School of Chemistry

Richard Bushby

Research Professor
Research section: Organic Chemistry

Contact details

Keywords

Self-organising systems
Discotic Liquid Crystals
Biomembranes
Self-Assembled Monolayers
High-spin polymers

Research interests

Physical Organic Chemistry originally developed at the interface between Organic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry but the new frontier is that between Organic Chemistry and Condensed Matter Physics. Hence, my research is concerned with the relationship between organic molecular structure and bulk physical properties, particularly magnetism (high-spin polymers), conductivity (discotic liquid crystals) and self-organisation (discotic liquid crystals, phospholipids and self-assembled monolayers). Particular areas of interest are:-

1. Studies of discotic liquid crystals. Was concerned mainly with the development of novel organic semiconductors but is now focussed on understanding their alignment at surfaces.
2. Studies of polymer magnets. The problem of developing new stable spin-bearing monomers
3. Studies of biomembranes. The manipulation of charged membrane components in tethered bilayers using fields and the development and exploitation of microbubbles (used in imaging tumours).
4. Studies of the photochemistry of self-assembled monolayers: The manipulation and exploitation of soft uv photopatterned surfaces

Selected publications

P. Prompinit, A.S. Achalkumar, X. Han, R.J. Bushby, C. Walti, and S.D. Evans, ‘Improved photoreaction yields for soft uv lithography in organothiol SAMs’, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2009, 113, 21642-21647

X.J. Han, M.R. Cheetham, K. Sheikh, P.D. Olmstead, R.J. Bushby, and S.D. Evans, ‘Manipulation and charge determination of proteins in photopatterned supported bilayers’, Integrative Biology, 2009, 1, 205-211

X. Han, A. S. Achalkumar, M. R. Cheetham, S. D. A. Connell, B R. G. Johnson, R. J. Bushby, S. D. Evans, ‘A Self-assembly Route for Double Bilayer Lipid Membrane Formation’, Chemphyschem, 2010, 11, 569-574

J.P. Bramble, D.J. Tate, D.J. Revill, K.H. Sheikh,J.R. Henderson, R.J. Bushby, and, S.D. Evans, F. Liu, XB. Zeng and G. Ungar ‘Planar Alignment of Columnar Discotic Liquid Crystals by Isotropic Phase Dewetting on Chemically Patterned Surfaces’, Advanced Functional Materials, 2010, 20, 914-920