Polyoxometallate Nanoclusters Can Control Dye Behavior in Solution

09:29, December 1, 2021

A scientist will speak in France about a new approach to supramolecular material design by university chemists

Scientists from the UrFU, together with university students, have discovered that polyoxometallate (POM) nanoclusters can control the dye behavior in solution and serve as a kind of matrix (template) for creating supramolecular structures of desired composition and geometry. Kirill Grzhegorzhevskii, Senior Researcher of the Department of Chemical Materials Science at Ural Federal University, will talk about the results during the French-Russian CLUSPOM symposium.

"My work at the Lavoisier Institute of Versailles is related to the study of the interaction of the keplerate-type nanocluster with organic dyes of different nature from the position of the chaotropic effect. The concept of the chaotropic effect as one of the driving forces of the self-assembly process of supramolecular assemblies is developed here by Prof. Emmanuel Cadeau and his colleagues and allows a new perspective on our systems. The goal of the collaboration is to create approaches to control charge and energy transfer processes in supramolecular ensembles. The idea of the trip itself was based on our work performed at Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics on the interaction of the well-known dye Rhodamine-B with giant nanoclusters POMs. Now from this idea has grown an entire direction on the use of giant POMs as templates for creating supramolecular ensembles, and this is what my report at the symposium will be about," says Kirill Grzhegorzhevskii.

The key areas of the research group headed by Professor Kado, in which Kirill is currently conducting research, are the chemistry of simple polyoxometallates and the synthesis of giant nanoclusters comparable in size and complexity with proteins in human cells, creating supramolecular assemblies, and producing new metal-oxygen frameworks. Researchers in the group are working on new materials or new approaches to making them. These include photocatalysts for generating hydrogen, which can be used in chemical current sources, drug delivery systems, and more, where control of material properties is set through control of its supramolecular structure.

"We are invited to join the French-Russian association CLUSPOM. After the symposium we will discuss the profile of our research, and in 2022 a project with our participation will be written with the support of the French National Science Center. Currently, only the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences is a member of the association from the Russian side. UrFU will represent the Urals in this association. I hope that this will be an additional step for our university on the way to the successful implementation of the Priority-2030 program, which is aimed to support science and new directions," says Kirill Grzhegorzhevskii.

Reference

The symposium will take place on December 2 and 16. Anyone interested can join. The language is English. The program and access link can be found on the website of the Lavoisier Institute.