Ed Harder - McMaster University

Placement: University of Waterloo
Supervisor: Dr. Monica Barra


Photochemistry of ortho-Quinones and the study of Calixarane/Quinone Complexation in non-aqueous media

Most of the work was focused on the evaluation of absolute rate constants, for the triplet state quenching of several o-quinones by a variety of H-donors. This was done using laser flash photolysis. The three o-quinones studied are 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, 1,2-napthoquinone, and aceanthrenequinone. The H-donors included alcohols, ethers, amines and phenol. Continuing studies will be conducted in a variety of solvents of differing polarities, to try and learn more about the nature of the low lying triplet and the importance of aromatic moeity on triplet quenching.

The second project involved studying calixarane/quinone complexation in organic solvents. The calixarane used is a t-butyl substituted phenol, with six of these functional units aranged in a ring. The quinones used are 1,2-benzoquinone and 2,6-napthoquinone.

Complexation studies are usually done in aqueous solvents where a large driving force exists for hydrophobic organic molecules to enter the organic micro environment provided by the calixarane cavity. Using UV spectroscopy quantitative measurements will be made and possible driving forces for the complexation in different organic solvents studied.


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