We are very excited to share our latest research project involving topochemistry and terahertz spectroscopy, shedding light onto the mechanistic nature of bond formation in organic crystals. Led by our senior PhD student, Will, and brand new group member, Alonso, this work provides fundamental insight into click reactivity in the solid-state.
Topochemical azide-alkyne cycloadditions (TAAC) have been established as a solvent-free and highly selective method to obtain polymeric products. However, the driving force behind these chemical transformations has not been well understood, until now.
In this collaborative project, we investigate the vibrational modes driving reaction pathways in topochemical reactions of organic crystals by means of low frequency (terahertz) spectroscopy and ss-DFT calculations.
Our low-frequency spectroscopy results show that the azide and alkyne reactive groups in the monomeric units undergo a thermally induced two-step mechanism involving large-amplitude motions to form the polymeric chains in the crystal.
Take a look at the latest pre-print on ChemRxiv: Stoll et. al., which is now undergoing peer-review.
We would also like to give a big thank you to our collaborators in the Partridge group at the University of Rochester!
Research is always awesome but team work takes you far beyond!
