Uncovering the effects of hydrogen bonding interactions on photochemistry through transient absorption spectroscopy (1027518EB)

Supervisor: Dr Russell Minns, co supervisor: Prof Jeremy Frey

Hydrogen bonding interactions have a profound effect on defining structure and directing chemical reactivity. In thermal chemistry this effect is well understood and leads to our current deep understanding of chemical structure and the parameterisation of these effects into models of extremely large chemical systems. For excited states the effect of hydrogen bonds is demonstrably as important but is much less understood and represents an important gap in our knowledge. This limits our ability to understand biological processes like photosynthesis and, restricts our ability to exploit these mechanisms for potential applications such as laser dyes, chemical sensors and optical devices. Through this PhD you will build and develop an ultrafast laser based transient absorption experiment to probe the effects of hydrogen bonding on various photochemical processes. The experiments will make use of femtosecond duration laser pulses that probe changes in the absorption spectrum of the molecules as they react. The results will be compared with complimentary gas phase measurements on similar molecular targets (e.g. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 163002 (2016))

The project is funded for 4 years and welcomes applicants from the UK and EU who have or expect to obtain at least an upper second class degree in Chemistry, Physics or allied subjects/relevant disciplines. Funding will cover fees and a stipend at current research council rates of £ 14,777 per annum.  

Due to funding restrictions this position is only open to UK students and EU students who meet the RCUK eligibility criteria

Applications for a PhD in Chemistry should be submitted online at https://studentrecords.soton.ac.uk/BNNRPROD/bzsksrch.P_Search

Please ensure you select the academic session 2018-2019 in the academic year field and click on the Research radio button.  Enter Chemistry in the search text field.

Please place Dr Russell Minns Transient Absorption in the field for proposed supervisor/project

General enquiries should be made to Dr Russell Minns at r.s.minns@soton.ac.uk.  Any queries on the application process should be made to pgafnes@soton.ac.uk
Applications will be considered in the order that they are received, and the position will be considered filled when a suitable candidate has been identified.

Closing Date: 30 Sep 2018
Post Type: PhD Studentship (Funded)