With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the work of Professor Robert N. Compton of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. This research will involve the study of chiral molecules (molecules with a non-superimposable mirror image) using novel laser based optical spectroscopy. The study will involve high-power lasers which allow for "multiple-photon" absorption by chiral molecules, called non-linear multiphoton spectroscopy, as opposed to the one-photon (linear spectroscopy) used for many, many years. The study of these multiphoton chiro-optical processes will allow greater understanding of chiral molecules. Further, attempts will be made to do asymmetric synthesis, that is, the preparation of a single optical isomer, using multiphoton excitation with circularly polarized light. Circularly polarized light (of which there is left and right circularly polarized light) interacts differently with the two non-superimposable mirror image molecules. Thus it may be possible to have the circularly polarized light produce a product which is one of the two mirror images. The experimental work will be supported by theoretical calculations.
In terms of the broader impacts, this research will impact the synthesis of chiral organic molecules. Many organic molecules such as drugs and the molecules of living creatures are chiral and there is tremendous interest in synthesizing chiral molecules, which is not an easy thing to do well. This research will also touch on the subject of the origins of life by addressing the question "why are all amino acids or sugars in life molecules of one handedness?" This research is also an excellent vehicle for training both chemistry and physics students, since this research spans both disciplines, and to broaden the knowledge and training of both.
