Research is based on the synthesis, characterisation and understanding of the properties of new compounds which are important in the chemistry of elements other than carbon.
One programme is investigating the synergistic effects of mixing two different s-block metal elements in the same molecular ligand environment to generate new chemistry outside the scope of conventional monometallic organometallic reagents.
This has led to the novel concept of inverse crowns, mixed-metal macrocycles with Lewis acidic hosts and Lewis basic guests, which can give rise to unprecedented site-selective deprotonation reactions.
A specialised spectroscopic technique, surface enhanced Raman scattering, has been developed to give fundamental information on the bonding and orientation between organic molecules and transition metal surfaces.
Very sensitive and selective assays for drugs of abuse, some clinical drugs, explosives, and DNA have been developed.
A state of the art Raman microscopy facility in new accommodation has been built and new initiatives begun in the creation sensing devices using micro systems technology and nanoparticles.
New chemistry for analysis is a growing area. In particular breakthroughs have been made in the sensitive and selective of DNA. Inorganic complexes are also used as drugs and in cancer therapy.