This award to Professors Jonathan Lindsey (North Carolina State University), David Bocian (University of California Riverside) and Dewey Holten (Washington University) is supported by the Advanced Materials and Processing Program in the Chemistry Division. Under the award, new oligomers will be synthesized from multimetallic porphyrins, phthalocyanines and perylene units. The oligomers will be linked by regioselective polymerization to form cyclic and nanotube macromolecular structures with an ultimate goal of fabricating all optical gates, electrically conducting molecular wires and coaxial cable assemblies from these structures. The optical and electronic materials will be characterized by different photophysical methods. Photoexcitation studies will be carried out to determine the rates and efficiencies of energy and charge distributions in these materials.
Photoactive and electroactive macromolecular structures, both circular and nanotubular, will be prepared under this research award. The macrocyclic structures with controlled networks, orientation, size and shape will be prepared, and molecular wires and coaxial cables will be fabricated by functionalizing the tubular and cyclic structures. These optical and electronic materials may have applications in small electronic devices such as logic gates and molecular computers. In addition, the research program will provide a rich multidisciplinary education and training opportunity to students in material chemistry.
