Adventurous Research in Chemistry at the University of Manchester

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This proposal outlines some adventurous chemistry projects that will be carried out at the University of Manchester. These projects all have the potential to change our understanding of a whole area of chemistry . Their scope covers the whole of the chemical sciences, from chemical biology to the development of new materials. At the biological interface, we propose to use biological molecules like DNA and RNA as scaffolds and moulds that will enable us to build complicated molecules from simple building blocks. Other projects require a physical understanding at the molecular level: for instance in the controlled assembly of particles at interfaces or the preparation of catalysts that rely on electron transfer processes to enable us to make other molecules efficiently and cleanly. At the other end of the spectrum, we wish to make molecules that are themselves of use as new materials, either as new liquid crystal phases or as polymers whose structures can be changed with temperature- effectively making moulds that can easily be removed. The idea of using shape and structure to control processes runs through all these proposals, and represents the future of chemistry.