Michael Best

UTK chemistry

Did you know that nice crystals have nice properties?

Nice, that is, because they have stable and highly ordered structures; and they tend to offer beneficial properties for vital applications.

In order to develop new materials that exploit these desirable properties, scientists must be able to predict and control structure at the molecular level. Doing so is tough. Fortunately, JDRD scientist Michael Best’s team excels at employing the very challenging tools and methods of synthetic organic chemistry required to create such materials.

These researchers are pursuing a novel strategy to control the assembly of robust architectures in high quality crystal engineering using a technique called dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC). This approach retains the advantages of reversible self-assembly of materials, including adaptability and self healing, but generates materials with increased stability.

Best’s initial step in designing appropriate molecular building blocks enlists the computer-aided design methods developed by LDRD team leader Benjamin Hay. Hay’s computational methods identify building blocks that will self-assemble into predictable shapes.

JDRD Project: Synthesis and assembly of geometrically defined building blocks for dynamic covalent synthesis of robust higher order organic frameworks;
LDRD Project: Controlled hierarchical self-assembly of robust organic architectures, Benjamin Hay and Radu Custelcean.

Following that, the chemists in Best’s lab propose a method for synthesis. They then create the material and study their results to see if it satisfies the criteria for a robust, ordered crystalline framework. Working in parallel, the two teams are able to experiment with different approaches to maximize the scope of the new building blocks and the subsequent assemblies that will be generated from them.

Because the synthetic phase involves a great deal of work, both in modeling and in combinatorial trials, the skilled organic synthetic chemists assisting in this project—graduate research assistants Chi-Linh Do-Thanh, Meng Rowland, Heidi Bostic and Matt Smith—are crucial for a successful and rapid outcome.