About our research
Research institute
The programme Molecular Chemistry is closely connected to the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM), which hosts world-class research groups and state-of-the-art research facilities. IMM is an interdisciplinary research institute in the field of chemistry and physics. IMM's mission is to conduct fundamental research to understand, design and control the function of molecules and materials, and to train the next generation of leaders in science and entrepreneurship at the highest international level.
Research departments
During your Master's, you will perform at least one internship at one of our research groups. Examples of groups can be found below, or have a look at the overview of relevant groups for Master's interships and the full list of departments of IMM.
The Physical-Organic Chemistry department aims to create a synthetic cell. Key questions that need to be addressed are: how do we control the complexity of the multitude of chemical reactions in the cell? What is the crucial difference between living and non-living systems?
This department focuses on the development of new and sustainable synthetic (multistep) reactions by using bio-, organo- or metal-catalysts or combinations thereof, synthesis of druglike compound libraries, synthesis of bio-orthogonal click-reactions and chemical synthesis in continuous flow microreactors.
This department focuses on three areas of research: the design of new polymeric materials utilizing controlled polymerisation techniques, the employment of functional responsive polymers to design synthetic motile systems and the translation of motile systems into the clinic. With these systems, this department is tackling one of the most fundamental unresolved challenges in nanomotor research: the application of nanomotors for targeted drug delivery and diagnostics, where nanomotors are able to actively seek and precisely locate tumour tissues by following a concentration gradient provided by the tumour signalling molecules.
All IMM departments and internships
Research projects
Curious what our researchers are working on? Have a look at a selection of our current projects.
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How do cells turn their noise up or down?
This project determines how cells can regulate noise, which will improve the understanding of how defects in noise-regulation can result in disease.
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Research projects involving the PIC gel
The synthetic gel 'PIC', discovered in Nijmegen is a synthetic gel with the properties of a biological gel. As a synthetic material, researchers have full control over the structure and the mechanical properties.
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Preclinical development of antiviral COVID medicine
Researchers at the Synthetic Organic Chemistry group at Radboud University and spin-offs Protinhi and Artemis are developing an antiviral molecule medicine against COVID-19.
Research facilities
Radboud University hosts a large number of advanced spectroscopic facilities. You’ll get the chance to work with scientific equipment that is unique in Europe and sometimes even cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
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Solid State Chemistry Labs
In the labs of the Solid State Chemistry department, research is conducted on the processes that occur during formation and growth of crystals.
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X-Ray Diffraction Lab
The X-Ray diffraction lab has equipment available for research into the underlying atomic and molecular structure of materials and solids.