Dissertation Trifluoromethylated
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DISSERTATION TRIFLUOROMETHYLATED FULLERENES AND POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS AND ANAEROBICALLY MILLED SILICON NANOPARTICLES Submitted by Karlee P. Castro Department of Chemistry In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Fall 2015 Doctoral Committee: Advisor: Steven. H. Strauss Melissa M. Reynolds Delphine K. Farmer Martin J. McCullagh Howard S. Ramsdell Copyright by Karlee P. Castro 2015 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT TRIFLUOROMETHYLATED FULLERENES AND POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS AND ANAEROBICALLY MILLED SILICON NANOPARTICLES Well characterized molecules and materials are essential to understand trends and predict future performance. Fundamental studies provide information about molecular properties which may be useful in other applications such as electronic devices. The focus of this dissertation is the characterization of three different classes of molecules/materials with the goal of understanding the fundamental underlying reasons for any trends observed. The first chapter of this dissertation examines the photophysical properties of C70(CF3)n (n = 8 or 10) molecules. Four of the compounds exhibited quantum yields higher than for any previously reported C70 derivative and three exceeded 0.24, the highest fluorescence quantum yield for any fullerene or fullerene derivative. A difference in the location of only one CF3 group in C70(CF3)8 and C70(CF3)10 isomers resulted in 200-fold and 14-fold increases in fluorescence quantum yields respectively. The isomer of C70(CF3)10 with the highest fluorescence quantum yield (0.68 in toluene) also exhibited the longest fluorescence lifetime (51 ns). Formation of the S1 state in one of the C70(CF3)10 isomers occurred within 0.6 ps and its nanosecond-long decay was monitored by ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations provide a physically meaningful understanding of the photophysical properties. High fluorescence quantum yields are correlated with high oscillator strengths for the S0→S1 transition, large ΔS1−T1 energy gaps, and small spatial extension of the S0→S1 excitation. The second chapter of this dissertation explores trifluoromethyl derivatives of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH(CF3)n). First, the effects of PAH size and shape on the product distribution are examined. Second, the electronic properties, including reduction potential and ii gas-phase electron affinity, are examined. Third, the influence of number and orientation of the CF3 groups on the crystalline morphologies of these compounds is explored. Finally, charge- transfer complexes made with PAH(CF3)n molecules mixed with PAHs are prepared and examined spectroscopically and crystallographically. From this work it was determined that when PAHs with 8–10 substitutable carbons are reacted with at least 10 equivalents of CF3I gas the PAH(CF3)n products had n values of 4–6 regardless of the size or shape of the PAH core. The reduction potential and gas-phase electron affinity exhibit a regular, incremental increase as a function of the number of trifluoromethyl groups. The number and position of CF3 groups influences the π-π stacking and crystalline morphologies and typically the more CF3 groups added, the lower the intermolecular overlap. Charge-transfer complexes made from mixing PAH(CF3)n and PAH form mixed stacks in the solid-state and exhibit weak association constants in solution. The third chapter of this dissertation examines the effects of oxygen and aromatic molecules on stirred media milling of silicon. Metallurgical-grade silicon was wet-milled in a stirred media mill to produce nanoparticles. Several milling fluids, additives, and milling parameters have been tested and compared between aerobic and anaerobic milling. It was determined that oxygen and aromatic molecules serve as surface passivating additives and lead to higher specific surface areas, indicating smaller particles. Particle amorphization occurs rapidly in a stirred media mill, within two hours crystallite size is on the order of 2-50 nm regardless of whether surface passivating additives are present. In all milling experiments, even in the presence of oxygen, new Si–C bonds are formed, the most Si–C bonds are formed when aromatic molecules are present during the milling process. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank my husband, Rick. You supported me from the time I declared I wanted to quit my job and go to graduate school and you’ve kept supporting me through all the ups and downs of the process. Thank you for being my design consultant. I truly appreciate all the hard work you have put in to put me through school twice now. You are the best and have done so much for me I can’t list it all. The past and present members of the Strauss-Boltalina research group have enriched my graduate school experience. Eric V. Bukovsky has been an excellent collaborator on multiple projects, diagnosed my shingles, got most of my Simpsons references, and didn’t get too upset when I rained on his parades. Long K. San always answered my random question text messages, sent out morale boosting funny e-mails, and tried to make the lab a cleaner place. Tyler T. Clikeman always has (or at least pretends to have) an excellent attitude and he’s always willing to help. Thanks to all three of you for showing me how graduate school is done. Brent M. Wyatt brought me coupon books and root beer and was there with me on the longest day of graduate school. No less important are those who helped me get through the first couple of years: Amanda M. Pluntze, Dr. Bryon W. Larson, and Dr. Igor V. Kuvychko. Thanks for the advice, the fun, and the camaraderie. Thank you to the unofficial Strauss-Boltalina group member Desirée Bukovsky for giving me a home away from home. My sincere appreciation goes to my advisors Prof. Steven H. Strauss and Dr. Olga V. Boltalina. You believe in me more than I believe in myself. Olga has been indispensible with reading drafts, ideas for experiments, general support, and so much more. Steve pushes for the best, finds new angles in my research that I have overlooked, and has boundless enthusiasm for science. Thank you for the baked goods and pizza at group meetings and group trips to Breckenridge. I appreciate that you accepted my commuting and were understanding of the resulting odd schedules. iv Excellent collaborators have made my work possible. Dr. Jeffrey J. Rack and Dr. Yuhuan Jin were excellent hosts in Ohio an instrumental in making time-resolved spectroscopic measurements. Dr. Alexey A. Popov provided theoretical calculations and spearheaded the writing of the fullerene fluorophores paper. Dr. Xue-Bin Wang and co-workers measured gas- phase electron affinities. Dr. Yu-Sheng Chen hosted the Synchrotron Charge Density School and assisted a number of my colleagues with synchrotron X-ray crystallography. Dr. Andrew J. Ferguson and Dr. Jeffrey L. Blackburn taught me how to use the instrument I used to collect singlet oxygen quantum yields and were very accommodating every time I wanted to come back and do more measurements. Dr. Stephen A. Rolfe and Dr. Andrew J. Fleming presented the idea of using fluorescent fullerenes as leaf imaging agents and their co-workers completed the proof of concept testing. My family provides much needed love and support. I don’t think I can ever adequately express my gratitude to or repay my mom for all she has done for me. Thank you to my dad for being interested in my work, helping try out ideas for science projects for elementary school students, and the AAA membership which provided peace of mind for my commutes. Thank you to my cousin, Amanda Faux, for packing up her kids and driving me to Fort Collins to see the eye doctor. Thank you to the rest of my family and Rick’s family for all the ways you have helped me through the years. I want to acknowledge my friends who have supported me for years. To all the other raging balls of angry smart kids thanks for starting my cult and continuing to support me. Thanks in particular to Heather Gannon for editing this dissertation, any mistakes are mine and were made after her deft editing. My dear friend Sara Allen has leant her ear and her pen and has inspired me. Joyce Miyagishima, thank you for being a great aisle-mate and friend (FPS). Erin Stuckert and Morgan Hawker threw me a birthday party when I really needed it, always attended my practice talks, discussed science with me, and shared my enjoyment of game nights. My committee members have been excellent teachers. Thank you for both scientific discussions and practical graduate school advice. Thank you to all of the support staff in the CSU v Department of Chemistry. You all do a million things and I’m sure I don’t even know half of what you do. Korina Brim and Karen Kahler were especially helpful at the end of a trying project and Korina provided some much needed laughs. I appreciate Dr. Johnna Bontadelli in the CSU Health Network for helping save my sight when I had shingles. I would like to acknowledge my undergraduate professors who got me interested in chemistry. Dr. Eric Ball was the best instructor I ever had and helped cement my interest in analytical and inorganic chemistry. Thanks to Dr. Niels Schonbeck for making me think, exposing me to new ideas, and encouraging my continued education. Dr. Susan Schelble helped me to become the first student at Metro to complete an honors thesis in chemistry and encouraged me to attend graduate school. Thank you to the artists who helped me get through graduate school without even knowing it. These include Cold Cave, Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, Joy Division, the team behind Orphan Black, the team behind The Simpsons, Wolf Pupy, Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, and others I’m sure I forgot.