With funding from the Organic Dynamics Program, Professor Porter of Duke University will explore the mechanisms of reactions involving organic free radicals. These rather transitory intermediates are having increasing impact on both the organic and the chemical community at large. More specifically, free radical induced polymerization of monomers is a major commercial pathway to useful products. Moreover, control of the chirality of these polymerization reactions at the evolving stereogenic centers represents a very significant advance. This proposal addresses these issues very creatively. Discovering means to control organic reactions so as to produce desirable and useful products in a significant goal to have major impact. This grant outlines an investigation which, if successful, will discover new ways of controlling the reaction of free radical polymerization monomeric subunits. Since these subunits are natural resources, this work prescribes a methodology whereby a significant improvement can be made in their use. This means an increase in the efficiency and a major saving of resources.
