Staff Profile
Dr Nick Walker
Senior Lecturer
- Personal Website: http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/nick.walker
- Address: Office number :
2.64, Bedson Building.
Postal Address:
School of Chemistry,
Bedson Building,
Newcastle upon Tyne
Tyne and Wear
NE1 7RU
I pursued undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the University of Sussex completing a D.Phil under the guidance of Anthony J. Stace in 1999. I held postdoctoral appointments in Canada and the United States before moving to the University of Bristol to perform independent research whilst funded by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2003. I received the Meldola Medal and Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry during the same year. An ESPRC grant enabled me to construct the first example of a chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectrometer in the U.K. in 2010. This spectrometer is equipped with a laser ablation source to allow the study of novel metal-containing molecules.
I moved to Newcastle University for a lectureship in Physical Chemistry in March 2012 and received a European Research Council Starting Investigator Award in November of the same year. I aim to use and apply the new instrumentation available for microwave spectroscopy to tackle problems which lie outside the traditional boundaries of the field.
I was recently elected to the Faraday Division Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC); served as Chair of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne and North-East Coast local section of the RSC from 2017 until 2019; am a member of the Molecular Physics group committee of the Institute of Physics.
Areas of Expertise: Physical Chemistry; Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics.
Introduction
Spectroscopy exploits the emission, absorption and scattering of electromagnetic radiation for the study of molecules and materials. Emission at microwave frequencies (between 3 and 300 GHz) is associated with transitions between rotational energy levels in molecules which, in turn, depend sensitively on details of molecular structure. My research applies microwave spectroscopy to quantify fundamental molecular interactions which have broad significance throughout many areas of chemistry and biology.
Current Activities
I maintain and operate a chirped-pulse, FTMW (Fourier transform microwave) spectrometer which allows the acquisition of broadband microwave spectra. This globally-unique instrument is equipped with a laser ablation source that allows the generation and study of metal-containing complexes. Broadband rotational spectroscopy allows for the detection and assignment of spectra in a fraction of the time that would be required using any of the previous generation of spectrometers. I collaborate with researchers drawn from around the world to apply our instrumentation to important problems in molecular structure determination. The nature of hydrogen bonding interactions between water and heteroaromatic rings such as thiazole and imidazole are a focus of current research.
Teaching
Duties at Newcastle University include;
Degree Programme Director for Undergraduate Programmes in Chemistry
CHY1201 (Introductory Physical Chemistry) - Lectures in "Spectroscopy"
CHY2201 and CHY3206 (Physical Chemistry) - Laboratory Course Demonstrator (formerly Course Coordinator)
CHY8423 (Advanced Physical Chemistry)- Lectures in "Astrochemistry"
Final Year Undergraduate Project student supervisor
Personal Tutor
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Articles
- Cummings CN, Walker NR. Hydrogen Bonding and Molecular Geometry in Isolated Hydrates of 2-Ethylthiazole Characterised by Microwave Spectroscopy. ChemPhysChem 2024, Epub ahead of print.
- Cummings CN, Kleiner I, Walker NR. Noncovalent Interactions in the Molecular Geometries of 4‑Methylthiazole···H2O and 5‑Methylthiazole···H2O Revealed byMicrowave Spectroscopy. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 2023, 127(39), 8133-8145.
- Gougoula E, Cummings CN, Xu Y, Lu T, Feng G, Walker NR. Cooperative hydrogen bonding in thiazole⋯(H2O)2 revealed by microwave spectroscopy. Journal of Chemical Physics 2023, 158, 114307.
- Gougoula E, Cummings CN, Medcraft C, Heitkamper J, Walker NR. Microwave Spectra, Molecular Geometries, and Internal Rotation of CH3 in N-methylimidazole...¼H2O and 2-methylimidazole...¼H2O Complexes. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2022, 24(20), 12354-12362.
- Gougoula E, Cole DJ, Walker NR. Bifunctional Hydrogen Bonding of Imidazole with Water Explored by Rotational Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 2020, 124(13), 2649-2659.
- Das A, Mandal PK, Lovas FJ, Medcraft C, Walker NR, Arunan E. The H2S Dimer is Hydrogen-Bonded: Direct Confirmation from Microwave Spectroscopy. Angewandte Chemie: International Edition 2018, 57(46), 15199-15203.
- Mullaney JC, Medcraft C, Tew DP, Lewis-Borrell L, Golding BT, Walker NR, Legon AC. Cooperative Hydrogen Bonds Form a Pseudocycle Stabilizing an Isolated Complex of Isocyanic Acid with Urea. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2017, 19, 25080-25085.
- Bittner DM, Zaleski DP, Tew DP, Walker NR, Legon AC. Highly-Unsaturated Platinum and Palladium Carbenes, PtC3 and PdC3, Isolated and Characterised in the Gas Phase. Angewandte Chemie: International Edition 2016, 55(11), 3768-3771.
- Zaleski DP, Stephens SL, Walker NR. A perspective on chemistry in transient plasma from broadband rotational spectroscopy. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2014, 16(46), 25221-25228.
- Stephens SL, Walker NR. Determination of Nuclear Spin-rotation Coupling Constants in CF3I by Chirped-pulse Fourier Transform Microwave Spectroscopy. Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy 2010, 263(1), 27-33.
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Review
- Legon AC, Walker NR. What's in a name? 'Coinage-metal' non-covalent bonds and their definition. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2018, 20(29), 19332-19338.