Investigating Non-Covalent Interactions via Synthetic Molecular Devices

How would our world change if we could sharpen our knowledge on the atomic scale? Molecular machines and devices, a research area recognized in the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, holds great promise in advancing our understanding and harness of molecular processes. Imagine the improvements in medicine, technology, engineering and other branches of science that could come about with breakthroughs on the molecular level. Aromatic Interactions (AI’s) are one of the most important non-covalent interactions, and they are ubiquitous in many applications in chemistry, biology, and material science. However, AI’s are among the most difficult non-covalent interactions to study due to their weak interaction energies and complex solvent natures. Experimental studies of AI’s via molecular machines not only provide first-hand practical knowledge on these important non-covalent interactions but also provide valuable experimental data for benchmarking future calculations. This project focuses on two types of molecular devices: balances and rotors. Molecular Balances and rotors can help accurately analyze molecular interactions in both ground state and transition state as well as catalysis, which in turn will help us better understand numerous thermodynamic and kinetic processes at the molecular level