NSF Award
2400334
With the support of the Chemical Structure Dynamics and Mechanisms-B (CSDM-B) Program, Professor Josef Michl at the University of Colorado, Boulder will investigate the mechanism of oxidative polymerization of Zn porphyrin to the two-dimensional polymer porphene on a water surface. Metalloporphenes are a large family of new tunable nanomaterials which promise a variety of applications in nanotechnology, such as patternable monolithic circuit boards for flexible molecular electronics. The proposed mechanistic investigation is intended to promote their transformation from a laboratory curiosity to practically useful materials and to educate and train early career scientists.<br/> <br/>Two-dimensional polymer sheets are an object of great current interest because of their promise in nanotechnology, but the mechanism of their formation is incompletely understood. The porphene square grid arises from monomeric Zn porphyrin on the surface of an aqueous oxidant through the removal of 12 hydrogen atoms on the periphery on each monomer and the formation of 12 new C-C bonds. This oxidative polymerization produces remarkably large single crystalline domains on the order of hundreds of nanometers and shows features of both thermodynamic and kinetic control. An in situ kinetic and mechanistic investigation of this reaction using a variety of tools is proposed and, if successful, the resulting insight will permit further increase in domain size and decrease in defect density.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
