My research interests are in the area of materials chemistry, particularly polymer and dendrimer chemistry. We have several research projects in progress at the moment.
1. Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Materials
While the POSS core is a small inorganic molecule and technically POSS dendrimers could be defined as hybrid materials, we are working on new materials produced by grafting polymers onto the surface of inorganic materials such as zeolites and silicates. By careful choice of polymer, we can create materials with a new and useful properties such as enhanced solubility, different surface chemistries, and the facility to incorporate new functionality.
2. Drug Delivery
Following on from my postdoctoral research studying the delivery of cisplatin by hyperbranched polymers, we have ongoing research in the area of polymeric drug delivery. Drug delivery may be used to enhance the efficacy of an existing drug, overcome limited aqueous solubility or provide a means to reduce side effects. Dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers are particularly useful for this as they contain many potential binding sites for drug molecules, both organic and inorganic.
3. Dendrimers and Hyperbranched Polymers with POSS cores
Dendrimers and their less perfect hyperbranched cousins are widely used as drug delivery vehicles, ligands for metal complexes (homogeneous catalysis, metal remediation) and many other applications. I am interested in the synthesis of these polymers from POSS cores which have 8 reactive sites. This means that we can obtain larger molecules, with defined dimensions in fewer reactions. In particular, the interactions of metal ions and complexes with dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers is an ongoing project. Applications of such systems include new drug delivery systems for anticancer compounds such as cisplatin, or environmental clean up tasks such as the remediation of metal ions from waste water. A better understanding of how metal ions interact with branched polymers, and new synthetic routes to branched polymers with specific ligand groups will enable new drug delivery systems or more efficient metal remediation systems to be created.