Research
Research within the Department covers the full breadth of modern Chemistry. The research programmes are managed through six research teams, which are also involved in a considerable number of interdisciplinary projects with colleagues from other Departments across the University.
Bioanalysis and Analytical Methods (BAM)
Research that underpins tomorrow's sciences, from Biomedicine to Nanotechnology
Nanostructured Polymers and Biopolymers
Research at the forefront of polymer science & technology
Reading Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Research (RACER)
Understanding key processes affecting climate change through experimental and modelling studies of gas-phase species and atmospheric aerosols.
Photoredox Processes and Structure of Functional Materials
Transition-metal cyanides.
Dark materials lighting up the world.
The combination of synthesis, structure and photophysics.
Interfacial Chemistry
The interfacial chemistry team uses a wide range of analytical techniques to solve problems related to the structure, chemistry and functionality of atoms, molecules and bio-molecular structures bound at surfaces and interfaces.
Synthesis and Chemical Biology
Design new methods to make novel chemical substances for interdisciplinary scientific attacks on problems of societal importance.
Our research is funded throuh grants from NERC, EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC and the European Union. It benefits greatly from collaborations with industrial organisations such as Astrazeneca, Unilever, Johnson Matthey and DuPont, and also with close-by National Facilities, such as Diamond Light Source and the UK's Neutron Facility ISIS. Virtually all research space has been refurbished in recent years, resulting in the provision of state-of-the-art laboratories, and our instrumentation infrastructure has been susbtantially upgraded over the past five years with the help of funding from EPSRC and The Wolfson Foundation. The University's recent £4.5M investment in a top-of-the-range Chemical Analysis Facility (including 700 and 500 MHz NMR, X-ray powder diffraction, SAXS, DSC, TGA and ITC) has massively enhanced the Department's research capabilities.