This RUI grant from the Organic Dynamics Program supports undergraduate studies of Professor Curran at the College of the Holy Cross. The studies focus on the role of enforced proximity on intramolecular reactions as models for enzyme catalysis. Structural analogues of Kemp's triacid (a cyclohexanetricarboxylic acid) with variation in the third axial and equatorial groups will be used as molecular templates for ten projects. These independent projects are designed to unravel how changes in the steric and electronic nature of neighboring functional groups affect the rate of the acylolysis reaction. In this synthetic project Dr. Fendler will study the steric and electronic effects of neighboring groups on the rate of acylolysis of Kemp s triacid to model such effects on enzymatic reaction rates. The studies clarify important structural effects and will provide undergraduate students with an excellent experimental training in interdisciplinary chemical research.
