Organometallic materials for photonics. New high performance materials are required for applications in photonics, an area of increasing importance for Australia's high technology industries. This project addresses two critically important requirements in photonics: materials with enhanced nonlinear optical merit (both quadratic and cubic), needed for applications in optical communications, data storage and computer systems, and materials with significant optical limiting properties, required fo ....Organometallic materials for photonics. New high performance materials are required for applications in photonics, an area of increasing importance for Australia's high technology industries. This project addresses two critically important requirements in photonics: materials with enhanced nonlinear optical merit (both quadratic and cubic), needed for applications in optical communications, data storage and computer systems, and materials with significant optical limiting properties, required for laboratory optical device protection and military applications. Concomitant with these studies, the fundamental organometallic chemistry of alkynylmetal complexes and clusters will be developed, leading into oligomeric, dendritic and polymeric species which are of intrinsic, as well as applied, interest.Read moreRead less
Syntheses and non-linear optical properties of B- and N-cored metal alkynyl dendrimers. This project will (i) advance fundamental science, (ii) establish and consolidate links between groups in the UK and Australia with interests in electronic and optical properties of metal alkynyl compounds, (iii) improve technology transfer between the two groups by the mobility of the ARC International Fellow, and (iv) may identify new materials with sufficient non-linear optical and materials processing per ....Syntheses and non-linear optical properties of B- and N-cored metal alkynyl dendrimers. This project will (i) advance fundamental science, (ii) establish and consolidate links between groups in the UK and Australia with interests in electronic and optical properties of metal alkynyl compounds, (iii) improve technology transfer between the two groups by the mobility of the ARC International Fellow, and (iv) may identify new materials with sufficient non-linear optical and materials processing performance for commercial development.Read moreRead less
Towards Oligoclusters: Chemistry, Properties and Applications. Transition metal clusters are closed polyhedral molecules that have been studied intensively for many years, initially for intrinsic interest, and subsequently as models of / precursors for catalysts effecting industrially important chemical transformations. More recently, clusters have been identified as promising optical limiters, required for many technological applications including optical device and eye protection from high pow ....Towards Oligoclusters: Chemistry, Properties and Applications. Transition metal clusters are closed polyhedral molecules that have been studied intensively for many years, initially for intrinsic interest, and subsequently as models of / precursors for catalysts effecting industrially important chemical transformations. More recently, clusters have been identified as promising optical limiters, required for many technological applications including optical device and eye protection from high power lasers. By focussing on the syntheses, electronic and optical properties of specific monomeric, oligomeric (including macrocyclic), dendritic and polymeric cluster-containing systems, we will develop fundamental cluster chemistry, prepare processable functional polymetallic materials, and probe the possible utility of cluster-based materials as optical limiters.Read moreRead less
Organometallic Switches in Nonlinear Optics. Investment in this project (i) will support Australia's research in an international group of researchers investigating materials (particularly NLO) properties of organometallic compounds, (ii) will involve training two PhD students, who will graduate with highly developed interdisciplinary skills, and (iii) may identify new materials with sufficient performance for commercial development.
Advanced Organometallic Materials: Syntheses and Nonlinear Optical Properties. The development of materials for photonics applications has undergone extraordinary growth in the past few years, driven in part by potential commercial applications. Investment in this project (i) will gain Australia entry into an international network of researchers investigating materials (particularly nonlinear optical) properties of organometallic and other compounds necessary for such applications, (ii) will inv ....Advanced Organometallic Materials: Syntheses and Nonlinear Optical Properties. The development of materials for photonics applications has undergone extraordinary growth in the past few years, driven in part by potential commercial applications. Investment in this project (i) will gain Australia entry into an international network of researchers investigating materials (particularly nonlinear optical) properties of organometallic and other compounds necessary for such applications, (ii) will involve training two PhD students, who will graduate with highly developed interdisciplinary skills, and (iii) may identify new materials with sufficient performance for commercial development.Read moreRead less
Metal Alkynyl Materials for Photonics. Investment in this project (i) will gain Australia entry into an international network of researchers investigating materials (particularly NLO) properties of organometallic and other compounds, (ii) will involve training four PhD students, who will graduate with highly developed interdisciplinary skills, (iii) may identify new materials with sufficient performance for commercial development, and (iv) will build bridges between traditional research in organ ....Metal Alkynyl Materials for Photonics. Investment in this project (i) will gain Australia entry into an international network of researchers investigating materials (particularly NLO) properties of organometallic and other compounds, (ii) will involve training four PhD students, who will graduate with highly developed interdisciplinary skills, (iii) may identify new materials with sufficient performance for commercial development, and (iv) will build bridges between traditional research in organometallic chemistry and that in nanophotonics and biophotonics, and position Australia as a major player in these nascent fields.Read moreRead less
Domino Approaches to Polycyclic Natural Products. Organic molecules are the basis of all known life forms. The majority of our medicinal agents are organic molecules. Organic molecules are made up of atoms, connected together by bonds. Usually, these molecules are constructed by making one bond at a time. We are trying to make this laborious job quicker and more efficient by forming lots of bonds at once. Research of this kind is the basis for the development of new pharmaceuticals. Australia do ....Domino Approaches to Polycyclic Natural Products. Organic molecules are the basis of all known life forms. The majority of our medicinal agents are organic molecules. Organic molecules are made up of atoms, connected together by bonds. Usually, these molecules are constructed by making one bond at a time. We are trying to make this laborious job quicker and more efficient by forming lots of bonds at once. Research of this kind is the basis for the development of new pharmaceuticals. Australia doesn't have many people who are able to do this kind of thing. We will train four to six people in this area of research.Read moreRead less
New Cascade Routes to Biologically Important Molecules. This research involves the development of short and efficient syntheses of several different classes of biologically active molecules using cascade reactions: spectacular events in which many chemical bonds are formed. Two distinct types of cascade reactions will be investigated and naturally-occurring molecules with antineoplastic, anti-immunosuppressive, antiviral and antimalarial activities will be prepared. These new, expedient routes a ....New Cascade Routes to Biologically Important Molecules. This research involves the development of short and efficient syntheses of several different classes of biologically active molecules using cascade reactions: spectacular events in which many chemical bonds are formed. Two distinct types of cascade reactions will be investigated and naturally-occurring molecules with antineoplastic, anti-immunosuppressive, antiviral and antimalarial activities will be prepared. These new, expedient routes allow the preparation of a wide range of structurally-related analogues; an important prerequisite for the preparation of libraries of compounds for biological evaluation. Along the way, important information about the chemical reactivity patterns of a newly-prepared, fundamental class of hydrocarbon molecules will be obtained.Read moreRead less
The geochemistry of trace elements with variable oxidation states. The understanding of many earth processes is based upon an interpretation of differences in the relative abundance and/or distribution of elements which occur in more than one oxidation state. However, the redox states that control the geochemical behaviour of an element in a melt are not necessarily retained on cooling. This work aims to determine the oxidation states of geologically important elements, in situ under magmatic ....The geochemistry of trace elements with variable oxidation states. The understanding of many earth processes is based upon an interpretation of differences in the relative abundance and/or distribution of elements which occur in more than one oxidation state. However, the redox states that control the geochemical behaviour of an element in a melt are not necessarily retained on cooling. This work aims to determine the oxidation states of geologically important elements, in situ under magmatic conditions, using XANES spectroscopy. The results will allow geological signatures to be correctly interpreted and allow models for topics ranging from ancient mantle temperatures to rates of melt migration to be better constrained.Read moreRead less
Molecules as probes of the interstellar medium. It is one of the greatest challenges in Nature is to remotely identify what is in space. Interstellar molecules are identified by their spectra, but many features in these spectra are unknown, implying that there are many more molecules in space than we know about. With a stronger understanding of space chemistry, we could predict what should be there and verify it in the lab. Conversely, identification of these features will provide the tools to u ....Molecules as probes of the interstellar medium. It is one of the greatest challenges in Nature is to remotely identify what is in space. Interstellar molecules are identified by their spectra, but many features in these spectra are unknown, implying that there are many more molecules in space than we know about. With a stronger understanding of space chemistry, we could predict what should be there and verify it in the lab. Conversely, identification of these features will provide the tools to understand interstellar chemistry. In this project we combine skills in spectroscopy and astronomy to make these molecules in the laboratory, measure their spectra and thereby identify unknown molecules in space.Read moreRead less