VSC_CAT · Vibrational Strong Coupling for Organic Chemistry and Catalysis

The ability to selectively alter the energies of specific molecular vibrations has enormous consequences for chemical reactivity. Very recently, the groups of Ebbesen (physical chemistry) and Moran (organic chemistry and catalysis) showed that the rates of simple ground state reactions of organic molecules can be modified through Vibrational Strong Coupling (VSC) of a vibrational mode involved in the transition state of the reaction. However, most aspects of the application of VSC to chemical reactions are still in their infancy and many questions remain. The aim of this proposal is to explore how VSC can be used to modulate the selectivity of simple organic reactions, to understand which functional groups and reaction mechanisms are most susceptible to VSC, as well as to explore the effect of VSC on catalysts and catalytic reactions.