Core equipment for Sheffield Chemistry
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Progress in Chemical sciences relies on high-quality instrumentation for characterisation of new molecules and materials (what are they?) and measurement of their properties (what do they do?). The chemistry department in Sheffield has an ageing suite of instruments across the four areas of NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography and atomic-level microscopy; these are now old / unreliable and their performance when working is far behind the current state of the art.
In the 2008 REF exercise the department was ranked 9= in the UK, with 70% of research outputs assessed being graded 'internationally leading' or 'internationally significant'. The new facilities will allow the department both to (i) maintain existing capability - without which we cannot function - as well as (ii) to provide new capability to support established strengths as well as new activities. The new suite of instruments that this grant will provide will underpin an extensive range of projects across all areas of synthetic, catalytic, supramolecular, materials, biological and medicinal chemistry that are in turn supported by a wide variety of RCUK and industrial grants. The investment will provide the knowledge generation and highly trained individuals required by UK industry as well as supporting the cutting-edge fundamental investigations required to keep UK chemistry at the forefront of world research.
The department's research portfolio that will benefit includes both fundamental and applied science and includes many areas that have been identified as of major societal important and strategic importance. These include key areas such as healthcare (from new medicines to materials for tissue engineering), energy (polymeric materials and light-harvesting complexes for photovoltaic cells), catalysis (homogeneous, heterogeneous, supramolecular and biological), all of which is underpinned by design / synthesis / development of new compounds and materials. Every aspect of the department's research will benefit in some way from the new facilities.
In the 2008 REF exercise the department was ranked 9= in the UK, with 70% of research outputs assessed being graded 'internationally leading' or 'internationally significant'. The new facilities will allow the department both to (i) maintain existing capability - without which we cannot function - as well as (ii) to provide new capability to support established strengths as well as new activities. The new suite of instruments that this grant will provide will underpin an extensive range of projects across all areas of synthetic, catalytic, supramolecular, materials, biological and medicinal chemistry that are in turn supported by a wide variety of RCUK and industrial grants. The investment will provide the knowledge generation and highly trained individuals required by UK industry as well as supporting the cutting-edge fundamental investigations required to keep UK chemistry at the forefront of world research.
The department's research portfolio that will benefit includes both fundamental and applied science and includes many areas that have been identified as of major societal important and strategic importance. These include key areas such as healthcare (from new medicines to materials for tissue engineering), energy (polymeric materials and light-harvesting complexes for photovoltaic cells), catalysis (homogeneous, heterogeneous, supramolecular and biological), all of which is underpinned by design / synthesis / development of new compounds and materials. Every aspect of the department's research will benefit in some way from the new facilities.
Planned Impact
The wide range of research facilitated by the new equipment will lead to correspondingly extensive impact, beyond providing new science and benefiting the academic community. There will be many important economic and societal impacts which have the potential to improve many aspects of our lives.
Economic
Economic impacts will arise in the medium and long terms. Medium-term benefits will be mostly from the more 'applied' research projects, already linked to spin-out companies or industrial sponsors. Key examples are in areas such as catalysis, applications of new materials, and new synthesis that is linked to drug development. Improvements in areas such as healthcare and energy generation will have long term economic benefits for everyone. Many of the research projects in these areas in this department are at the blue-skies / fundamental end of the range and their impact will take time to develop, but with huge potential benefits.
Societal
Societal benefit follows economic benefit. In the long term society as a whole will have higher quality of life associated with technological improvements in all aspects of everyday life that rely on chemistry from telecommunications to healthcare.
Knowledge
'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' (D. Bok). The knowledge development arising from these new facilities will initially benefit academia, but as impacts and exploitations emerge this knowledge will become integrated into the areas of commerce, education and indeed everyday living. We will continue to ensure maximum benefit from the new knowledge arising from our research via engagement with schools outreach and public understanding events. An important goal is to raise awareness of the importance of chemistry in solving societally important issues from energy generation to healthcare, and our programme of public lectures, schools events, Science week workshops will emphasise this. Key beneficiaries: the public from improved understanding of issues surrounding applications of chemistry-based research.
People
A major impact from the improved infrastructure in the department will be substantially improved training and development of early-career researchers. Given the importance of chemical sciences in everyday life, a trained pool of experts in cutting-edge analytical methods will help to maintain the UK's competitive position in this field, ensuring the sustainability of our chemistry-oriented science and industry base for many years. Key beneficiaries will therefore be the researchers themselves as well as UK research / industry in the future. The outstanding new facilities will provide skills for PhD students and postdocs which will enhance their employment prospects for many years to come.
Economic
Economic impacts will arise in the medium and long terms. Medium-term benefits will be mostly from the more 'applied' research projects, already linked to spin-out companies or industrial sponsors. Key examples are in areas such as catalysis, applications of new materials, and new synthesis that is linked to drug development. Improvements in areas such as healthcare and energy generation will have long term economic benefits for everyone. Many of the research projects in these areas in this department are at the blue-skies / fundamental end of the range and their impact will take time to develop, but with huge potential benefits.
Societal
Societal benefit follows economic benefit. In the long term society as a whole will have higher quality of life associated with technological improvements in all aspects of everyday life that rely on chemistry from telecommunications to healthcare.
Knowledge
'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' (D. Bok). The knowledge development arising from these new facilities will initially benefit academia, but as impacts and exploitations emerge this knowledge will become integrated into the areas of commerce, education and indeed everyday living. We will continue to ensure maximum benefit from the new knowledge arising from our research via engagement with schools outreach and public understanding events. An important goal is to raise awareness of the importance of chemistry in solving societally important issues from energy generation to healthcare, and our programme of public lectures, schools events, Science week workshops will emphasise this. Key beneficiaries: the public from improved understanding of issues surrounding applications of chemistry-based research.
People
A major impact from the improved infrastructure in the department will be substantially improved training and development of early-career researchers. Given the importance of chemical sciences in everyday life, a trained pool of experts in cutting-edge analytical methods will help to maintain the UK's competitive position in this field, ensuring the sustainability of our chemistry-oriented science and industry base for many years. Key beneficiaries will therefore be the researchers themselves as well as UK research / industry in the future. The outstanding new facilities will provide skills for PhD students and postdocs which will enhance their employment prospects for many years to come.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Mike Ward (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Churchill-Angus A
(2021)
Characterisation of a tripartite a-pore forming toxin from Serratia marcescens
in Scientific Reports
Churchill-Angus AM
(2020)
The A component (SmhA) of a tripartite pore-forming toxin from Serratia marcescens: expression, purification and crystallographic analysis.
in Acta crystallographica. Section F, Structural biology communications
Metherell AJ
(2014)
Stepwise synthesis of a Ru4Cd4 coordination cage using inert and labile subcomponents: introduction of redox activity at specific sites.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Metherell AJ
(2016)
Imposing control on self-assembly: rational design and synthesis of a mixed-metal, mixed-ligand coordination cage containing four types of component.
in Chemical science
Piper JR
(2016)
Photoinduced energy- and electron-transfer from a photoactive coordination cage to bound guests.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Salih N
(2016)
Synthesis of ?-Oxo Amino Acids and trans-5-Substituted Proline Derivatives Using Cross-Metathesis of Unsaturated Amino Acids.
in The Journal of organic chemistry
Taylor CG
(2016)
Binding of chemical warfare agent simulants as guests in a coordination cage: contributions to binding and a fluorescence-based response.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Wilson JS
(2019)
Identification and structural analysis of the tripartite a-pore forming toxin of Aeromonas hydrophila.
in Nature communications
Wragg AB
(2015)
Stepwise assembly of mixed-metal coordination cages containing both kinetically inert and kinetically labile metal ions: introduction of metal-centred redox and photophysical activity at specific sites.
in Dalton transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003)
| Description | This grant was to upgrade a large collection of analytical instruments used for a wide range of research in the chemistry department: NMR spectrometers, mass spectrometers, X-ray diffractometers and an atomic force microscope. These are used in one way or another by most of the research academics and the facilites have made small contributions to a huge range of projects. As such a list of specific discoveries is not realistic to assemble. |
| Exploitation Route | see comments above. For an equipment grant of this nature providing widely-used open-access facilities the findings are too numerous to analyse in detail. |
| Sectors | Chemicals,Environment,Healthcare,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |