UK-US Collaboration in Nanostructured Molecular Materials
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Reading
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
The proposed research involves a three-way collaboration between the research groups of Professor Colquhoun (Chair of Materials Chemistry, University of Reading), Professor Stoddart (Director of the California Nanosystems Institute at UCLA) and Professor Goddard (Director of the Materials and Process Simulation Centre at Caltech). The three research groups will explore a wide range of opportunities for collaborative research in Nanostructured Molecular Materials, especially as applied to the processing of information at the molecular level and to polymer nanostructuring in self-healing composite materials and in proton-transport membranes for fuel cells. This programme will be achieved through a series of working exchange-visits of up to a month in duration, involving not only the three senior researchers noted above, but also academic co-workers, PDRA's and postgraduate students. In all, it is planned that twelve researchers (6 each from the UK and the US) will spend significant periods working in alternate centres as a result of the present proposal. Electronic communications (including a dedicated group intranet and web-conferencing facilities) will be used to maximise the day-to-day involvement of all researchers in the collaboration.Experimental studies (at UCLA) and computational approaches (at Caltech) will be applied to the problems outlined above, and a basis will be established for major funding applications in the near future, for example to the NSF PIRE programme which is aimed at supporting significant (up to 0.5M USD per annum) US-international research collaborations in the physical and biological sciences.The results of the programme will be outlined during a one-day Masterclass for young researchers with Prof. Stoddart and a two-day end-of-grant symposium in Reading, at which speakers will include not only participants in the collaboration but also additional invited speakers from the UK, Europe and the US (both academic and industry). The theme of the meeting is to be Nanostructured Molecular Materials: Information and Complexity , reflecting both curent and future areas for materials research.
People |
ORCID iD |
Howard Colquhoun (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Chen L
(2016)
Efficient access to conjugated 4,4'-bipyridinium oligomers using the Zincke reaction: synthesis, spectroscopic and electrochemical properties.
in Organic & biomolecular chemistry
Colquhoun HM
(2009)
A general synthesis of macrocyclic pi-electron-acceptor systems.
in Organic letters
Greenland B
(2008)
Design, synthesis and computational modelling of aromatic tweezer-molecules as models for chain-folding polymer blends
in Tetrahedron
Murray C
(2017)
Quadruple stacking of macrocyclic viologen radical-cations
in Supramolecular Chemistry
Stoddart J
(2008)
Big and little Meccano
in Tetrahedron
Zhu Z
(2012)
Oligomeric pseudorotaxanes adopting infinite-chain lattice superstructures.
in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
Zhu Z
(2010)
Sequence-selective assembly of tweezer molecules on linear templates enables frameshift-reading of sequence information.
in Nature chemistry
Zhu Z
(2013)
Synthesis and solution-state dynamics of donor-acceptor oligorotaxane foldamers
in Chemical Science
Description | The funded programme involved a three-way research collaboration, on aromatic pi-stacking chemistry, between the groups of Professor Colquhoun (Chair of Materials Chemistry, University of Reading), Professor Stoddart (Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, Illinois) and Professor Goddard (Director of the Materials and Process Simulation Centre at Caltech). The purpose of the grant was to facilitate the development of new international collaborations. One publication, describing a new type of electroactive macrocycle, emerged directly from the grant and others have resulted from subsequent collaboration with the US partners. |
Exploitation Route | This small grant provided enabling funding to help build potential collaborations between UK and US research groups. Two much larger grant proposals have since been submitted to EPSRC and NSF to develop these collaborations further, but so far without success. |
Sectors | Chemicals,Electronics,Energy |
Description | Platform Grant - Nanostructured Polymeric Materials |
Amount | £1,082,655 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/G026203/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2009 |
End | 12/2013 |
Description | Platform Grant Renewal: Nanostructured Polymers for Healthcare |
Amount | £1,185,824 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/L020599/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2014 |
End | 05/2019 |
Description | JFS_NWU |
Organisation | Northwestern University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Secondments of research student and PDRA to Northwestern University for periods of up to one month. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of training and expertise in supramolecular chemistry. |
Impact | This short, EPSRC-funded collaboration led to longer-term exchanges and appointments of research staff. |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | WAG_Caltech |
Organisation | California Institute of Technology |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Reading PhD student seconded to Caltech for several weeks to work in the Goddard group. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of training and expertise to Reading researcher in computational methods for the study of supramolecular chemistry. |
Impact | Nil. |
Start Year | 2007 |