Core capability for Chemistry Research
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
The National Importance of a vibrant and successful university Chemistry research sector cannot be underestimated. The RSC's report on the Economic Benefits of Chemistry showed that the UK's upstream chemicals industry and downstream chemistry-using sectors contributed a combined total of £258 billion in added-value in 2007, equivalent to 21% of UK GDP, and supported over 6 million UK jobs. This output is underpinned by some of the world's most successful University Chemistry research, reflecting the fruits of many years of investment. On-going fundamental research is essential, not only to maintain a continuing flow of scientific and technological breakthroughs, but also to ensure that the UK maintains a highly skilled and innovative workforce; it is through these trained people that the UK will adopt and advance new ideas, successfully exploit new technologies, and develop new and better products and services. The ability to develop and exploit chemically-derived technology will fuel economic activity, and is a necessary condition for attracting inward investment to the UK. The RSC report also showed that the quality of UK chemists and the reputation for excellence of the UK's university chemical science base significantly influences companies in decisions to locate within the UK, or to retain a UK-based research presence.
Imperial College is an internationally leading centre for research, education and translation. It is the only UK higher education institution to focus exclusively on science, engineering, medicine and business. The College is renowned both for world-class fundamental research and for the translation of this research to benefit society and the economy; this combination was indeed defined as a core part of the College's mission at its foundation in 1907. Its research strengths reflect its focus on fundamental underpinning science and cover the breadth of engineering and the physical sciences. The College currently holds 270 research grants totalling over £285M that have been through the EPSRC's peer review process; these include 11 Programme Grants and 12 Platform Grants.
The equipment requested is to underpin the above activity.
Imperial College is an internationally leading centre for research, education and translation. It is the only UK higher education institution to focus exclusively on science, engineering, medicine and business. The College is renowned both for world-class fundamental research and for the translation of this research to benefit society and the economy; this combination was indeed defined as a core part of the College's mission at its foundation in 1907. Its research strengths reflect its focus on fundamental underpinning science and cover the breadth of engineering and the physical sciences. The College currently holds 270 research grants totalling over £285M that have been through the EPSRC's peer review process; these include 11 Programme Grants and 12 Platform Grants.
The equipment requested is to underpin the above activity.
Planned Impact
Please see Pathways to Impact
Organisations
Publications
Freedman KJ
(2016)
Nanopore sensing at ultra-low concentrations using single-molecule dielectrophoretic trapping.
in Nature communications
Wood S
(2015)
Natures of optical absorption transitions and excitation energy dependent photostability of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based photovoltaic copolymers
in Energy & Environmental Science
Ciepla P
(2014)
New chemical probes targeting cholesterylation of Sonic Hedgehog in human cells and zebrafish.
in Chemical science
Freedman KJ
(2014)
Nonequilibrium capture rates induce protein accumulation and enhanced adsorption to solid-state nanopores.
in ACS nano
Martínez-Ferraté O
(2016)
Novel iminopyridine derivatives: ligands for preparation of Fe(ii) and Cu(ii) dinuclear complexes.
in Dalton transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003)
Casey A
(2015)
Novel soluble thieno[3,2-b]thiophene fused porphyrazine
in RSC Advances
Bell A
(2020)
Novel Thienopyrimidine Inhibitors of Leishmania N -Myristoyltransferase with On-Target Activity in Intracellular Amastigotes
in Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Billcliff PG
(2016)
OCRL1 engages with the F-BAR protein pacsin 2 to promote biogenesis of membrane-trafficking intermediates.
in Molecular biology of the cell
Ivanov AP
(2015)
On-demand delivery of single DNA molecules using nanopipets.
in ACS nano
Wade J
(2015)
Operational electrochemical stability of thiophene-thiazole copolymers probed by resonant Raman spectroscopy.
in The Journal of chemical physics
Cachelin P
(2016)
Optical Acetone Vapor Sensors Based on Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystals and Reactive Chiral Dopants
in Advanced Optical Materials
De La Calle Arregui C
(2016)
Optimised conditions for the synthesis of (17)O and (18)O labelled cholesterol.
in Chemistry and physics of lipids
Spivey A
(2015)
Organocatalytic Phosphorylation of Alcohols Using Pyridine-N-oxide
in Synlett
Crimmin MR
(2015)
Oxidative addition of carbon-fluorine and carbon-oxygen bonds to Al(I).
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Forster M
(2015)
Oxygen deficient a-Fe2O3 photoelectrodes: a balance between enhanced electrical properties and trap-mediated losses.
in Chemical science
Shoaee S
(2015)
Oxygen diffusion dynamics in organic semiconductor films
in Journal of Materials Chemistry C
Markiewicz M
(2015)
Performance measurements and modelling of the ORR on fuel cell electrocatalysts - the modified double trap model
in Electrochimica Acta
Santolini V
(2015)
Photochemical reaction paths of cis-dienes studied with RASSCF: the changing balance between ionic and covalent excited states
in Molecular Physics
Mion G
(2015)
Phototoxic Activity and DNA Interactions of Water-Soluble Porphyrins and Their Rhenium(I) Conjugates.
in ChemMedChem
Shen Y
(2015)
Polarisation dependence of the squash mode in the extreme low frequency vibrational region of single walled carbon nanotubes
in Applied Physics Letters
Dimitrov SD
(2015)
Polaron pair mediated triplet generation in polymer/fullerene blends.
in Nature communications
Beatrup D
(2014)
Polaron stability in semiconducting polymer neat films.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
MacLachlan AJ
(2015)
Polymer/Nanocrystal Hybrid Solar Cells: Influence of Molecular Precursor Design on Film Nanomorphology, Charge Generation and Device Performance.
in Advanced functional materials
Santolini V
(2015)
Predicting solvent effects on the structure of porous organic molecules.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Karamdad K
(2015)
Preparation and mechanical characterisation of giant unilamellar vesicles by a microfluidic method.
in Lab on a chip
Brooks N
(2014)
Pressure effects on lipids and bio-membrane assemblies
in IUCrJ
Barriga HM
(2015)
Pressure-temperature phase behavior of mixtures of natural sphingomyelin and ceramide extracts.
in Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
Demetriadou A
(2015)
Principles of nanoparticle imaging using surface plasmons
in New Journal of Physics
Braddock DC
(2014)
Proof-of-principle direct double cyclisation of a linear C15-precursor to a dibrominated bicyclic medium-ring ether relevant to Laurencia species.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Elani Y
(2015)
Protein synthesis in artificial cells: using compartmentalisation for spatial organisation in vesicle bioreactors.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Moreira F
(2014)
Protein-responsive polymers for point-of-care detection of cardiac biomarker
in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical
Ang DL
(2016)
Quadruplex DNA-Stabilising Dinuclear Platinum(II) Terpyridine Complexes with Flexible Linkers.
in Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
Yeh JS
(2015)
Quantitative ultrasound molecular imaging.
in Ultrasound in medicine & biology
Burés J
(2014)
Rationalization of an unusual solvent-induced inversion of enantiomeric excess in organocatalytic selenylation of aldehydes.
in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
Palomas D
(2015)
Re-evaluating selectivity as a determining factor in peroxidative methane oxidation by multimetallic copper complexes
in Catalysis Science & Technology
Bull J
(2015)
Recent Advances in the Synthesis of 2-Substituted Oxetanes
in Synlett
Leese HS
(2016)
Reductively PEGylated carbon nanomaterials and their use to nucleate 3D protein crystals: a comparison of dimensionality.
in Chemical science
Affron DP
(2014)
Regio- and stereospecific synthesis of C-3 functionalized proline derivatives by palladium catalyzed directed C(sp3)-H arylation.
in Organic letters
Winkler M
(2015)
Renewable polycarbonates and polyesters from 1,4-cyclohexadiene
in Green Chemistry
Verrastro I
(2016)
Reversible oxidation of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) alters its interactions with signaling and regulatory proteins.
in Free radical biology & medicine
Ekkert O
(2014)
Rhodium Catalyzed, Carbon-Hydrogen Bond Directed Hydrodefluorination of Fluoroarenes
in Organometallics
Paul S
(2015)
Ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP): synthesis and properties of polyesters and polycarbonates.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Baran D
(2015)
Role of Polymer Fractionation in Energetic Losses and Charge Carrier Lifetimes of Polymer: Fullerene Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Hu Y
(2015)
Ruthenium Dyes with Azo Ligands: Light Harvesting, Excited-State Properties and Relevance to Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells
in European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry
Bakewell C
(2015)
Scandium and yttrium phosphasalen complexes as initiators for ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters.
in Inorganic chemistry
Pommella A
(2015)
Selective flow-induced vesicle rupture to sort by membrane mechanical properties.
in Scientific reports
Description | Chemistry is the study and application of the science at the molecular scale. It provides some of the most basic understandings of how the world works and underpins many modern technologies. It provides both the most mundane of objects, such as the disposable cup that holds you coffee, and the most vital compounds, such as life-saving drugs. Chemistry relies on four core instrumental techniques to study molecules; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Mass Spectrometry, X-Ray Crystallography and molecular scale Microscopy. This grant gave the Chemistry Department at Imperial College the ability to update these facilities. These have enabled research in all areas of Chemistry, for example the building of artificial cells, the production of fuels from biomass to the development of new potential pharmaceuticals and diagnostic techniques. There are too many to list. |
Exploitation Route | There are many ways in which these results can be put to use in the wider world. |
Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Energy,Environment,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology,Security and Diplomacy,Transport |
Description | Policy Briefing Document |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Author of policy briefing document: Using Carbon Dioxide |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Presentation to stakeholders |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Laura Barter was invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos to present her research investigating methods for increasing crop yields by promoting more efficient photosynthesis in the session on "Engineering Intelligent Food Systems". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Radio Interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC World Service's The Why Factor (8 February) on "Why is Water Exceptional?" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Radio Interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Andrew Ashley interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Inside Science explaining his group's recent discovery in N2 fixation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Schools activity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Salters Festival of Chemistry: Annual Salters Festival. Y7 and Y8 many schools attend with their teachers to undertake two chemistry-based challenges |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Stakeholder meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Laura Barter, Rudiger Wolcholski and Sarah Al-Beidh organised a Creativity and Ideas generation event for the Sainsbury's farming scholars which was also attended by Sainsbury's horticulture manager, academics from Imperial, Natural History Museum and other UK institutions. Followed by attending the Annual Sainsbury's Farming Conference to highlight the success of the Sainsbury's Farming Scholars Programme - a recent collaboration between Imperial College, AGRI-net and Sainsbury's. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
Description | UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum. Presentation on measuring sustainability |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Presentation and discussion on sustainability metrics |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | World Economic Forum meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Prof David Klug introduced the "Hyperconnected Healthcare" panel at the World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian and participated as a panel member. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |