Subject overview

Specialist facilities

We have outstanding facilities for synthetic and preparative chemistry, bio-organic chemistry, structure determination, spectroscopic analysis, separation and elemental analysis. These include:

• three state-of-the-art Varian nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, with multinuclear capability

• high-res mass spectrometers (Bruker FTMS, VG-AUTO SPEC) with HPLC, electrospray, MALDI, EI, CI, and MSMS

• new GC-MS, HPLC-MS, MALDI and laser ablation-MS

• protein separation and mass spectroscopic analysis for proteomics research

• ICP spectrometer

• HR GCMS (PRO-SPEC) facility

• Nonius Kappa CCD diffractometer

• protein crystallography includes a Rigaku RU-H3RHB rotating anode x-ray generator with Osmic Max-Flux optics, a RAXIS-IV++ image plate area detector and MSC X-Stream cryo system

• Stereoscan 420 scanning electron microscope with analytical x-ray capability and fluorimetry

• a range of computer servers up to 320 nodes

• differential scanning calorimetry, gel permeation chromatography, and optical microscopy with digital image analysis

• a multi-frequency ion gas laser facility and single photon detection.

Programmes

• PhD in Chemistry
• MPhil in Chemistry

Research projects are initiated in the first year of study, with an initial emphasis on learning techniques. As a new student, most laboratories will start you on short-term projects designed to get you up and running and to expose and develop your talents and interests. Projects are often collaborative between laboratories, giving you flexibility and enabling you to experience a wide range of techniques. Throughout, as part of your intellectual development, you are expected to take part in laboratory meetings and journal clubs and to attend a weekly seminar series. You are also encouraged to attend the broader seminars in the School that cover a wide variety of life sciences subjects. You are encouraged to attend and present your work at national and international scientific meetings.

Chemistry has a collegial approach to PhD supervision. You are supervised in the laboratory by postdoctoral researchers and progress is closely monitored by laboratory heads. In addition, you have an independent co-supervisor or mentor. Progress is monitored by informal meetings, annual reports, poster presentations (Year 2) and oral presentations (Year 3).

Career development is an important part of our courses. The development of research and transferable skills is supported by the Sussex Postgraduate Skills Programme, which runs a large number of short skills modules, including interview skills, time management, oral presentations and thesis writing. You choose a personalised set of modules.

Recent thesis titles

Reactivity studies of electron poor titanium amides

Suzuki-Miyaura mediated biphenyl synthesis: a spotlight on the boronate coupling partner

Synthesis, characterisation and applications of novel nanomaterials

The activation of carbon oxides by low-valent group IV and thorium complexes

The development and investigation of new chiral gold(I) catalysts

The photodynamics of single quantum dots

The structure, reactivity and spectroscopy of selected transitional metal complexes

Towards the matter compiler: looking ahead to computer-controlled molecular assembly

Entry requirements

MPhil in Chemistry

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in chemistry or a related discipline.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

Additional admissions information

If you are a non-EEA student you must obtain clearance by the UK Government Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) for this degree. Please ensure you allow sufficient time for your university application to be considered and processed in time for you to apply for ATAS clearance and your Tier 4 visa.

PhD in Chemistry

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in chemistry or a related discipline.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

Additional admissions information

If you are a non-EEA student you must obtain clearance by the UK Government Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) for this degree. Please ensure you allow sufficient time for your university application to be considered and processed in time for you to apply for ATAS clearance and your Tier 4 visa.

Visas and immigration

Find out more about Visas and immigration.

For more information about the admissions process at Sussex

For pre-application enquiries:

Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

For post-application enquiries:

Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk 

Related subjects

• Biochemistry and molecular biology
• Evolution, behaviour and environment
• Genome damage and stability
• Neuroscience

Fees and funding

Fees

MPhil in Chemistry

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £16,200³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

PhD in Chemistry

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £16,200³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

Funding

The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.

Faculty interests

Research main groups and associated faculty

Chemistry at Sussex has a broad base spanning the traditional subdisciplines – inorganic, organic, physical and theoretical chemistry – each with an international profile, augmented by a strong bridge to the life sciences through medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. Chemistry for energy and for health aligns with two of the University’s research themes: Global Transformations and Environment and Health, and they are embodied within the structure of chemistry research as the two groupings:

Drug Discovery, Design and Synthesis (D³S)

Within D³S there are groupings focusing on:

• medicinal chemistry of, and drug design for, oncology and neuro-degeneration

• total synthesis of pharmaceutically important natural products, including antibiotics and antifungals

• analytical chemistry for environmental health

• carbohydrates and sialic acids in molecular recognition and disease

• molecular dynamics for biologically important molecules

• physical chemistry methods for molecular photophysics, including cellular imaging with FRET, and advanced NMR techniques to study amyloid fibril formation.

Physical and inorganic chemistry also provide the underpinning technical capabilities in x-ray and neutron diffraction, NMR and mass spectrometry.

There is a strong underlying programme of curiosity-driven and opportunistic research, which either underpins the mission-oriented groups above or is spun out from them.

Professor Mark Bagley Heterocyclic chemistry, total synthesis, flow chemistry, microwave synthesis.

Dr Iain Day, Day Laboratory Development of NMR approaches to study aggregation phenomena. Our research focuses on the development and application of magnetic resonance methods to probe molecular association and aggregation processes.

Dr Oscar Navarro Design and synthesis of novel transition-metal-based catalytic systems and new methodologies for C-C and C-X bond formation and polymerisation reactions.

Dr Mark Osborne, Osborne Laboratory Development and application of ultrasensitive optical techniques for the detection and manipulation of single molecules.

Dr Eddy Viseux, Viseux Laboratory Asymmetric cascade reactions, catalyst development, polycyclic chemistry.

Professor Simon Ward, Translational Drug Discovery Group This group comprises medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology laboratories. We play a key role in the School’s translational research strategy, creating a vibrant collaboration across the chemical, biological and clinical sciences to translate fundamental research discoveries within the University into potential new medicines.

Energy and Materials Chemistry (EMC)

Within EMC there are groupings focusing on:

• experimental and theoretical organometallic chemistry: activation of small molecules, especially greenhouse gases, and catalysis for green synthetic chemistry, including polymerisation

• physical and theoretical chemistry: nanoscience of carbon for advanced applications, TiO₂ nanoforms (tubes, fibres and quantum dots) for photovoltaics and waste treatment, time-dependent density functional theory calculations underpinning photofragmentation experiments on solvation shells and density functional calculations on nuclear graphite in support of energy security and CO₂-free generation.

Dr Alaa Abdul-Sada, Abdul-Sada Laboratory Mass spectrometry and its application in chemistry of the environment. Nanotechnology applications in metabolomic human health and environmental applications.

Dr Qiao Chen, Chen Laboratory Advanced materials technology for green energy. Application of nanomaterials and nanotechnology.

Professor Geoff Cloke FRS, Cloke Laboratory Synthesis of novel, highly reactive organo-transition metal and f-element complexes. We conduct research in synthetic organometallic chemistry, with particular focus on transition metal and f-element complexes.

Dr Hazel Cox, Cox Laboratory Chemical and physical properties of gas-phase TM complexes. Computational/theoretical inorganic chemistry: structure, reactivity and spectroscopy of multiply-charged metal-ligand complexes.

Dr Ian Crossley, Crossley Laboratory D-block and main-group organometallics with non-classical reactivities and electronic properties. We study the development of electronically distinctive molecules at the transition metal/main group interface.

Dr Iain Day, Day Laboratory Development of NMR approaches to study aggregation phenomena. Our research focuses on the development and application of magnetic resonance methods to probe molecular association and aggregation processes.

Professor Malcolm Heggie, Heggie Laboratory Computer modelling of solids and large molecules. We work on analysing and predicting the behaviour of materials of technological and geological importance with first-principles modelling.

Dr Shane Lo Fan Hin Experiments for the enhancement of chemical education.

Dr Oscar Navarro Design and synthesis of novel transition-metal-based catalytic systems and new methodologies for C-C and C-X bond formation and polymerisation reactions.

Dr Mark Osborne, Osborne Laboratory Development and application of ultrasensitive optical techniques for the detection and manipulation of single molecules.

Dr John Spencer Boron and palladium mediated organic synthesis.

Dr John Turner, Turner Laboratory Reactivity in actinide, transition metal and main group molecular and solid state systems.

Research subgroups

Our main groupings – Drug Discovery, Design and Synthesis (D³S) and Energy and Materials Chemistry (EMC) – are supported by the subgroups listed below:

Inorganic chemistry

Our longstanding reputation in synthetic organometallic chemistry is complemented by strengths in polymerisation catalysis and physical inorganic chemistry. Studies encompass most of the main group elements, transition metals, and f-block metals, eg lanthanides, Th, and U (Cloke).

Organometallic research is directed towards the synthesis and structural characterisation of highly novel compounds, including for example low co-ordinate phosphorus (Crossley), the development of new ligands and preparative methods, the activation of small molecules (especially ‘greenhouse gases’), and homogeneous catalysis (Cloke, Turner, Spencer, and Viseux).

Research in the inorganic materials area focuses  on uranium oxide materials for methanol synthesis, and low-dimensional magnets and conductors (Turner).

Organic chemistry

The discovery of new and incisive synthetic techniques is an overarching theme that brings together all of our groups (Bagley, Spencer, Viseux) in our recently refurbished state-of-theart synthetic laboratories.

Our strengths include the rapid synthesis of biologically important molecules, and their medicinally important synthetic analogues, using domino reaction sequences, heterocyclic chemistry, and new methods to functionalise drug-like molecules using metal-catalysed processes, including cross-coupling reactions
and C-H functionalisation.

New transformations using platinum and gold, among others, are applied to modern problems in natural product chemistry, total synthesis and drug discovery in the search for new chemotherapeutic treatments for cancer, inflammatory diseases and cellular ageing.

Physical chemistry

Experimental physical chemistry develops techniques in laser science, single molecule spectroscopy and FRET – Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (Osborne), mass spectrometry (Abdul-Sada), NMR (Day), and nanoscience (Chen) to apply to problems in EMC and D³S. Highlights within D³S include the use of FRET to elucidate multiple mechanisms for the regulation of ribonucleotide reductase by Spd1, and the use of NMR to follow the effects of Alzheimer’s A ß Aggregation state.

Theoretical and computational chemistry

Within EMC, a prime focus is the activity in carbon science with applications to energy research (Heggie) for low CO₂ power generation. Fundamental experimental studies of ion solvation are key to understanding the behaviour of ions in solution in living things and in the environment. We support experiments at the University of Nottingham, with time-dependent density functional calculations (Cox).

Careers and perspectives

Our graduates have gone on to careers in Higher Education and research, and hold posts such as synthetic organic chemist, postdoctoral research fellow and university tutor.

School and contacts