Chemistry: Studying the Conformation of Organic Molecules to Analyze its Effect on Reactivity

Faculty Advisor: Clinical Assistant Professor, New York University

Research Program Introduction

Have you ever wondered why some molecules react instantly while others stay completely unbothered—despite being made of similar atoms? The answer often lies in something invisible to the naked eye: a molecule’s conformation, or its three-dimensional shape. This shape plays a crucial role in determining how a molecule interacts with others and ultimately how reactive it is.

Conformation can prevent reactions or molecular interactions from occurring due to repulsive steric interactions, often due to its large size, or encourage interactions due to favorable intermolecular interactions. 

Intermolecular interactions that we aim to analyze are hydrogen bonding, charges in functional groups resulting from dipoles or reactions, and pi-stacking. These interactions can change depending on the shape of the molecule, and can also change the shape of the molecule to encourage favorable interactions and prevent repulsive ones. 

Once we understand how these interactions affect a molecule's conformation, we will apply our findings to understand how conformation will affect reactivity. 

Our analyses will be based on current studies available through literature searches and using computational tools such as Chem3D, Spartan, or Gaussian. Specific reaction types will vary depending on the molecules and interactions studied, which will be selected based on the students' interests.

Final Deliverables

A 6-8 page research paper is an expected outcome from this program. Students may also be able to develop a poster or oral presentation, depending on their progress and individual development of the project.

Possible Topics for Final Project:

• How does incorporating different functional groups into cyclic molecules of varying sizes affect its conformation? 

• To what extent, and with what limitations, can acyclic molecules mimic three-dimensional conformations presented by cyclic molecules by utilizing intermolecular interactions?

• How do different chemical environments affect the relative energies and stabilities (or relative equilibriums) between different conformations of cyclic molecules. How does a molecule transition between these different conformations? 

• How do different chemical environments or reaction conditions affect the relative energies and stabilities (or relative equilibriums) between different conformations adapted by acyclic molecules.

• How do the conformations of molecules, both cyclic and/or acyclic, affect Reactivity and Selectivity of reaction?

• Or other topics in this subject area that you are interested in, and that your professor approves after discussing it with you.

Program Details

• Cohort size: 3 to 6 students

• Workload: Around 4 to 5 hours per week (including class and homework time)

• Target students: 9 to 12th graders interested in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering, Computational Science, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, or other related areas.

• Schedule: TBD. Meetings will take place for around one hour per week, with a weekly meeting day and time to be determined a few weeks before the start date.