Navjot Chahal - University of Alberta

Placement: University of Waterloo
Supervisor: Dr. Monica Barra

Substituent effects on the mechanism of cis to trans isomerization of triazenes

Triazenes, compounds containing a diazoamino group have important industrial and medical applications. They are used as dyestuffs, clinical anticancer agents and in rubber technology. It is known that aromatic triazenes undergo cis-trans isomerization around the nitrogen-nitrogen double bond, therefore they are of potential use as molecular switches and information storing media. The thermal cis to trans isomerization of laser photolysis formed cis-1,3-diphenyltriazene taking place in aqueous solution is known to depend on pH, buffer concentration and buffer species. Our objective is to study the influence of substituents on the mechanism of thermal cis to trans isomerization. This project involves synthesis of the substrates, studying their stability (using UV-visible absorption spectroscopy) and isomerization mechanism (by means of laser-flash photolysis techniques).