FCC · Functional Coordination Chemistry

To address critical problems in the natural sciences by developing the chemistry of metal coordination complexes, harnessing the unique ground and excited state properties of the lanthanide (III) ions to impart the required function into the complexes and their conjugates. This requires PI-led collaborative work in molecular design and instrumentation development.Objectives1. To measure changes in the concentration of essential bioactive species in particular compartments of plant and animal cells, including chiral species. This requires the creation of targeted luminescent probes that relay an optical signal to the observer, signalling changes in the concentration of these species, with high spatial and temporal control. In parallel, circularly polarised emission microscopy will be pioneered.2. To enable 19F magnetic resonance studies to be undertaken much more widely by devising functional paramagnetic 19F-magnetic resonance probes, with fast relaxation and enhanced chemical shift dispersion.