Conference on Reticular Chemistry, Paris, France

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

Solid state chemistry is currently experiencing rapid growth in the development of new synthetic tools aimed at the creation of new materials. One such example is the synthesis of extended solid state materials by assembly from two or more molecular building blocks -- for example, inorganic clusters linked by organic polytopic ligands to form polyhedra, rods, layers and three-dimensional extended structures. This new area is being referred to as "reticular synthesis" where by a suitable choice of geometry the dimensionality and topology of the synthesized product can be predesigned to yield materials with predictable properties. This workshop will explore ways to advance the new area of reticular chemistry by stimulating the interplay of mathematics, chemistry, and materials science and engineering to explore the fundamentals of designing and preparing new materials with desireable properties. The goal of the Conference on Reticular Chemistry: Principles of Designing Extended Chemical Structures is to integrate and order the vast amount of geometrical knowledge and the availability mathematical tools with the experimental and theoretical expertise of organic, inorganic, biochemical, and materials researchers to identify key problems and progress in the following areas: enumerating mathematical structures such as minimal surfaces, knots and three-dimensional networks; describing classification schemes and inventing nomenclature; exploring relevant mathematical properties such as symmetry, complexity, and transitivity; to advance the a priori (top-down) design of functional materials with desired properties (magnetic, optical, catalytic, porosity); designing secondary building units (SBUs) for optimal 'bottom-up-synthesis' of new materials; describe challenges and opportunities for the assembly of biological structures and hybrid bio-organic and bio-inorganic structures; address educational challenges including the teaching of geometry to chemists and chemistry to mathematicians.