With funding from the Organic Dynamics Program, Professor Creary of Notre Dame University will investigate the mechanisms regarding the novel heterocyclic compound formation derived from allowing halodiazirines to react with the xanthate ion. Further, attempts will be made to generate C-centered diazirinyl anions and to determine their thermal stability. This is of interest as these compounds are antiaromatic anions. Finally, the project will investigate the means to expand the scope of the beta-lactam forming reaction that was recently discovered by the author. Synthetic sequences which are new and yield novel products of general interest provide scientists with alternatives to new drugs and materials. This project addresses this point and describes further how these concepts can be used to generalize the methodology. Namely, a mechanistic understanding of the reaction will enable scientists to generalize and expand the scope of the original discovery. Since these heterocyclic compounds involve nitrogen, they are physiologically significant
