Research Seminar Abstract

Advancements in material science have shown improvements in fields such as microfabrication, dye-sensitized solar cells, hydrogels, and drug delivery systems. As these advances are being made the underpinning physical properties that drive the self-assembly mechanisms of these systems are not well understood. To try and understand these self-assembly processes, two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy can be used. 2D IR is a powerful experimental technique that can be used to elucidate the structure and mechanisms of a variety of complex molecular systems. 2D IR’s ultrafast time resolution provides femtosecond to picosecond time resolution of the chemical dynamics of molecular systems as well as reporting on the structure of molecular aggregates. This talk will focus on 2D IR’s application in understanding the self-assemble properties of large aromatic compounds such as violanthrone-79, as well as phenylalanine based dipeptides.