9321258 Gillies This award in the Research Planning Grant for Women Program is made by the Chemistry Division to Dr. Jennifer Z. Gillies of the Chemistry Department, Siena College. Four classes of organosulfur compounds--sulfenic acids, sulfines, 1,2-dithiin, and sulfenes--will be characterized by rotational spectroscopy. The planning grant will be used to test the feasibility of using pulsed beam Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy as a new method for characterizing transient organosulfur compounds and their van der Waals complexes. The method will be useful for structural determination and identification of reaction intermediates formed in pyrolysis reactions. This research will form the basis for subsequent work by undergraduate students on organosulfur compounds, including the construction of a Stark modulated absorption spectrometer. Compunds of this type have a variety of uses in medicine, agriculture, and environmental chemistry.
