With this New award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the work of Dr. Joseph T. Hupp of Northwestern University. The goal of this work is to develop new nanoporous chemical sensors from inorganic materials with designable and controllable chemical recognition properties. These novel materials are constructed with rectangular tubules using rhenium tricarbonyl chloride for corner links, and a variety of organic diamines (for example 4,4'-dipyridyl) of varying sizes as the side members. Chemical sensing and quantitation are provided by luminescence and microgravimetric (SAW or quartz crystal microgravimetry) measurements. Dr. Hupp is developing a new class of chemical sensors, based on molecular structures with controllable pore size, that could be used to sense and measure the concentrations of toxic pollutants in air and water
