ProfessorKate Jolliffe

The research group focuses on the design, synthesis and investigation of the properties of functional molecules. It spans a number of areas including (i) the synthesis and investigation of small molecule mimics of Nature’s molecular receptors and enzymes (supramolecular chemistry); (ii) the development of new synthetic methods and (iii) application of these methods to the synthesis of both natural products and novel functional molecules. Specific projects are outlined below.

Anion receptors, sensors and transporters

Anions play many roles in areas as diverse as biology, medicine, catalysis and the environment, so artificial anion receptors have numerous applications across all of these areas. However, the development of anion receptors that operate with high selectivity and affinity under physiological and environmental conditions is a significant challenge.  We are exploring the design and synthesis of a variety of receptors targeted to bind selectively to oxoanions, including phosphates, carboxylates and sulfate with the ultimate goal of producing receptors that can be applied to selectively detect or separate anionic species in the environment or in biological systems. Depending on both the anion target and desired application, our receptors are designed to bind anions using hydrogen bonding, electrostatic and/or metal -ligand interactions. We focus on systems for applications in water, at aqueous interfaces and in more complex environments (e.g. physiological fluids) and use a variety of methods to turn effective anion receptors into useful sensors or transporters.

Selective sensors for Phospholipids

Living cells synthesise and metabolise over 1000 different lipids, which assemble to form bilayer membranes with lipid compositions that differ across cell types, sub-cellular compartments and even within a single membrane itself. However, the relevance of this vast structural diversity and the function of each different lipid is not yet understood. In order to better understand this biological phenomenon, we are developing fluorescent probes that selectively detect and differentiate phospholipid headgroups. These probes have applications in biomedicine and biology, e.g. detection of phosphatidylserine on mammalian cell surfaces provides a means to follow cell death processes. 

Peptide and Protein Chemistry

The synthesis of cyclic peptides and derivatives is of significant interest, due to their potential applications in a range of areas spanning both chemistry and biology. Naturally occurring cyclic peptides exhibit a wide range of biological activities and a particular advantage of their cyclic structure is a higher resistance to enzymatic degradation than their linear counterparts. Additionally, the restricted conformational flexibility of cyclic peptides allows them to present functional groups in a spatially well-defined manner and has been of great importance in the study of bioactive protein conformations. This property is also of use in the design of synthetic receptors. We are devleoping methods  to readily synthesise cyclic peptides in high yield and applying these to the synthesis of naturally occurring cyclic peptides as well as to the synthesis of molecular scaffolds for supramolecular chemistry.

Kate's research aligns with the Faculty of Science Research Strengths - Molecules to Materials, Understanding Disease & Disorder in Humans, Next Generation Materials.