With this award, the Synthetic Organic Program will support the research of Dr. Weston T. Borden of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Washington. The proposed research includes an integrated combination of experimental and computational chemistry leading to the preparation and understanding of the chemistry of highly strained organic molecules. In the experimental portion of the work, the preparation and study of the properties of a series of pyramidalized alkenes will be undertaken. The compounds will be isolated using matrix techniques and will serve as precursors to other interesting strained molecules and to a series of Pt complexes. In the computational work, among other projects, ab initio calculations will be carried out in order to test the effect of substituents on cubyl cation, homocub-1(9)-ene, and the Cope rearrangement. Calculations will also be carried out that will serve to guide and interpret experimental studies of Pt complexes of pyramidalized alkenes.
