Prof M Ward
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Self-assembled coordination cages are hollow metal/ligand assemblies that can bind small molecules as ‘guests’ inside the central cavity. Guest binding can have a range of consequences, such as (i) catalytic activity of bound guests which undergo reactions in the cavity much faster than they do in solution; and (ii) to changes in photophysical properties which can be used as the basis of sensors with a high degree of shape and size specificity.
This highly interdisciplinary project will involve exploratory synthetic chemistry of new members of the cage family, characterisation using a range of methods such as NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography, and studies on the properties of the cages and their host/guest assemblies. As such it will draw on techniques from organic and inorganic synthesis, many different analytical methods, and physical chemistry techniques (photophysics, kinetic studies) to characterise the properties of the metal complex assemblies. For recent examples and background see:
‘Catalysis in a coordination cage using a cavity-bound guest and surface-bound anions: inhibition, activation and autocatalysis’. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 2821.
‘Photoinduced energy- and electron-transfer from a photoactive coordination cage to bound guests’. Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 408
‘Binding of chemical warfare agent simulants as guests in a coordination cage: contributions to binding and a fluorescence-based response’. Chem. Commun., 2016, 52, 6225.
Funding Notes
This studentship is open to UK/EU nationals. Applicants should have an honours degree (at least II.1 or equivalent) in chemistry, or other relevant discipline.
Details on the formal application procedure can be found at http://www.go.warwick.ac.uk/pgapply