Descripción del proyecto
La quiralidad axial abre la puerta a nuevos motores y conmutadores moleculares controlados a distancia
Los motores moleculares abundan en la naturaleza. Estas máquinas diminutas transforman la energía química en trabajo mecánico, e inspiran a los científicos para hacer lo mismo. Las moléculas quirales que presentan helicidad son candidatos excelentes para la aplicación de motores moleculares. La helicidad es la quiralidad de un molécula helicoidal o con forma de tornillo alrededor de su eje. Hacer girar estos átomos puede servir de base para los motores y conmutadores moleculares. Gracias al apoyo de las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, el objetivo es introducir un fragmento con quiralidad axial en una estructura alquena. Esto simplificará el control de la dirección rotacional de los motores moleculares al tiempo que reduce la barrera de la inversión de la helicidad, preparando así el terreno para una inversión de la helicidad fotoinducida controlada a distancia.
Objetivo
The project HeliCoM (Helicoid molecular devices for coupled motion) is a 24-month postdoctoral research project to be conducted within Prof. B. Feringa’s group at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Netherlands). This ambitious research aims at developing new molecular motors and switches based on an overcrowded alkene scaffold appended with an helical dibenzo[c,g]fluorene moiety. The chiral information resulting from the introduction of this axially chiral fragment will allow to control the rotational direction of molecular motors without the need of a stereogenic carbon. Oppositely by embedding such scaffold in a molecular switch design and lowering the helicity inversion barrier, we aim at inverting the helicity of the dibenzo[c,g]fluorene through a photoinduced coupled motion of both halves of the overcrowded alkene resulting in a remote control of the helicity. Achieving these goals will require to finely tune the racemization barrier of the dibenzofluorene core in order to produce the desired stimuli responsive compounds. All these objectives aim towards improving the level of function of molecular devices with a potential important scientific impact with numerous applications of the developed methodologies through transdisciplinary collaborations. Preliminary DFT modelling have been performed in order to assess the feasibility of this project and refine the design of the synthetic targets presented herein. The conduction of this project will drastically enhance the employability of the Researcher thanks to the development of new skills (scientific, technical and transversal) and give him the opportunity to perform high-impact research in a renowned group. The Researcher will be directly supervised by Prof. B. Feringa, who is the inventor of synthetic molecular motors and greatly contributed to the field of molecular switches. His experience, completed by the expertise of other members of his group will allow for the straightforward achievement of this project.
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinador
9712CP Groningen
Países Bajos