This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program funds research in the laboratory of Kenneth J. Balkus at the Univesity of Texas at Dallas. The objective is to prepare new zeolite host-guest materials that would offer clear advantages in catalytic and adsorption processes. Work will contintue to exploit occluding guest molecules into zeolites and other porous materials through adsorption, ion exchange, complexation and templated intrazeolite assembly. Emphasis will be on the synthesis of the host matrix around the guest molecule, which occludes as a well-defined species. This approach has already resulted in the discovery of the largest pore zeolite known. The focus will now turn to multidentate chelate complexes such as phthalocyanines, polyamines, polyethers and Schiff base ligands. Chiral functional groups will also be introduced in order to prepare chiral host materials and to induce asymmetric catalysis. New host-guest materials will be evaluated for binding and activating small molecules, such as molecular oxygen, hydrogen, nitric oxide, and olefins in catalysis, separations and gas-sensing applications. New materials will be prepared with spaces designed to hold catalytically important molecules. These materials hold the prospect of functioning as asymmetric catalysts, chemical separators and sensors.
