Serdar Yalvac

Catalysts are compounds that accelerate chemical reactions without being consumed. They can increase product selectivity and enhance sustainability by reducing energy usage. Thus, more efficient results in shorter periods of time can be achieved. Organocatalysts are metal free catalysts that contain organic functional groups. They typically take place in hydrogen-bonding interactions, which alter their structures, and therefore their electrophilic activities. Thus, the reactivities of these catalysts can be measured by monitoring their responses in hydrogen-donating reactions. A synthesized colorimetric sensor had distinct responses to charged organocatalysts with different structures. The catalysts’ sensitivities to the sensor were explored with a UV-vis spectrometer through titration. The effect of increased catalyst concentration on the change in peak wavelength values and corresponding absorbance values were reflected on UV spectrums, specifying which species are more reactive, and therefore more efficient. However, very small amounts (microscale) were used for initial measurements, and an alternate measurement method was needed to increase the reliability of results. Using new equipment to tackle specific issues, a novel methodology with significantly less error was developed. A large amount of data was obtained afterwards. Different trends of wavelength vs concentration were observed. This relates to the acidities of the reaction sites, which lead to more complicated results that could be explained by specific band gap energies. More samples were analyzed to have a better idea on this phenomenon, and how binding constants and reactivities are correlated to different structures and their bonding sites.