Proposal: 9320619 ABSTRACT Date: 10/27/93 PI: Garcia-Garabay U. Cal. Los Angeles A systematic investigation of the chemistry of phenyl-alkyl carbene derivatives in organic molecular crystals will be made. Carbenes will be generated in the solid state both thermally and photochemically by the extrusion of molecular nitrogen from phenyl alkyl diazo compounds. The study will include pure crystalline solids and mixed molecular crystals, and will combine techniques from photochemistry, solid state chemistry, and material science. Product studies and rates of reactions will be followed as a function of crystal and molecular structures, which will be determined by X-ray crystallographic analyses. Correlations will be sought for crystal and molecular structural features with product selectivity and specificity. Bulk magnetic properties will be measured to determine if ordered spin- spin interactions occur, which would lead to ferromagnetic behavior. This grant from the Organic Dynamics Program supports the work of Professor Miguel Garcia-Garabay at the University of California, Los Angeles. Carbenes, which are divalent species rather than the usual tetravalent carbon molecules, will be studied in the solid state. Various carbenes will be produced both thermally and by light irradiation by the extrusion of molecular nitrogen from precursor molecules. Crystal structures of these precursor molecules will be determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis and the products and rates of these reactions will be correlated with the crystal and molecular structure. These studies will provide insight to carbene chemistry and solid state chemistry.
