In this project funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics, and Mechanisms-B (CSDM-B) Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Pengfei Wang of the University of Alabama at Birmingham is studying new photochemical reactions to develop photoremovable protecting groups (PPGs) for potential applications in chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, medicine, and materials science. PPGs are indispensable tools that are used in a broad range of basic and applied research areas, especially when removal of protecting groups under neutral and reagent-free conditions with precise spatial and temporal control is desired. The broader impacts of this work include potential societal benefits from the discovery of new PPGs as well as the development of a training ground for students (including students from underrepresented groups) in an academic setting.
The photochemical release of an amino group is of great importance in many research areas. However, direct release of an amino group by photochemically breaking the C-N bond in a fast, primary photochemical process is rare. This project focuses on the development of new photochemical reactions and their applications in the development of structurally simple and mechanistically novel photolabile protecting groups for nitrogen (amines), sulfur (thiols) and other atoms. New PPGs with different chemical/photochemical properties, largely based upon photosolvolysis of trityl derivatives, are being examined and optimized.
