PhD Studentship: Metallosupramolecular Assemblies and Metal-Organic Frameworks

Closing Date: 29 April 2024 at 23:59

Eligibility: UK Applicants only

Funding

EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership Studentship offering the award of fees, together with a tax-free maintenance grant of £19,237 per year for 3.5 years. 

Lead Supervisor’s full name and email address

Professor Michaele Hardie – m.j.hardie@leeds.ac.uk

Co-supervisor name: To be confirmed 

Project summary

Nanometre-sized polyhedral or prismatic chemical architectures can self-assemble from combinations of transition metal cations and multifunctional ligands. Likewise supramolecular materials such as coordination polymers or metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) may be formed. These assemblies are often hollow or porous and provide a confined chemical space where other molecules can be bound.

Hence many of these systems are being developed as nano-scale vessels or crystalline sponges for chemical entrapment, signalling and sensors, and even as tiny reaction vessels. We use the host molecule cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) as a scaffold as its relatively rigid pyramidal shape lends itself to the formation of cage-like or porous species, and analogues with three or six metal-binding groups can be made. These can form discrete metallo-cages, MOFs or other network materials including unique chemical topologies such as a Borromean chain-mail.

Different potential projects in this area include:

1. functional metallo-cages for applications such as molecular recognition, chemical sensors or catalysis;
2. trinuclear complexes of host ligands with luminescent or catalytic properties;
3. stimuli-responsive metallo- and organic cages which can change shape or composition with a physical or chemical trigger.

All projects include multi-step organic synthesis of ligands, synthetic coordination and supramolecular chemistry, solution characterisation of assemblies and host-guest and other properties using spectroscopic techniques, single crystal X-ray crystallography, and more.

Entry requirements

First or Upper Second Class UK Bachelor (Honours) or equivalent

Subject Area: Inorganic Chemistry, Materials Science

Keywords

Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Inorganic Co-ordination Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, Metal-Organic Frameworks, Supramolecular Chemistry

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