Our Research
The KW-group
Welcome to the Kenneth Wärnmark group, the KW-group in short, where we work with several research fields.
Fields we tackle:
- Iron Carbene Sensitizers
- Supramolecular Chemsitry
- Photoredox Catalysis
- Tröger’s base Projects
- Hydrogen Evolution
- MOC/COF
- And more
Our Research (few examples)
Iron Carbene Sensitizers
Iron carbene photosensitizers are the biggest part of our group, where the electronic properties of iron complexes are adjusted and studied for applicable.
We mainly use NHC (N-heterocyclic carbene) ligands to alter the energy of the electronic states which allows the complexes to act as candidates for potential photosensitizers for solar cells
Ultimately, the goal is to replace scarce metals (e.g. Ruthenium or Irridium) with iron, which is the most abundant metal on earth.
Additionaly, these iron-NHC complexes can be used to conduct interesting photoredox reactions which would normally not be possible (e.g. ATRA).
Supramolecular Chemistry
Through non-covalent interactions between molecules (e.g. hydrogen bond-, π-π stacking-, metal-ligand interactions) assemblies of molecules are formed resulting in macromoleucle architechtures with new properties in comparison to the individual molecule.
This is supramolecular chemistry, meaning chemistry beyond the molecule, and self-assembly of molecules are an essential which is observed in nature to construct for instance enzymes.
Supramolecular chemistry explores molecular recognition, self-assembly, and reversible interactions which has potential utility in various fields such as nanotechnology, drug delivery, and catalysis.
Not as much as iron carbenes & photoredox, we still do explore some supramolecular chemsitry in the group.