This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports research by Professor Roald Hoffman at Cornell University to build bridges between quantum mechanics and chemical intuition, particularly in the realm of high pressure chemical structures. In one part of the research, specific puzzles of bonding across chemistry will be considered. The proposal asks for what set of atoms could one build networks containing both square planar and tetrahedral element geometries, and whether it is possible to have an iodine in a benzene ring. Another question is to what extent does an ionic (not molecular) solid maintain a memory of the structural preferences of its component building blocks. A central effort addresses the role of chemistry in the burgeoning field of structure under high pressure and proposes to design a series of studies to gain insight into what determines structure under, say, five-fold volume compression. One focus is hydrogen-rich materials, exploring a suggestion that easier metallization and superconductivity under pressure might be achieved if hydrogen is "chemically precompressed," i.e tied up in a molecular precursor.
Building bridges between theory and experiment, between different subdisciplines of chemistry, and between chemistry and physics in the field of high pressure studies is proposed to have a broad impact in science in areas such as hydrogen storage. The work would also build bridges to society at large, to young scientists, and to those in the arts and humanities through a commitment to writing and speaking of science for/to a general audience, and to communicating with people in the arts.
