With support from the Organic Dynamics Program, Dr. Billups will expand the recently developed vacuum gas solid reaction technique (VGSR) to the synthesis of highly unstable compounds under conditions where structural studies can be performed. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the use of solid alkalai fluoride to effect the elimination of beta-halosilanes to yield highly strained intermediates. In addition, bifunctional cycloproparenes will be polymerized with silver ion to produce a series of new aromatic materials. Finally, the organic and organometallic chemistry of C-60 "Buckminsterfullerene" will be studied. %%% A major focus of Dr. Billups' research program in recent years has been the development of a vacuum gas phase procedure for synthesizing small ring compounds. This approach, which is utilized in only one other laboratory in the United States, allows the reactive species to be isolated at low temperature for subsequent chemical and structural studies. In other work, Dr. Billups will study some aspects of the chemistry of a new allotrope of carbon, "Buckminsterfullerene", which contains a cluster of sixty carbon atoms. This novel, all-carbon cluster is of considerable interest from a theoretical standpoint and also for its potential materials applications.
