Cougnon Group - Supramolecular Chemistry & Molecular Nanotopology
Natural molecules such as proteins are able to carry out many of the complex tasks essential to life. Synthetic molecules cannot achieve such complex tasks because, unlike proteins, they are often unable to fold into well-defined conformational states. The goal of our research is to knit synthetic molecular threads into nano-objects that mimic the three-dimensional structure of proteins, and to use these nano-objects in applications of interest for human healthcare and society (e.g. carry drugs inside cells, catalyse new chemical transformations, etc.).
Overview
Core fields of research
Basic natural phenomena and mathematical thinking
Research areas
Functional Molecules and Materials
Nanoscience Center
Chemical Nanoscience
Sustainable society
Faculty
Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Department
Department of Chemistry
Research group description
Our group is affiliated to the NanoScience Centre and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Jyväkylä, Finland. Our research interests revolve around the field of Molecular Nanotopology. Tying knots with molecules is a powerful way to control their conformational states and to generate unusual properties that would not be accessible otherwise. In our group, we are developing new synthetic strategies to access knotted molecules and we are investigating the effect of topology on their behaviour.
More information can be found on our research group website.
