University of Otago, New Zealand
Chemistry
Te Tari Hua-Ruanuku
Dr James Crowley
Dr James Crowley
Synthetic Chemistry
Tel: +64  3  479 7731
Location: Science II, 2n10
jcrowley@chemistry.otago.ac.nz

Our research interests are inter-disciplinary and overlap the traditional areas of organic, inorganic and organometallic synthesis with supramolecular and materials chemistry. We aim to exploit our synthetic background to design and synthesize new functional materials.  Students will gain expertise in a wide range of synthetic and spectroscopic techniques including NMR, IR, UV-vis and X-ray crystallography. Major areas of interest include:

Synthetic Molecular Machines and Motors.  

It is well known that the fundamental processes of life at the cellular level are governed by complex biological molecular machines which convert chemical energy into work.  Nature’s exploitation of these biological machines has inspired chemists to synthesize molecular analogues of some of the fundamental components of machinery from the macroscopic world. We are interested in exploiting a range of interlocked and non-interlocked molecular architectures for the development of synthetic molecular machines and motors.  These efforts are motivated by the goal of creating synthetic devices or materials that, like their far more complex biological counterparts, could carry out tasks by exploiting controlled molecular-level mechanical motion.

Construction of functional nanostructures by self-assembly.

We are also interested in the engineering of functional molecular architectures via self-assembly.  The creation of nanoscale molecular or supramolecular architectures that have specific structures, properties, and functions has been of great interest in recent years. This is due not only to their aesthetic appeal but also to their potential applications in nanotechnology.  Again, taking inspiration from biology, chemists have developed a variety of approaches for the generation of self-assembled synthetic nano-structures. We are particularly interested in exploiting the cavities of self-assembled cages and capsules for hydrogen storage, drug delivery and as nanoreactors for carrying out chemical transformations.

Selected Publications

  1. 1. M. L. Gower and J. D. Crowley "Self-assembly of silver(I) metallomacrocycles using unsupported 1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazole “Click” ligands". Dalton Trans. DOI: 10.1039/b923211g
  2. 2. J. D. Crowley, and P. H. Bandeen "A multicomponent CuAAC “click” approach to a library of hybrid polydentate 2-pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole ligands: New building blocks for the generation of metallosupramolecular architectures" Dalton Trans. 2010, 39, 612-623. (Invited article, New Talent theme issue)
  3. 3. J. D. Crowley, P. H. Bandeen and L. R. Hanton "A one pot multi-component CuAAC “click” approach to bidentate and tridentate pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole ligands: Synthesis, X-ray structures and copper(II) and silver(I) complexes" Polyhedron 2010, 29, 70-83. (Invited article, 2009 Young Investigator Special Issue)
  4. 4. J. D. Crowley, S. M. Goldup, A-L. Lee, D. A. Leigh and R. T. McBurney "Active metal template synthesis of rotaxanes, catenanes and molecular shuttles" Chem. Soc. Rev., 2009, 38, 1530–1541.
  5. J. D. Crowley, E. R. Kay, D. A. Leigh "Chemically-Driven Artificial Molecular Machines" in Intelligent Materials, Shahinpoor, M., Schneider, H. -J. (eds), RSC, Cambridge,  2008, pp. 1-48.
  6. J. D. Crowley, D. A. Leigh, P. J. Lusby, R. T. McBurney, L.-E. Perret-Aebi, C. Petzold, M. D. Symes "A Switchable Palladium-Complexed Molecular Shuttle and its Metastable Positional Isomers" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 15085-15090.
  7. J. D. Crowley, K. D. Hänni, A-L. Lee, D. A. Leigh "[2]Rotaxanes through Palladium Active-Template Oxidative Heck Cross-Couplings" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 12092-12093.
  8. J. Berná, J. D. Crowley, S. M. Goldup, K. D. Hänni, A-L. Lee, D. A. Leigh "A Catalytic Palladium Based Active-Metal Template Pathway to [2]Rotaxanes" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2007, 46, 5709-5713.
  9. V. Aucagne, J. D. Crowley, S. M. Goldup, K. D. Hänni, D. A. Leigh, P. J. Lusby, V. Rondalson, A. M. Z. Slawin, A. Viterisi, D. B. Walker, "Catalytic ‘Active-Metal’ Template Synthesis of [2]Rotaxanes, [3]Rotaxanes, and Molecular Shuttles and Some Observations on the Mechanism of the Cu(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne 1,3-Cycloaddition" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 11950-11963.
  10. J. D. Crowley, I. M. Steele, B. Bosnich, "Protonmotive Force: Development of Electrostatic Drivers for Synthetic Molecular Motors" Chemistry. Eur. J. 2006, 12, 8935-8951.
  11. J. D. Crowley, I. M. Steele, B. Bosnich, "Molecular Recognition. Allosterism Generated by Weak Host-Guest Interactions in Molecular Rectangles" Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2005, 19, 3907-3917.
  12. J. D. Crowley, B. Bosnich "Molecular Recognition. Use of Metal-containing Molecular Clefts for Supramolecular Self-assembly and for Host-Guest Formation" Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2005, 11, 2015-2025. (One of the top ten most accessed articles in the  Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. for July 2005)
  13. J. D. Crowley, I.M. Steele, B. Bosnich "Supramolecular Recognition Forces. An Examination of Weak Metal-Metal Interactions in Host-Guest Formation" Inorg. Chem. 2005, 44, 2989-2991. (One of the most accessed articles in Inorg. Chem. for April-June, 2005)
  14. J. D. Crowley, A. J. Goshe, I. M Steele, B. Bosnich "Supramolecular Chemistry. Protonmotive driven molecular motors or switches?" Chemistry. Eur. J. 2004, 10, 1944-1955.
  15. J. D. Crowley, A. J. Goshe, B. Bosnich "Molecular Recognition. Self-assembly of molecular trigonal prisms and their host-guest adducts" Chem. Commun. 2003, 2824-2825. (One of the top ten most accessed Chem. Comm. articles for November 2003)
  16. J. D. Crowley, A. J. Goshe, B. Bosnich "Molecular Recognition. Electrostatic effects in supramolecular self-assembly" Chem. Commun. 2003, 392-393. (One of the top ten most accessed Chem. Comm. articles for February 2003)