CPOS Seminar: "Molecular rotors for Experimental Quantifications of Non-covalent Interactions and Energy Storage"
Speaker: Binzhou Lin, PhD - Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Han Group, UC Santa Barbara
Non-covalent interactions (NCIs) play critical roles across many fields, including organocatalysis, ligand binding, and the design of assembled materials. Although NCIs are known to influence reaction rates and kinetic processes in these systems, their direct effects on kinetics remain relatively understudied. My PhD research has focused on (I) the design of molecular rotors to probe and quantify the kinetic effects of NCIs. Over 150 molecular rotors were synthesized and characterized, and NCIs were investigated using dynamic NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations. Building on the successful quantification of NCIs, we further developed (II) molecular rotors to test mechanistic hypotheses and (III) a series of proton-driven molecular motions.
Three representative projects will be elaborated: 1) experimental quantification of kinetic effects of nitrogen pnictogen bond interactions; 2) molecular rotors for testing the secondary electrostatic interactions in benzylic and allylic electrophiles in SN2 reactions; 3) the use of electrostatic interactions to control molecular motions in transition states. Additionally, I will briefly discuss our newly developed proton-driven molecular motions for energy storage. I will conclude with my current project, which employs molecular photoswitches to achieve high quantum yields and red shift for molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage.
