08 Aug 08

Chemistry at Oxford has been boosted by a £6 million grant for research into the mechanisms underlying chemical reactions and, separately, the award of a fellowship worth nearly £1 million.

A scientific team from Oxford’s Department of Chemistry and the University of Bristol has recently been awarded a five-year research grant worth almost £6 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Understanding even the simplest chemical reactions is a considerable challenge because of the way that atoms and molecules move and form chemical bonds.

The use of solvents for reactions in solution and vacuum chambers and lasers for reactions in a gas also make tracking the motions of atoms very difficult. Simulating chemical reactions on computer is equally challenging because computing power limits the number of atoms that can be modelled at once.

The new project will focus on improving current techniques by working with bigger molecules than previously and by studying mechanisms of chemical reactions in solution. The experimental techniques needed to do this include methods for imaging the movement of atoms and molecules, and use of ultrashort (less than a trillionth of a second) laser pulses to capture information on these movements in real time. Theoretical work will investigate factors including how the presence of solvent molecules changes energies within a reaction.

The consortium comprises Professor Mark Brouard, Professor David Clary FRS, Professor Gus Hancock, Dr Grant Ritchie, Professor Tim Softley, and Dr Claire Vallance from Oxford and Professor Andrew Orr-Ewing, Professor Mike Ashfold, Professor Jeremy Harvey and Dr Fred Manby from Bristol.

More good news came, in an unrelated development, with Dr Christopher Blanford of Oxford’s Department of Chemistry being awarded a five-year Career Advancement Fellowship from EPSRC. He was one of just 23 successful recipients out of 437 applicants.

Dr Blandford received a grant of £943,000 that will allow him to develop his research in quantifying the interactions between redox enzymes and surfaces, designing three-dimensional electrodes compatible with biological macromolecules, and engineering new, green cathodes for small-scale fuel cells.