9320834 Sneddon This award provides funds to permit Dr. Larry G. Sneddon, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, to pursue with Professor Sang Ook Kang, Department of Chemistry, Korea University, for 36 months, a program of cooperative research on metal promoted reactions of boron hydrides. The focus of this cooperative research is the development of new, high yield synthetic routes for the construction of important polyhedral boron compounds. This research will emphasize the development of transition metal reagents and catalysts, similar to those employed in organic and organometallic chemistry, to activate polyhedral boron compounds for reaction. Because of their unique chemical and physical properties, polyhedral boron compounds are of great academic and industrial interest. These compounds have a number of important properties that give rise to potential applications as burn rate modifiers, neutron-capture cancer agents, high temperature polymers, and ceramic precursors. Further research in this area has been seriously hampered by the lack of general synthetic procedures. Much of the synthetic part of the project will be performed in Korea, where Professor Kang has recently discovered several new reagents which have potential applications to promote new types of boron hydride reactions. Success of the project will depend greatly on the sophisticated characterization techniques available in the PI's laboratory. The collaborators are highly respected researchers in the field of the proposal. 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. Korean participation in the project is supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF). This project adds an international cooperative dimension to the PI's research under NSF Grant No. CHE-9001063. ***
