Very High Intensity Single Crystal Diffractometers (VHISCD)

The School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham is a vigorous, innovative hub for internationally-recognised research. The School was ranked 2nd in the UK (between Cambridge and Oxford) by the 2008 RAE, and current grant income exceeds £20M. One of our highlighted strengths is the close interaction between synthetic chemistry and detailed structural characterisation and analysis. This proposal is aimed squarely at building on this strength and increasing its capacity and breadth.
Single crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis underpins the productivity of all our research involving synthetic chemistry. It is essential for the unambiguous characterisation of new materials, but also reveals relationships between structure, properties and function. In many cases structural data define the next generation of target materials and underpin the optimisation of their design. Over 1200 samples are submitted to the School's Crystal Structure Facility each year, but many are too difficult to study using our older instruments - these are now several technological generations behind what is currently available. We are now looking for really major upgrades to our instrumentation, by taking advantage of some exciting, recently-developed technologies including very bright laboratory X-ray sources.

The proposed new X-ray diffraction instrumentation will enable research outputs which will have major impact across academia, industry and society. In terms of Knowledge, structural information will contribute directly to major scientific advances in the research areas described in the proposal covering Grand Challenge areas of energy, sustainability, materials discovery, catalysis, healthcare, nanoscience and dial-a-molecule, and will provide a strong driver for their development, implementation and transfer to industry. The research will inform stakeholders, funding agencies and policy makers across the physical sciences, and chemistry specifically. In terms of People, incoming early-career scientists (20 PDRAs and 35 PhD students per year) will gain important high-level skills and training in structural analysis which will be vital for their research and will augment their employability within and across the UK economy. Thus, the project will train scientists to enhance the necessary skills-base of the UK in important and timely scientific areas. The Economy will benefit in the short-term via employment of newly trained early-career scientists, and in the medium-to-longer term through development of new products and processes based upon new research discoveries. In due course, new companies of direct economic benefit to Society will be launched from the scientific advances developed within the current programme. Short-term beneficiaries of the research will include academics working across engineering and physical, biological and pharmaceutical sciences where the outputs of high quality research, underpinned by the proposed instrumentation, will drive progress and guide the development of new scientific approaches, technologies and products. All the above will work to improve and enhance the quality of life in the UK and world populations though the positive impacts of this research on energy, sustainability, healthcare, nanoscience and catalysis.