Event Information
Shape-Adaptive Chemical Architectures: Cooperative Mechanical Coupling Schemes for Assembly, Transport, and Sensing
- Abstract:
With an increasing demand to reduce the size and dimensions of electronic and mechanical devices, significant research efforts have recently been made in synthetic chemistry front to construct higher-order assemblies from molecular building blocks. Critical to the success of this bottom-up approach is the availability of functional components that can relay signals over a long distance with high fidelity. Many naturally occurring machinery can amplify local structural distortions and transducer them to chemical signals at remotely located sites. Unlike electronic coupling, such mechanical coupling in general is less restricted by the distance requirements between the two communicating parts.
Drawing inspirations from naturally occurring constructs, we have designed and synthesized a new class of C3-symmetric aromatic-rich compounds displaying correlated molecular motions. These structurally pre-organized but conformationally exible molecules have proven to be versatile functional components in molecular devices and materials for transport, switching, and sensing. Extreme modularity in our synthetic design, along with novel structural and electronic properties associated with the tris(N-salicylideneamine) functionality, has allowed us to demonstrate the feasibility of (a) uptake and release of small molecule guests by shape-adaptive organic crystalline materials, (b) self-assembly of discotic molecules displaying enhanced emission properties upon aggregation, (c) uorescence sensing and switching by mechanical control of excited-state geometry, (d) FRET as a viable mechanism for sensory signal ampli_cation and allosteric switching, and (e) cooperative structural folding for predetermined helicity and its translation to surface chirality. In this presentation will be discussed the advent, current progress, proposed evolution, and potential applications of the shape-adaptive molecules developed in my laboratory.
Host: Katherine Franz
Departmental Seminar