Excellence in Inorganic Chemistry Research

The field of Inorganic Chemistry is very broad and diverse. By an old definition inorganic chemistry was the chemistry of non-living things, as opposed to organic chemistry, which was assumed to deal with carbon-containing compounds which make up a large part of the living world. Nowadays areas as diverse as nanomaterials, metals in biological systems, compounds with interesting and useful magnetic and spectroscopic properties, precursors for electronic materials and others all fall within the designation of inorganic chemistry. In fact, our everyday life could not be thought of without large contributions from Inorganic Chemistry. Most catalysts utilized in organic chemistry are metal-based as are the conducting, semi-conducting and insulating materials upon which the electronics industry relies heavily. Life on earth would not be possible were it not for the metals in biological systems, such as iron in hemoglobin which has a pivotal role in oxygen transport, and the metal ions at the center of enzymes which help regulate several biological processes.

The inorganic chemistry area in our department is exceptionally strong, as 6 faculty have their main research interests in this field. Our faculty's research interests range from the design of radiopharmaceuticals and the study of the mechanisms of action of metals and metal ions in bioorganisms, to the development of precursors for the chemical vapor deposition of metallic layers for the electronics industry, the assembly of nanoparticles for drug delivery and biological imaging, the versatile chemistry of main group elements with application in catalysis and the design of f element complexes for luminescence applications.

Faculty with an Interest in Inorganic Chemistry