With this new award the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the work of Professors Mark Fink and Mark Sulkes of the Chemistry Department at Tulane University. This research project will involve the use of molecular beams to investigate short-lived organosilicon intermediates and related energetic molecules. Intermediates to be studied include group 14 carbene analogs and doubly and triply bonded main group species. The unique thrust of this research arises from an interdisciplinary collaboration combining molecular beam spectroscopy and synthetic/mechanistic organometallic chemistry. Comprehensive use of these combined methods will provide significant new data on reactive main group species and will complement methods customarily used to study these intermediates.
The broader impacts of this proposal involve the training of undergraduates and graduate students in an interdisciplinary project that crosses the boundaries between physical, inorganic, and organic chemistry. The research will prepare students for important present day interdisciplinary enterprises such as materials chemistry and environmental chemistry.
