Undergraduate research provides opportunities for students to learn new laboratory techniques and develop a deeper understanding of chemical concepts. Porphyrin chemistry furnishes a superior research platform as it bridges many diverse areas such as organic, inorganic, physical, biological, and medicinal chemistry, as well as geochemistry and material science. Currently, we are pursuing the synthesis of carbaporphyrinoid systems where the one or more of the usual pyrrole units within a porphyrin macrocycle have been replaced by carbocyclic rings (Lash, T. D. Chem. Rev.2017, 117, 2313-2446). Porphyrin analogues possessing cyclopentadiene, benzene, azulene, indene, cycloheptatriene and related subunits have been prepared and these novel structures have been shown to exhibit unusual reactivity and the ability to generate organometallic derivatives under mild conditions. These brightly colored compounds have varying degrees of aromatic character that can be probed by NMR spectroscopy. Undergraduate students have made many important contributions to this work and generally spend two or more years working on their research projects. Students that persevere with these projects can coauthor papers in international journals, but more importantly they gain perspectives from interactions with the other members of the research group and their research mentor that gives clarity to their future academic and career goals.

Colorful adventures in undergraduate research: Synthesis of novel carbaporphyrinoid systems

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.