Welcome
Research activities in the School of Chemistry focus on synthesis, characterisation and application of functional materials: from the development of novel synthetic methods to transform small molecules, to the systematic design and development of materials beyond the molecule that create nano- and microsized assemblies for a wide-range of applications. These studies are complimented with innovative method development in the analysis and simulation of materials.
The School of Chemistry places a strong focus on cross-disciplinary research and collaboration between groups, with the aim of consistently pursuing and achieving groundbreaking discoveries across the fields of science. The School is currently collaborating with Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology, Lincoln Institute for Health, National Centre for Food Manufacturing, as well as the Schools of Pharmacy, Life Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics and Physics. In addition, the School has strong international research links.
Major instrumentation includes: modern NMR (including multinuclear and solid state probes); single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction; thermal analysis (including evolved gas analysis with MS and FT-IR); NIR/MIR/FIR spectroscopy, FT- and micro- Raman; LC-Orbitrap, LC-triplequad and GC-triplequad mass spectrometry and SEM-EDX. Specialist instrument scientists are available to assist researchers with advanced method development with this equipment. Smaller scale analytical instrumentation includes atomic emission spectroscopy, gas, liquid and ion chromatography, electrochemistry, DLS nanoparticle and zeta-potential measurement, UV-vis and CD spectroscopy, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Dedicated resources for sample preparation includes high-throughput robot systems, spray- and freeze-driers, constant temperature/humidity ovens and advanced microwave and extraction facilities for acid digestion.
Small-scale lab equipment to support synthetic chemistry includes hydrogenation, photochemical, ozonolysis and microwave synthesis systems, peptide synthesis and preparative chromatography, and glove box, Schlenk and solvent purification apparatus.