This proposal requests funds to permit Dr. Patrick S. Mariano, Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland, to pursue with Dr. Ung Chan Yoon, Department of Chemistry, Pusan National University, for a period of 24 months, a program of cooperative research on electron transfer-induced photochemical reactions of organic systems. Specifically, sequential electron transfer-electrofugal group elimination sequences, promoted by excitation of reacting substrates or electron transfer photosensitizers, will be employed as general methods for generation of heteroatom substituted carbon radicals. The mechanistic details and synthetic applications of these processes will be probed. This project is a continuation of the cooperative research of the two investigators supported under NSF Grant No. INT-8717920, and adds an international cooperative dimension to Dr. Mariano's current research under NSF Grant No. CHE-8917725. Their previous collaborative research has been highly successful and has resulted in several joint publications in refereed journals. This successful collaboration has generated ideas which serve as the basis for continuing joint research. The studies planned for the period of continued collaboration should provide knowledge about various aspects of the new area of electron transfer photochemistry (photoelectrochemistry) and about new and potentially efficient methods for construction of complex molecular structures. This project is relevant to the objectives of the U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. and Korean scientists and engineers through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit.
