Research Interests
Our research is multidisciplinary, focusing on the relationship between structure and chemical reactivity in interesting new compounds and materials. We are particularly interested in controlling chemistry by photochemical or electrochemical activation.
Although this subarea has sometimes been called physical organic chemistry, our group also frequently employs inorganic compounds and analytical methodology to achieve our objectives. This work is directed toward several practical goals:
* solar energy conversion
* environmental detoxification
* construction of molecular electronic devices
* synthesis and characterization of functional polymers
* chemically modified surfaces for catalysis or recognition.
Making progress toward these goals requires that we understand a great deal about basic chemical processes and the reactivity of intermediates in unusual environments as we seek to find new organic reactions and define their mechanisms. In one particularly fruitful area, we have investigated organic reactions on the surfaces of irradiated semiconductors and have found that controlling electron transfer in non-homogeneous media such as zeolites, thin films, or supercritical fluids is a key step. Fundamental to these studies is a characterization of excited states, radicals, and radical ions in these media. These studies involve not only the usual techniques of organic synthesis and mechanistic chemistry, but also special applications of laser spectroscopy, electrochemical methodology, and surface analysis. We are also interested in preparing new macromolecular arrays (polymers, liquid crystals, etc.) that allow us to control macroscopic properties (such as directionality of electron transport, thermal expansion, or conductivity) in designed materials.