Our objective is to investigate the photochemical behavior of specifically designed molecules. We wish to broaden the scope of organic photochemical with dual motives.
One aim i s to develop new organic photochemical reactions to the point where photochemistry is a practical synthetic tool in chemistry. Our other aim is to bring photochemistry to the point where sufficient patterns emerge that photochemistry has become a predictable science. In brief, we wish to understand and be able to use organic photochemistry. An important consequence is the application of our findings to the effects of light on life. It is well known that light results in both favorable and unfavorable physiological changes. A major limitation in understanding these effectsis the primitive state of organic photochemistry. Thus, our intention is to continue our efforts in providing the basic science needed by organic chemists, photobiochemists and photobiologists. Our approach is to synthesize a potential reactant molecule specifically designed with the idea of testing the effect of some particular structural feature on the photochemical reactivity. This approach often provides information about the reaction mechanism as well. The main result from such studies in development of useful reactions with known structural limitations and reactivity generalizations. The approach has been a successufl one for us in the past and promise to continue to be successful in the future.
