This grant from the Organic Dynamics Program supports the continuing work of Dr. Kenneth B. Wiberg at Yale University. The results of this investigation will provide new insights into the ways that chemical reactivity is dependent on molecular structure. The experiments that will be carried out by Professor Wiberg will focus on the chemical and physical properties of unactivated carbon-carbon bonds in small-ring hydrocarbons. New and unusual small-ring compounds will be synthesized, and their reactivities will be examined using kinetic and tracer studies. Spectroscopic methods will be used to study the influence of bond angle deformations and substituent effects, and theoretical calculations will be employed to obtain detailed information on the origins of the observed properties for ground-state species and reactive intermediates.
