Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/A11465/01
Title:	AF:HIGH-PRESSURE STRUCTURAL STUDIES OF MOLECULAR SYSTEMS
Principal Investigator:	Allan, Dr DR
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Organisation:	University of Edinburgh
Scheme:	Advanced Fellowship (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 October 2001	Ends:	30 September 2006	Value (£):	236,285
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Chemical Structure
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Aerospace, Defence and Marine Chemicals
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Interatomic and intermolecular interactions are extremely sensitive to changes in distance and, hence, high-pressure provides an exceptionally powerful means of inducing phase transitions and substantial changes in electrical, optical and magnetic properties, Although science under the extreme conditions of pressure and temperature has had extremely rapid growth internationally, comparatively little work has been conducted on simple, generic, molecular systems containing common functional groups such as the monoalcohols, monocarboxylic acids, ketones etc. There is now growing interest from the academic (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) and the industrial (Pharamceutical and Petrochemical) communties for a deeper understanding of molecular interactions and their effect on structures and properties. This work is timely as the recent discovery of life at extreme conditions also requires a fuller understanding of how pressure effects biomolecular structure in organisms tolerant to crushingly high pressures. The proposed research will investigate: how pressure influences intermolecular interactions in common organic functional groups and the high-pressure structural behaviour of polypeptides and, ultimately, proteins; and the effect of pressure on selected organometallic systems and molecular binary halides. All of this work will provide a wealth of information of interest I a broad range of academic and industrial disciplines as some of the systems under investigation are well known (e.g. ethanol) it will be of interest to the general public.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.ed.ac.uk