With this award, the Synthetic Organic Program will support the research of Dr. William G. Dauben of the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. The proposed research seeks to probe the effects of either high pressure or sonication on hindered substrates in reactions run under mild thermal conditions. In the area of high pressure chemistry, Dr. Dauben will probe the development of charge in the transition state and the effects of stoichiometric ratios of reactants on the rates of reactions run at 15 kbar. Acid catalyzed reactions, bioorganic transformations and enolate conjugate additions will be included among the target reactions to be studied. In the area of sonochemistry, the focus will be on evaluating rate enhancement by sonication of homogeneous reactions that have previously been studied under controlled pressure conditions. This comparison will help to elucidate the source of exalted reaction rates under aegis of sonication.
