This Research Opportunities for Women Career Advancement Award is in the general area of organic chemistry. Dr. Margaret V. Merritt of the Chemistry Department at Wellesley College will develop methods for using electric dipole moment measurements to examine the association and structure of chiral ion pairs. The interionic geometry of ion pairs in particular solvents may be correlated with the electric dipole moment. In this study, both of the ions will have an asymmetric center: the cation will be a quaternary amine and the anion will be the salt of mandelic acid. The capacitance and conductance measurements will be made with the advice of Dr. Ernest Grunwald, emeritus professor of Brandeis University, who has experience in this field. A postdoctoral worker and an undergraduate student will participate in the project. This award will enable Dr. Merritt to establish a new capability that is complementary to kinetic studies she has carried out previously. It is anticipated that undergraduate students will be able to participate readily in these new projects. Future student projects will involve the preparation and characterization of novel chiral ion pairs and determination of the solvent dependence of the dipole moment of a single ion pair. Infrared and proton nmr spectroscopy and X-ray structure characterization will also be utilized.
