Physical Chemistry Seminar – Prof. KW Hipps

About the event

Speaker: Prof. KW Hipps, Regents Professor, Chemistry & Materials Science and Engineering, WSU

Title: Some observations on the role of solvent in the self-assembly

Abstract: Solvent-tecton interactions have been well explored in cases where the solvent has a specific mode of interacting with the tecton (e.g.; H bonding). Less well explored is the role of “innocent” solvents — those with no mode of interaction with tectons other than the weak H-halogen and ubiquitous van der Waals forces. However, even for these innocent solvents, the solvent-substrate interactions play a significant role in the kinetics of formation, and even their incorporation, into self-assembled structures. In this talk I will present examples of the role of common “innocent” solvents (often used in scanning tunneling microscopy studies of self-assembly) in controlling the rate of formation and the stability of self-assembled non-covalent structures.