Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
Porphyrins, molecules often called "The Pigments of Life", are beautifully coloured aromatic compounds with vital roles in Biology, for example in oxygen uptake and transport and photosynthesis. Synthetic porphyrins are used in a wide range of applications, including photodynamic therapy for cancer, catalysis, non-linear optics and solar energy harvesting. Our group has made a significant impact in the field of functionalising synthetic porphyrins to produce new derivatives with unusual electronic structures, which will assist in designing and making candidate molecules for such applications.
I can offer several projects tackling new synthetic methods for preparing novel porphyrin and multi-porphyrin structures.
- developing new protecting groups for preparing aza-linked tri- and tetra-porphyrins;
- developing new synthetic routes to azaporphyrins and other N-N-linked diporphyrins;
- making new covalently linked diporphyrins to test the predictions of theoretical calculations;
- preparing an entirely new class of porphyrinoid pigments for non-linear optics.
The projects will all involve organic synthesis on a small scale (< 50 mg) and techniques for product purification and analysis, notably chromatography (thin layer, column and perhaps HPLC), and NMR, UV/visible, fluorescence and IR spectroscopy, as well as theoretical calculations.
Further information: Papers published by the QUT porphyrin group (see articles 1, 3 and 10 in the list)
- Study level
- PhD, Masters, Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Keywords
- synthesis
- Contact
-
Please contact the supervisor.
Associate Professor Dennis Arnold
