. POSITION/RANK Winstein Professor of Chemistry 21. RESEARCHINTERESTS/AREANSanoscale science and self-assembly processes; Concept transfer between the life-sciences and material sciences; Nature of the mechanical bond; Catenanes and rotaxanes; Motor- molecules i Molecular machines. 22. DESCRIPTION (Do not exceed space provided) Artificial molecular muscles might someday be core components of artificial limbs. In the near term they will be useful to power mechanical movements in nanoscale devices. Switchable rotaxanes composed of polyether threads containing re-donors encircled by a macrocyclic 7t-acceptor have already been ;uccessfully incorporated in functional molecular electronic devices. To develop a rotaxane-based molecular muscle, it is intuitively desirable to replace the polyether threads with more rigid linkers. However, the ether oxygens are necessary for a successful template-directed synthesis, which relies on weak noncovalent interactions, particularly ICH-O] hydrogen bonds, in organic solvents. In an aqueous self-assembly process, the hydrophobic effect is expected to dominate, a feature which may allow for the efficient synthesis of rotaxanes with increased rigidity. For potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications of interlocked molecules, it is advantageous to study their switching behavior in aqueous solution. This proposal describes the self-assembly in aqueous solution of rigid-thread [2]pseudorotaxanes, 12lrotaxanes, and palindromic [3]rotaxanes which have been designed to promote contraction and extension, as a first step in the development of an artificial molecular muscle, and an examination of the molecular shuttling behavior of these rigid-thread rotaxanes in aqueous and organic solutions. PHS 416-1 (Rev. 12/98) Form Page 2 BB CC Individual NRSA Application I NAME (Last, first, middle initial) Table of Contents ========================================Section End===========================================
