Assembly, disassembly, reassembly - New Routes to Extended Structures and Their Impact

New methods for the preparation of extended structures are rightly highlighted as being of great importance to the UK. The EPSRC Grand Challenge 'Directed Assembly of Extended Structures with Targeted Properties' (referred to as the DA Grand Challenge) is championed by some of the UK's leading academic scientists. Interest from pharmaceutical companies in this initiative has been excellent, particularly based on the nucleation and crystallisation targets outlined in the Grand Challenge Documentation. Impact of the Grand Challenge Network on other areas is much less evident, although it is clear that the basic premise of the Challenge fits many other sectors. In this Established Career Proposal my vision is to demonstrate, through both transformative science and personal leadership, how the central tenets of the DA Grand Challenge Idea can be translated across disciplines. In particular I will focus on two areas, increasing the impact of the network in the chemicals sector, with a special emphasis on transformative new routes to heterogeneous zeolite catalysts (which strongly fits another EPSRC priority area), and novel multifunctionality in medical delivery agents. The proposed programme is firmly rooted in the EPSRC remit but is designed to be outward looking to maximise transdisciplinary impact cutting across to other important areas of science.

The specific science proposed here focuses on nanoporous materials. Zeolites are one of the most important class of industrially applied catalysts we have. Manipulation of zeolites into hierarchical porous structures and ultra-thin layers has also risen to great prominence as a method of introducing new and beneficial features into zeolite catalysts. The journal Science rated this type of research as one of the ten most important current areas of current science, and so its importance is recognised internationally. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are some of the most exciting and fast-developing materials that have been prepared in the last decade or so. The great versatility of the chemistry of these solids leads to ultra-high porosity, extreme flexibility, post synthetic modification potential and many other interesting and conceivably useful attributes. Because of this wide ranging chemistry and function, potential applications of these solids range from gas storage, separation and delivery, catalysis, and sensing all the way to biology and medicine.

The vision for this proposal begins with the fact that I believe that the targeted design of new materials through directed assembly offers great potential for impact in several different forms and the establishment of a Grand Challenge is extremely welcome. However, while there has been clear and significant engagement with the pharmaceutical industry there is, as yet, much less take up from other sectors (see the letter of support from Professor Paul Raithby, who leads the Directed Assembly Grand Challenge). The major vision of this fellowship proposal is to increase the impact of the grand challenge in these areas. As described in the Case for Support, the route to impact is very much a three-pronged approach. By completing world-leading science; By advocating the concept of directed assembly to interested parties in the targeted industries; By inspiring a research team who will become the next generation of practitioners and advocates
The two pieces of research work presented in this proposal are of direct interest to several different types of non-academic beneficiary. The use of zeolites in the chemicals industry is a well known and extensively used technology. In the very recent past there has, however, been a significant drive all around the world improve features like accessibility to increase the effectiveness of zeolite catalysts. This type of research is likely to be of interest to larger companies. In contrast, the work described on multifunctional delivery of therapeutic agents has potential interest to a wider range of company type and size and so far enthusiastic support has been shown by SMEs and by larger companies.