In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Roseanne Sension of the University of Michigan along with her post-doctoral fellows and graduate students plan to perform experiments aimed at influencing both condensed phase molecular dynamics & chemical reactivity along with the identification of effective pulse shapes through learning algorithm approaches. The overarching goal of these studies is focused on linking sophisticated observation of reaction dynamics with the ability to control chemical reactions either directly or indirectly. Five specific systems are proposed for study: 1) Control of Reactive Excited State Branching in Cis-Stilbene, 2) Control of Photodissociation Channels in Solution Phase, 3) Control of Excited State Branching in Pyrimidine DNA Bases, 4) 1,3-Cyclohexadiene Ring-Opening Reaction, and 5) The Pro-Vitamin D Ring-Opening Reaction. Techniques such as ultraviolet (UV) pulse shaping, excited state measurements, theoretical calculations, and multi-photon laser excitation will be employed.
The nature of this work is at the forefront of modern optical techniques and exposes students to state-of-the-art research in chemical physics and optical physics. Students and other research associates will have access to advanced laser pulse generation techniques. Integration with education will include augmenting the computational chemistry curriculum to include modeling and simulation of the chemical dynamics observed in ultrafast laser experiments.
