Utilising the Coordination chemistry tool-box to tackle issues ranging from Catalysis to Cancer

We are bringing together internationally recognised laboratories to collaborate on projects which will advance UK global scientific interactions with key partners, China and Japan. The broad areas of science in which the laboratories will engage are polymerization catalysis, energy and cancer chemistry. The UK partner has a high profile in coordination chemistry, and the partnerships with the groups in the Far East will enable access to state-of-the-art facilities which are not readily available in the UK.
The partnerships will
i) design new catalysts capable of forming plastic materials with new properties. With a view to the current landfill problems, we will also focus on the formation of biodegradable polymers.
ii) probe how the molecular structure of metal organic frameworks (compounds adopting grid-like 3D structures) influence the storage capacity for gases such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
iii) design new catalysts for spliting water or conducting cataysis in confined spaces; such systems will use abundant metals rather than precious metals.
iv) investigate metal-based compounds with a view to identifying new anti-cancer agents.
Much of the synthetic work will be guided by molecular modelling conducted in Japan.

The programme will be impacted directly by deepening collaboration between the PI and the Far East Participants. Seminars/workshops involving the PI will prove to be useful recruitment tools, whereby overseas researchers bring their fellowships/scholarships to the UK. Furthermore, UK researchers may also wish to take up fellowships in China/Japan, and the PI will be ideally placed to broker such 'deals'. The exchange of researchers between the UK and the Far East will offer new cultural experiences for those involved, leading to better cross-cultural understanding and a positive impact on UK/China/Japan relations.
Each research theme will have impact: For the water splitting and gas storage projects, i) the synthesis of synthetic complexes based on abundant materials capable of electrocatalysis/H2 generation will be a major step forward, and will offer exciting new and/or improved prospects for useful fuel materials. ii) The safe and convenient storage of hydrogen is fundamental to a hydrogen economy. The strategic implications of research on alternative hydrogen storage materials have been realized by a number of countries and the USA in-particular have set a number of short-term goals to minimize weight and volume for on-board storage. The successful development of such fuel cell powered vehicles would result in significant reductions in CO2 emissions, and perhaps more importantly will help solve the impending worldwide fuel crisis facing mankind later this century.
For the polymerization catalysis projects: Our catalytic studies are mainly aimed at providing new, low-cost routes to useful plastic materials as well as other sides produces such as waxes. Furthermore, the availability of new biodegradable polymers with desirable properties would impact on everyday life. This is topical given the current issues with landfill sites, which are an increasingly worrying issue both in the UK and the Far East.
The metal-based anti-Cancer work involves development of therapeutic pharmaceuticals that ensure a localised effect is targeted to a specific organ or indeed cell type. For the patient, this can give reduced side effects and fewer visits for treatment, adding to the quality of their life.
Industries in both the UK and Far East will also benefit from new highly skilled personnel trained via these multidisciplinary projects.
Academics: The planned projects will benefit the Hull, Chinese and Japanese research groups, and the international chemistry community in general through dissemination of the results. Impact of research results will be maximized via peer-reviewed in leading international journals (eg Angew Chemie, JACS, Chem Commun., Organometallics) and ii) presented at national (RSC) and international conferences (ACS). This will be supplemented by editorials, focus articles and, if appropriate, through the general media.
Exploitation and application
Hull has in place arrangements with the Far East partners for the exploitation of research, and any formal agreement to exploit for profit the results generated in this project would be negotiated through that office; the PI has experience with patenting/commercialisation of research results.