Ultrafast dynamics, mechanism, and linkage isomerization of photosensitive organometallic manganese and chromium complexes

University Of Memphis, Memphis TN

Investigators

Abstract

This Research award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports work by Professors Theodore Burkey and Charles Edwin Webster at the University of Memphis to develop photochromic compounds based on the a migration a transition metal between functional groups. The synthesis of organometallic compounds with functional groups located at key positions relative to the metal provides a means to investigate how a metal can migrate between the functional groups as a mechanism for color change. Studies of new organometallic photochromic complexes reveal how structural changes 1) improve the yield per photon, 2) increase rates of the color change caused by the metal migration, and 3) reduce side reactions such as recombination or solvation that interfere with the metal migration. The structural changes include functional groups, the bridge between the metal and functional group, and the bridge between functional groups. This project trains students and postdoctoral fellows important to the infrastructure of academic, government, and industrial institutions in collaborative experimental and computational research. This project increases the participation of underrepresented groups in chemistry in our Minority Undergraduate Mentoring and Immersion in Research, American Chemical Society Project SEED (Summer Research Internship Program for Economically Disadvantaged High School Students), and National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers at the University of Memphis. Faster, more stable, and more efficient photochromic organometallics are required in practical applications of photochromic materials, which have established or potential use in data storage, optical switches, microfluidic devices, photoacuators, and smart windows.