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February 2012 Issue 2
The newsletter of the University of Sussex
Chemistry Department
Returning Home
News in brief...
From Undergraduate to Reader in Organic Chemistry
Climate Change Symposium
Dr John Spencer graduated in Chemistry with French from
Sussex in 1990. In the course of an international career, he
spent ten years in the pharmaceutical sector culminating in
five years at the James Black Foundation. There he ran the
parallel synthesis section designing GPCR receptor
antagonists as anticancer agents. He has a long history in
palladacycle chemistry, Suzuki couplings and the combination
of these with microwave and parallel synthesis to make
libraries of novel compounds. He describes his move back to
Sussex as “returning home” and adds,
“Sussex has always been associated with excellence in organometallic chemistry
and we intend to maintain this by developing metathesis, cross-coupling and C-H
activation chemistry in the synthesis of elaborated, medicinally relevant molecules
such as heterocycles, biphenyls and stilbenes."
A Chemistry
Spectacular!
Picture from the CPD
event for FE teachers
held at Sussex on
February 29.
Photograph by Chris
Gallop, Sussex
MChem and current
DPhil student in the
lab of Dr Eddy Viseux.
Chemistry Teachers’ Symposium
University of Sussex, Friday 22 June 2012
Nobel Prize winner Prof Sir Harry Kroto FRS is the keynote speaker at this
Chemistry Symposium aimed at KS4 and KS5 Chemistry teachers and Heads of
Science. This is an opportunity to hear about some of the cutting-edge chemical
research carried out at Sussex that is aimed at major global challenges, and to gain
insights into how modern analytical techniques are used to determine molecular
structures. For more information and to register, visit our website
www.sussex.ac.uk/chemistry.
The Sussex Chemistry Society
Frank Longford, Treasurer, talks about their aims
The Sussex Chemistry society, C60, is a student-run organisation
that is involved in a wide range of activities and provides many
opportunities for Sussex students to further their interest in
Chemistry.
The social side aims to get as many chemists together (undergrads, postgrads and
even members of faculty) by organising regular socials and activities e.g. paintballing and go-karting, plus an end of year ball and annual trip abroad. The society
also provides students with plenty of opportunities to explore various aspects of
Chemistry through guest lectures, RSC visiting days and teaching in local schools
through its Outreach program.
Find out more at http://groupspaces.com/c60chemsoc
The first University of Sussex Climate
Change Symposium took place on
Wednesday
1
February
2012.
Professor
Malcolm
Heggie
represented Chemistry and spoke of
the research in our Department into
low carbon technologies.
Central to this is Professor Geoff
Cloke's
research
into
creating
chemical
feedstocks
from
environmentally damaging gases like
CO and CO2 - for instance by
polymerising these molecules with
uranium chemistry or reacting CO with
H2O to make methanol (See Jess’s
Journey, page 2). Further work from Dr
John Turner and Dr Qiao Chen into
use of TiO2 nanomaterials for energy
and Professor Heggie’s own research
into materials for UK nuclear power
was also described.
Chemistry in Conservation
Sussex Chemist Professor Norman
Billingham recently became one of a
select group of twelve distinguished
members of the UK National
Consultation
Panel
for
Cultural
Heritage and Global Change. Their
role is to identify research areas,
activities, and needs for the UK as part
of an EU-wide development of a
Strategic Research Agenda for future
EU research in heritage conservation.
Professor Billingham, who is a polymer
chemist, also teaches and is an expert
adviser on materials science at West
Dean College.
.
Hot off the press
The
open-chain
triphosphanes
RMe2SiCH2P(PR’2)2 (R = Me, Ph; R’ =
SiMe3, Cy, Ph). Charlotte E. Averre,
Martyn P. Coles, Ian R. Crossley, and
Iain J. Day, Dalton Trans. 41 (2012)
278-284.
This paper from the Crossley lab
describes the synthesis and study of a
range of highly reactive phosphorus
compounds, with potential use as
ligands for catalysis. It also uses
detailed
quantum
mechanical
descriptions of the phosphorus nuclei
to explain for the first time the unusual
phosphorus NMR spectra exhibited by
molecules of this type. See page 2 for
further details.
2 Sussex Chemistry News
Molecules and Magnets
Jess’s Journey
News from the NMR Lab by Dr Iain Day
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy is an
extremely powerful technique that we use to probe the
structure and properties of the molecules that we make.
Over the coming months, we shall highlight some of the
projects and molecules that come to the NMR Facility to
illustrate the diversity of the systems we investigate.
...so far
When I began my undergraduate
degree in Chemistry at Sussex I
didn’t think that I would be staying
on to do an MChem, let alone a
DPhil. I was well and truly bitten
by the chemistry bug! I’m
currently a year and a half into my
DPhil, working in the lab of
Professor Geoff Cloke FRS. I
chose to stay at Sussex because
of the enthusiastic and friendly
department, beautiful campus
location
and
interesting,
challenging research fields.
The NMR Facility at Sussex has three state-of-the-art
spectrometers, two of which are in regular use by MChem
and DPhil students. The third instrument is used for NMR
research and for more challenging experiments.
Recently we collaborated with Dr Ian Crossley’s research
group to investigate the unusual appearance of the
phosphorus-31 NMR spectra in a series of new molecules.
Dr Crossley’s group develop novel ligand systems and
organometallic molecules in research focused towards
applications in molecular wires and hydrogen activation
catalysts. In the course of this work, Ian and his MChem
project student Charlotte made a series of very reactive
triphosphanes that gave unusual NMR spectra. Using a
quantum mechanical description of the nuclear spins we
were able to simulate the spectra and explain these
observations. This work has recently been published in the
latest issue of Dalton Transanctions (see page 1 Hot off
the press).
Charlotte, Sussex MChem
graduate and co-author of
the paper above, says,
“My degree encouraged
me to develop my time
management, organisation
and problem solving skills. I
really
enjoyed
the
opportunity to take part in
research work in my
Masters year.” Charlotte
now teaches science at a
secondary school.
My DPhil research centres on a study of organometallic
uranium chemistry. The nature of the uranium-carbon bond is
fascinating as it is weak enough to be displaced by oxygen
molecules. If we can design a molecule with the right
properties to stabilise such a highly reactive bond, it may
then be exposed to unwanted ‘waste’ gases such as CO or
CO2, which will insert into the U-C bond and thereby undergo
change in their structure and bonding. Working with these
highly air-sensitive and reactive compounds has its
challenges, but I enjoy discovering what unexpected things
go on in my reactions and synthesising brand new
complexes that have never been made before. It’s amazing
the joy you can get out of creating something that’s purple in
colour when you usually just make brown powders – the
perks of being a chemist!
Did you know?
Blink and you’ll miss ‘em
Keep your eyes peeled for Quantum Dots,
a shining example of nanotechnology now
used in a diverse range of applications and
new devices.
Chemistry
Sudoku
Solution
For last month’s puzzle
These highly fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals of CdSe can be tuned to
emit across the visible spectrum, simply by size between 2 and 5 nm. Their sheer
brightness compared to organic dyes and phosphors, their purity in colour and
resistance to bleaching are promising low-cost, low-energy, long-life LED lighting
and display technology! Despite these great advantages the Quantum Dot has
some blinking issues, that is the light from a single dot can switch on and off at
random. Turn off this blinking and you have a brighter ensemble of dots or even
more intriguingly, actively control the blinking and you have an optical switch for
memory and computing. In the Laser Lab at Sussex Chemistry, we are
investigating the origin and control of this phenomenon for the rational design of
better, brighter and more versatile QDs. www.sussex.ac.uk/lifesci/osbornelab/
Sussex Chemistry News is monthly during term time, produced by the Chemistry Office with contributions from Chemistry students and faculty, and edited by Dr H
Cox, email [email protected]. The next issue will be out in March 2012; if you prefer to receive an electronic copy please contact us on 01273 678125 or email
[email protected], or download at www.sussex.ac.uk/chemistry