With this award from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program, Jonathan L. Sessler of The University of Texas is carrying out research aimed at creating new systems that can communicate chemically. Living systems are unique in their ability to communicate by purely chemical means and a wide array of new technologies could become possible if we were able to mimic this behavior. Chemical communication in living systems can occur over short distances, which is what happens when brain cells communicate by the release and capture of neurotransmitter molecules. Or, the communication can take place over large distances, such as when insects, or even some mammals, communicate by releasing pheromones. Although these processes are well known in the world of biology, it has not yet been possible to reproduce this type of communication in an artificial system. In this work, the investigators are doing just that, using sophisticated laboratory methods they have developed to accomplish molecular design and construction in a controlled fashion. This work will likely impact the development of possible new information systems. New approaches to artificial intelligence and wireless communication may become possible as a result of this fundamental research. The work is having a further broad impact through the training of the next generation of scientists in cutting-edge laboratory techniques that will prepare the students involved in this research for work in a wide variety of technologically challenging areas.
This project focuses on the use of electron rich and electron poor receptors whose features can be modulated via changes in pH, redox potential, and substrate binding. Particular emphasis is being placed on tetrathiafulvalene calixpyrrole receptors and various electron deficient substrates, including fullerene derivatives. Conformational switching, as engendered by anion binding to a calixpyrrole, for instance, is used to induce changes in equilibrium. These perturbations, in turn, serve to release small chemical species that can act as triggers for the modulation of other receptor systems, such as those built from oligopyrroles. A range of techniques, including standard spectroscopies, photochemistry, color-based reactions, and solid state crystallography is being used to characterize the systems involved in this project and the changes in their features due to induced perturbations in equilibrium behavior.
