The Synthetic Organic Program is funding the research of Dr. Eric Block of the Department of Chemistry at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. Dr. Block will continue his studies on the chemistry of the organic compounds of sulfur. Major areas of concern include the development of useful new sulfur-containing reagents for organic synthesis, the investigation of the structure, synthesis and reactions of unusual organosulfur compounds from onion and the study of important but little studied classes of organosulfur compounds. A novel class of reagents that permit the controlled growth of carbon-containing rings through "iterative Diels-Alder reactions" will be studied. Syntheses will be attempted that will afford polyacenes, compounds that are linear molecules containing side-by-side fused benzene rings, which, in the polymer (C4H2)n extreme, have been predicted to be electrical conductors. Related reagents will be used to develop a new synthesis of fused cyclopentadienes and a novel, catalytic process for the generation and trapping of singlet disulfur.
