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Research project

Molecular Endofullerenes

Project overview

This project consists of the synthesis and multidisciplinary investigation of small molecules trapped inside fullerene cages. The host molecules in these unique molecular systems behave as quantum rotors and exhibit phenomena such as spin isomerism, spin isomer conversion, quantised molecular motion, and quantum-rotor induced hyperpolarization.

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor Malcolm Levitt

Professor of Chemistry

Research interests

  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Endofullerenes
Connect with Malcolm

Email: mhl@soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Professor Richard Whitby

Professor of Chemistry

Research interests

  • Synthesis, properties and application of atomic and molecular endofullerenes.
  • The use of flow chemistry for the rapid acquisition of mechanistic and process information.
  • The synthesis of polyaromatic molecules for optoelectronic applications.
Connect with Richard

Email: R.J.Whitby@soton.ac.uk

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Research outputs

Nuclear spin conversion of water inside fullerene cages detected by low-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance
Salvatore Mamone, Maria Concistrè, Elisa Carignani, Benno Meier, Andrea Krachmalnicoff, Ole G. Johannessen, Xuegong Lei, Yongjun Li, Mark Denning, Marina Carravetta, Kelvin Goh, Anthony J. Horsewill, Richard J. Whitby & Malcolm H. Levitt, 2014, The Journal of Chemical Physics, 140(19), 194306
DOI: 10.1063/1.4873343
Type: article
Freezing of molecular motions probed by cryogenic magic angle spinning NMR
Maria Concistrè, Elisa Carignani, Silvia Borsacchi, Ole G. Johannessen, Benedetta Mennucci, Yifeng Yang, Marco Geppi & Malcolm H. Levitt, 2014, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 5(3), 512-516
DOI: 10.1021/jz4026276
Type: article