TITLE:

ELECTROCHEMICALLY-CONTROLLED HYDROGEN BONDING

DATE:

Friday, October 24th, 2008

TIME:

3:30 PM

LOCATION:

GMCS 214

SPEAKER:

Diane Smith, Associate Professor
Analytical Chemistry, San Diego State University

ABSTRACT:

Chemists today are truly masters of molecules – with increasing ease we connect together atoms to form an infinite variety of molecules from the very simple to the extremely complex. However, beyond the realm of the single molecule our mastery rapidly diminishes. Biological systems contain many extremely complex molecules, but not one of these by itself makes the complex functions required for life possible. What makes these possible are the interactions between molecules, and this is something that chemists are only beginning to learn how to control. The goal is to be able to create well-defined assemblies of molecules in which the components interact in concert to achieve more complex functions than would be possible with single molecules. Mastery of this area, often called “supramolecular” chemistry, is one of the major objectives of chemistry in the 21st century, and will be required to help solve the many technological and environmental challenges that lay ahead.

This talk will highlight the contributions my students and I at SDSU have made to this important area of research. In particular we have focused on developing simple molecular systems in which electron transfer strongly perturbs the strength of hydrogen bonds between organic molecules. This is significant because most future applications will require some method to communicate with the supramolecular system, and electron transfer provides a means to do so that is both well understood and particularly amenable to interface with current electronic devices.

HOST:

Andy Cooksy

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