Photocyclizing Molecular Rotors in Angewandte

We have published an article titled ‘Extended Conjugation Attenuates the Quenching of Aggregation-Induced Emitters by Photocyclization Pathways‘. Click this link to read the paper in Angewandte Chemie.

Congratulations to former PhD student Andrew Turley who is the lead author alongside other team members from the McGonigal Group and our collaborators at Durham.

Abstract: Herein, we expose how the antagonistic relationship between solid-state luminescence and photocyclization of oligoaryl alkenes chromophores is modulated by the conjugation length of their alkenyl backbones. Heptaaryl cycloheptatriene molecular rotors exhibit aggregation-induced emission characteristics. We show that their emission is turned off upon breaking the conjugation of the cycloheptatriene by epoxide formation. While this modification is deleterious to photoluminescence, it enables formation of extended polycyclic frameworks by Mallory reactions. We exploit this dichotomy (i) to manipulate emission properties in a controlled manner and (ii) as a synthetic tool to link together pairs of phenyl rings in a specific sequence. This method to alter the tendency of oligoaryl alkenes to undergo photocyclization can inform the design of solid-state emitters that avoid this quenching mechanism, while also allowing selective cyclization in syntheses of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Supramolecular Repair of Low-Friction Surfaces in Chem

Our manuscript on ‘Supramolecular Repair of Hydration Lubrication Surfaces’ has just been published in Chem.

We have shown that selective host–guest interactions can be exploited to assemble a monolayer of polymers on surfaces. The phosphorylcholine polymer structures attract water, giving a low-friction surface by virtue of ‘hydration lubrication’. The host–guest interaction acts as a weak link in the assembly, such that excessive mechanial wear causes reversible dissociation rather than irreversible covalent cleavage. The lubricating properties of the monolayer can then be restored as more polymer self-assembles on the surface and the weak links are reestablished.

Congratulations to our postdoc Yulong who led the work along with our fantastic collaborators in the Zhang, and Avestro groups.

Hope and Glory

SOFI PhD student Phil Hope has successfully completed his PhD viva. Phil has been a member of the Avestro Group at Durham University, working closely with the McGonigal Group during the past few years. Great job Dr Hope and good luck as a postdoc in Zurich!

Aisha is L'Oréal-UNESCO Finalist

Congratulations to Aisha, who was recently selected as a finalist for the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Rising Talents award. The international awards programme has promoted women in scientific research on a global scale since 1998. After presenting a research proposal and attending a ceremony at the Houses of Parliament, she came away with the Highly Commended Award. Well done Aisha!

Aisha Wins Merck Award

Postdoc group member Aisha has been selected as one of the 2021 Merck Research Awards Underrepresented Chemists of Color. The award is for underrepresented groups in chemistry including third year chemistry graduate students (minimum) or postdocs.

Aisha applied for the award while working at Dartmouth College in the US and has since returned to Durham.  Aisha will receive a Merck mentor and networking opportunities, as well as travel funds for participation to the 2021 Merck Award Symposium where Aisha will present her research.

Congratulations to Aisha and all of this year’s awardess!

FindaPhD PhD Supervisor of the Year

Paul was highly commended in the annual Postgrad Awards from FindaPhD.com in the category of PhD Supervisor of the Year.

See the announcment from FindaPhD here.

NSERC Scholarship for Burhan

Third-year PhD student Burhan Hussein has been awarded a prestigious NSERC Postgraduate Doctoral Scholarship (PSGD). The scholarship programme provides financial support to high-calibre Canadian scholars who are engaged in master’s or doctoral programs in the natural sciences or engineering. Well done Burhan!

Most Supportive PI Award for Paul

Paul was nominated by group members for a Durham University Research Staff Association Award in the category of ‘Most Supportive PI’. After presenting the group’s research and achievements at the (virtual) ceremony held on November 24, he was selected as the award winner. The award announcement can be found here.

Will, Rob, and Ho Chi Join the Team

We’re delighted to welcome Will Maturi-Bailey, Rob Ives, and Ho Chi Wong to the group. Ho Chi has rejoined the team after completing her MChem project with us last year - she’ll be working jointly with Dr Aidan Hindmarch in Durham Physics throught the ReNU CDT. Will and Rob are both new to the group and the second and third Yorkshiremen on the team (taking us to just one short of a Monty Python sketch). Will completed his MChem at Durham with a project year at GSK, while Rob graduated from the Avestro Group at the University of York.

Yuzhen Wins CSC Scholarship

Congratulations to MSc student Yuzhen Wen who has been awarded a PhD Scholarship from the China Scholarship Council. Yuzhen successfully finished her MSc degree in September this year and the CSC Scholarship has allowed her to continue at Durham as a PhD student. Well done, Yuzhen :)

Marie Curie Fellowship for Senthil

Dr Senthil Kabali has joined the group as a postdoctoral researcher from September. Senthil was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship from the European Commission to carry out 24-months of research in the McGonigal Group. Prior to joining Durham, Senthil was a postdoctoral researcher with Prof Marcin Stępień at the Univeristy of Wrocław, Poland, where he investogated strained aromatics. Welcome to the group, Senthil!

Ho Chi Wins National Poster Prize

Recent graduate of the group Ho Chi Wong has taken part in the SCI National Undergraduate Poster Competition and has been selected as one of the four prize winners. She presented her MChem work on Stabilising Fluxional Carbon Cages during the two-weeklong twitter exhibition as one of the 32 entrants from around the UK’s Chemistry Departments. Congratulations Ho Chi!

Promeet and Reece Start PhDs

Promeet Saha and Reece MacDiarmid have started PhD degrees as group members.

Promeet completed his MChem degree at Durham University in 2019, working with the McGonigal Group for his final-year reserach project. After a short stint travelling abroad, he started his PhD in January 2020.

Reece is a graduate of Heriot-Watt University, where he carried out research with Dr Gareth Lloyd and Dr Filipe Vilela during his MChem project year. He joined the SOFI2 CDT in October 2019, leading to a joint project between the McGonigal and Thompson Groups that started in April 2020.

Burhan Awarded SCI Scholarship

Second-year PhD student Burhan Hussein has won a prestigious two-year Scholarship from from the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). Congratulations Burhan! The SCI press release can be found here.

The SCI Scholars Fund was established in 1920 by the requests of Rudolph Messel and John Gray, both former presidents and founding members of SCI. SCI believes in nurturing the scientists of the future. Each year, SCI provides scholarships and bursaries to early career scientists including opportunities to attend or present at an international conference.

Burhan is a member of the Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces Centre for Doctoral Training (SOFI CDT), and a PhD Fellow of the Durham Energy Institute (DEI). Durham University, the SOFI CDT, and the DEI are pleased that Burhan Hussein has been offered this Scholarship and that his research into controlling intermolecular interactions at interfaces will benefit from the additional contacts and support he will gain from this valuable opportunity. In addition to the scholarship, he will benefit from publishing opportunities, access to a high-calibre network to help launch his career, and opportunities to present his work and raise his profile within the scientific community.

Read more on the SOFI and DEI news pages, as well as a blog post written by Burhan.

Andrew's Manuscript in Chemical Science

Our manuscript on ‘Modulation of Charge Transfer by N-Alkylation to Control Photoluminescence Energy and Quantum Yield’ has just been published in Chemical Science.

The research shows that emission color and the presence of charge-transfer excited states can becontrolled by ­N-alkylation of organic chromophores. In the paper, we demonstrate the concept by alkylatiing the two distinct nitrogen sites of quinine. The kinetic stabilities of the resulting salts allow selective quaternization at either site in a manner that is impossible using reversible protonation. This approach can be applied generally to tune the emissive states and physical properties of N­-heterocyclic organic photoactive materials.

Congratulations to our PhD student who led the work along with our fantastic collaborators in the Curchod, Monkman, and Etherington groups.

Andrew Completes PhD

The group’s second PhD student, Andrew Turley, successfully compeleted his PhD viva on January 28. Andrew’s thesis is titled ‘Functional Heptagon-Centred Polyaromatics‘. Andrew’s examiners were Michal Juricek, University of Zurich and AnnMarie O’Donoghue, Durham.

Congratulations to Dr Turley on a job very well done!

N8 New Pioneer

Paul has been selected as an N8 New Pioneer. The award celebrates ‘rising stars who are working on unique and pioneering research’. Full details and a list of all awardees can be found on the N8 New Pioneers website. The N8 Research Partnership is a collaboration of the eight most research intensive universities in the North of England - the Universities of Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.

Burhan Selected for DEI Fellowship

First Year PhD Student Burhan Hussein has been selected to be a PhD Fellow of the Durham Energy Institute (DEI) at Durham University. The Durham Energy Institute takes an interdisciplinary approach to the broad questions surrounding the supply and demand of energy in a developing World. DEI supports and produces cutting-edge energy research which draws on the expertise of world-leading researchers across Durham University's departments in Science, Social Science and Humanities.

As a DEI Fellow, Burhan will benefit from the DEI’s exceptional academic, industrial and political links at local, national and international level. He will contribute to developing and promoting these links through his research activities.

Congratulations to Burhan for his successful fellowship application!

Trio of Papers on Luminescent Organic Materials

We have recently published three articles dealing with aggregation and resonance effects in luminescent organic materials. See our Publications page for links to the articles.

Aisha Completes PhD and Starts Fulbright Scholarship

The group’s first PhD student defended her thesis entitled “Fluxional Carbon Cages and their ‘Shapeshifting’ Properties“ in on 19 July 2019.

Aisha’s incredible run of success with prizes and scholarships was capped off by the award of an extremely competitive All-Disciplines US–UK Fulbright Scholarship. From September, she will start as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Dartmouth College with the Aprahamian Group. Congratulations, Aisha!