With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the work of Professor David Lemal of Dartmouth College. This research will involve the continued study of the synthesis and properties of fluorine containing molecules and materials, of which Teflon is the best known. Since these compounds are relatively inert, Professor Lemal plans to make strained and unsaturated cyclic compounds containing fluorine in order to study the properties of these new molecules and materials, as they are expected to have differing, and hopefully useful, properties relative to the known fluorinated compounds and materials.
Broader Impacts: The training and education of the undergraduate students and the postdoctoral researchers working on these projects will provide a valuable contribution to society via at least two avenues: an increase in more highly trained and skilled scientists; and the discovery of new materials that have the potential to have better properties than known fluorinated materials.
