Studies of the Structure and Reactivity of Oxygen-Free Carbon Surfaces.

The experiments described here are directed at identifying the relevant surface functions on carbon for a variety of reactions. This work includes both studies of carbon samples and of model molecular compounds. In the course of this work a new class of surface reactions unsaturated additions has been discovered. These provide a direct and possibly unique route to a host of different chemically modified carbon surfaces whose properties we are just beginning to explore. Progress has also been made in the study of model systems. In particular, the successful generation of a long-lived aryne bound to a polymer support promises to be an important method for the study of reactive intermediates related to the surface functions on pure carbon. It also represents the first unequivocal evidence for the pseudo-dilution effect. Author