PhD Studentship available in The Department of Chemistry – Probing Actinide-Actinide Bonding

This is a 3.5 year EPSRC DTG studentship. Funding will cover UK tuition fee and stipend only. The University of Manchester aims to support the most outstanding applicants from outside the UK. We are able to offer a limited number of scholarships that will enable full studentships to be awarded to international applicants. These full studentships will only be awarded to exceptional quality candidates, due to the competitive nature of this scheme.

Start date: September 2023

Supervisors: Professor Stephen T. Liddle & Dr. Michael Baker

Project title: Probing Actinide-Actinide Bonding

Project description: A central aim of actinide science is to better quantify the chemical bonding of actinide complexes by delivering key bonding motifs that have been long known for the transition metals in order to draw out comparisons. One way to do this is the study of metal-metal bonds; these have been known for decades with transition metals, but had always proven elusive for actinides. 

Previously (1), we reported actinide-actinide bonding in a trithorium cluster, which exhibits unexpected sigma-aromatic bonding at its heart. This contrasts to traditional d-block metal-metal bonding, and thus opens up a new field of research.

In this project, you will prepare a range of precursor complexes, then investigate their reduction to form actinide-actinide bonds. A key facet of this work will be interleaving the synthetic work with a range of experimental and computational characterisation methods, to meet our overall goal of building our understanding of actinide bonding.

You will receive training in: Schlenk line chemistry; routine use of glove boxes; inorganic and organic synthesis; single crystal X-ray diffraction; NMR, UV/Vis/NIR, IR, Raman, and EPR spectroscopies; SQUID magnetometry; cyclic voltammetry; XAS/RIXS techniques; computational techniques. Scientific writing, business engagement, and other scientific skills and training along with appropriate safety training will also be given. For recent examples of our holistic approach to synthesising and characterising novel compounds see references 1-5.

You will benefit from interdisciplinary collaborative links to local, national, and international collaborations, including national research facilities.

Academic background of candidates

Applicants are expected to hold, or about to obtain, a minimum upper second class (2:1) undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a relevant area. A Master’s degree and/or experience in a relevant subject desirable.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is fundamental to the success of The University of Manchester, and is at the heart of all of our activities. We actively encourage applicants from diverse career paths and backgrounds and from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status.

Contact for further Information

Professor Stephen T. Liddle

steve.liddle@manchester.ac.uk

www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/stephen-liddle(69775189-8570-4c99-9eb8-0503d56d646e).html

Dr. Michael Bakermichael.baker@manchester.ac.uk
www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/michael-baker(c72e161d-6c6c-44e6-a852-5ebe10298466).html

Please see the application process at: www.chemistry.manchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/researchdegrees/howtoapply