The Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program in the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation supports Professor Miguel Garcia-Garibay at the University of California- Los Angeles, who will seek to gain a deeper understanding of chemical reactivity in crystalline solids by taking advantage of absolute kinetic measurements. At the same time, he proposes steps towards ambitious green chemistry synthetic applications involving challenging natural products of the pyrrolidinoindoline alkaloid family. In the second part of this proposal, studies aimed at a deeper understanding of a very exciting quantum chain decarbonylation reaction recently established with crystals of diphenylcyclopropenone are described. Professor Garcia-Garibay will investigate the scope of this reaction to include structures that unveil highly emissive, linearly conjugated chromophores. In the third part of this proposal, while studying the scope and steric limits of the reaction, enantioselective syntheses and classic resolution strategies to prepare optically pure compounds will be explored.
Detailed understanding and prediction of chemical reactivity in the solid state will address many on-going problems, which includes the undesirable decomposition of pharmaceuticals, the degradation and aging of structural solids, and the fatigue of solid state devices. In addition to challenges arising from this work being at the frontiers of current reactivity theories, reactions in solids have attracted a great deal of interest during the last few years due to their potential in the development of Green Chemistry strategies to reduce the use of harmful solvents. The PI has been successful in attracting women and minority students to his research group by maintaining a highly supportive and creative environment that has fostered many careers in science education. The impact of this research extends beyond UCLA though collaborations with colleagues from neighboring institutions, including Mount St. Mary University (a women's college), Loyola Marymount University (an undergraduate institution), and Cal State Los Angeles (a comprehensive university with a MS program in Chemistry), all of which have a high enrollments of Hispanic and African American students.
