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Our Research
(1) We make use of chemical principles to understand fundamentally important reactions in biology. Reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions underpin innumerable chemical reactions and much of the chemistry of life. Many redox reactions proceed via radical intermediates and these are often located in mechanistically key locations (see our recent book chapter). We investigate how oxidation-state changes govern respiration (respiratory complex I) and photosynthesis (photosynthetic complex I) and how nature has fine-tuned the redox properties of its many intricate molecular machines. Membranes play a fundamentally important role for many proteins and we are investigating the role of membranes on protein activity and function through spin labels and protein-intrinsic paramagnetic centres.
(2) We are developing film-electrochemical EPR (FE-EPR) as a new method to study the evolution of radicals during redox and catalytic reactions in real time. This enables detailed and previously impossible mechanistic understanding of both chemical and biochemical reactions. The catalytic reactions we investigate range from well-known long-established chemical transformations such as nitroxide-catalysed alcohol oxidation, to complex metal-containing enzymes that may prove to be novel targets for the development of new antimicrobials. Our FE-EPR methodology is even finding applications in battery research.
(3) Radicals often hold key mechanistic information - but trapping them in sufficient numbers for detailed EPR investigations can be a major challenge. We specialise in working with minute sample concentrations and volumes, and are seeking to make the impossible possible with our current collaborative grant SpinSUPER.
Complex I – the entry point of electrons into the respiratory chain of all higher organisms – is the last of the respiratory enzymes whose mechanism remains unknown. In mitochondria, complex I oxidises NADH from sugars and fats, reduces ubiquinone and transports protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane, thereby contributing to the proton motive force that enables ATP-synthase to make ATP.
Ionic Liquids (ILs) are a remarkable class of liquids, receiving huge attention for their potential in a range of applications such as synthesis and electrochemistry.[1,2] The most common ILs are composed of an inorganic anion with an organic amphiphilic cation and can segregate into ionic and non-polar domains. This nano-structure leads to different solvent environments for various solutes, with the combination of non-covalent interactions (e.g. coulombic interactions, hydrogen bonding, π-π interactions and dispersion interactions) known to be important.[3-4]Funding
