This research in the laboratory of Professor Rachel Austin at Bates College is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program under a Research Planning Grant. The photochemistry of metalloporphyrins in large-pore alumino silicates (MCM-41) will be studied to provide background for the potential development of photoactivated catalysts that will insert oxygen into hydrocarbons. MCM-41 will be characterized by SEM and X-ray diffraction as a means of ascertaining the quality of the material. SEM and NMR studies will determine whether metalloporphyrins are embedded in the MCM-41 channels or located on the surface. The long-term goal of this research is to develop a heterogeneous catalyst that will insert an O-atom into unreactive hydrocarbon bonds. The advantage of the MCM-41 will be to immobilize the reactive metalloporphyrin.
