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Assistant Professor in the Department of ChemistryCG121B 

Biography

Research Interests

We are principally interested in the fundamental synthetic, chemical and physical properties of luminescent compounds. They are characterised by spectroscopic (NMR, IR, UV-vis, MS, Raman), computational (DFT) and diffraction (X-ray) methods available from the excellent departmental research facilities here along with (spectro)electrochemical and photophysical measurements to explore their emission properties. Luminescent compounds of interest include ON/OFF photoswitches, phosphorescent metal complexes and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules.

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Prompt fluorescence molecules
Carborane ON/OFF switch

Compounds containing carboranes (stable clusters of boron, carbon and hydrogen) have intriguing photophysical properties. Some derivatives of ortho-carborane (1,2-C2B10H12) have dual emissions where one emission is due to charge transfer (CT) or excimer/aggregation formation. 

Chem. Commun., 2021, 57, 9466-9469 https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CC03248H

Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 5205-5219 https://doi.org/10.1039/D1SC06867A

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Phosphorescent complexes
Iridium PHOLED performances

Certain metal complexes are used as emitters in phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PHOLEDs). Iridium complexes are shown to emit desirable blue colours and can be incorporated in PHOLEDs with high efficiencies.

Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 2190-2208 https://doi.org/10.1039/C9DT04672K

Organometallics, 2022, 41, 2487-2493 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.organomet.2c00292

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Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF)
TADF process explained by TD-DFT

TADF is a recent area of intense research as inexpensive organic compounds are exploited as suitable emitters in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) due to high efficiencies made possible by harvesting energy from both singlet and triplet states like in expensive iridium complexes.

Mater. Chem. Front., 2020, 4, 3602-3615. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0QM00429D

Chem. Mater., 2021, 33, 3066–3080. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c03783

J. Org. Chem., 2021, 86, 429–445. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.0c02174

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Research interests

  • Luminescence
  • Computational DFT

Research groups

  • Functional Molecules and Materials
  • Physical Organic and Assembly

Publications

Chapter in book

  • Fox, M.A. (Published). Polyhedral Carboranes. In Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry III. Elsevier. 3: 49-112.
  • G Barbera, S Dunn, M A Fox, R M Garrioch, B E Hodson, K S Low, G M Rosair, F Teixidor, C Vinas, Alan Jeffrey Welch & A S Weller (2000). Towards experimental mapping of the mechanism of heteroborane isomerisation. In Contemporary Boron Chemistry. Matthew G Davidson, Ken Wade, T B Marder & Andrew K Hughes 329-336.
  • P. N. Condick,, M. A. Fox,, R. Greatrex & D.L. Ormsby (2000). Synthesis and structural characterisation of the anion nido-[B8H11](-), and new insights into the structures of other octaborane species. In Contemporary Boron Chemistry. Matthew G Davidson, Ken Wade, T B Marder & Andrew K Hughes Royal Society of Chemistry. 179-186.
  • Davidson, M.G., Fox, M.A., Gray, F.L., Hibbert, T.G. & Wade, K. (2000). Studies of icosahedral carboranes with iminotris(dimethylamino)phosphorane, HNP(NMe2)(3). In Contemporary Boron Chemistry. Davidson, M.G., Hughes, A.K., Marder, T.B. & Wade, K. Royal Society of Chemistry. 223-228.
  • R. Greatrex & M. A. Fox (1998). The borane-carborane structural pattern: Some correlations and implications. In The Borane, Carborane, Carbocation Continuum. Casanova, Joseph 57-84.
  • Robert Greatrex & Mark A. Fox (1998). Reactions of unsaturated hydrocarbons with small boranes: New insights and recent advances. In Borane, Carborane, Carbocation Continuum. Joseph Casanova 289-305.

Journal Article

Supervision students