NRW Research School "Molecules and Materials – A Common Design Principle" (Molecules and Materials)

Basic data for this project

Description

The Research School 'Molecules and Materials - A Common Design Principle' offers a broad and interdisciplinary spectrum of research areas in all of the major subfields of chemistry, including research laboratories hosted in neighboring disciplines, biology and physics. The School comprises about 30 research groups within nine institutes, conducting vigorous research programs. Funding is obtained from numerous federal and industrial research institutions. Within the GSC-MS there are two principal research directions: The first area addresses the relation between molecular orientation and function in chemical systems. Research activities comprise the synthesis of new bioactive molecules and supramolecular aggregates, developing an understanding of their functional principles, and exploring and utilizing the concepts of molecular recognition. An important focus is the development of new methods to synthesize stereo- and enantio-selective compounds, accompanied by appropriate computational techniques. Another area in bio-molecular research activities ranges from molecular biology to biophysical chemistry. Major areas in food chemistry are natural product analysis, bioactive food ingredients, flavor research, and mycotoxins. The second research direction focuses on the development and optimization of new solid state functional materials. The properties of solid materials are often determined by disorder phenomena which are studied with sophisticated spectroscopic and other physicochemical methods, including theoretical modeling. One of the central research topics is the synthesis, characterization and theoretical modeling of ion conducting materials with disordered structures, with the goal of developing a fundamental understanding of ionic motion from the elementary step to macroscopic transport and battery applications. A more recent development are new research activities in surface-active polymers, polymer layered materials and solid-state organic materials. Research conducted in these areas is financed by two collaborative research centers (Sonderforschungsbereiche) which provide a well organized interdisciplinary infrastructure of research groups with modern laboratory equipment. In addition, two International Research Training Groups "Complex Functional Systems in Chemistry - Design, Development, and Applications" in collaboration with the University of Nagoya (Japan), and "Generation of Supramolecular Functional Cavities - Container Molecules, Macrocycles and Related Compounds" in collaboration with universities in The Netherlands, also contribute to the high standard of education offered to graduate students in chemistry. Finally, numerous international collaborations complete our excellent research environment. The Chemistry department at the University of Münster belongs to the top rank of chemistry departments in Germany. oriented future.