PhD(Chicago) MSc(Well)
Tel: 03 479 7731
Location: Science II, 2n10
Email: jcrowley@chemistry.otago.ac.nz
Employment History and Qualifications
Associate Professor, University of Otago 2015–
Senior Lecturer, University of Otago 2011-2015
Lecturer, University of Otago 2008–2011
British Ramsay Memorial Postdoctoral Fellow (with Prof. D. A. Leigh, FRS), University of Edinburgh 2006–2007
Postdoctoral Fellow (with Prof. D. A. Leigh, FRS), University of Edinburgh 2005–2006
S.M and Ph.D, The University of Chicago (Prof. B Bosnich, FRS) 2000-2005
B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc., Victoria University of Wellington (Dr. D. C. Weatherburn) 1994-1999
Awards and Distinctions
University of Otago, Division of Sciences Research Group of the Year 2016
Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), Organometallic Chemistry Award 2015
Finalist in OUSA Supervisor of the Year Awards 2015
Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ) Asian International Distinguished Lectureship Award 2015
Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), Alan Sargeson Lectureship 2014
Royal Society of Chemistry/New Zealand Institute of Chemistry Easterfield Award 2013
University of Otago Early Career Award for Distinction in Research 2011
British Ramsay Memorial Fellowship (U of Ed.) 2006-2008
Joan Shiu Award for Student Service, (U of C) 2004
Curtis-Gordon Scholarship for Chemistry (VUW) 1998
Relevant Disciplines
Organic / Inorganic / Organometallic / Materials / Supramolecular Chemistry / Nanoscience
My research interests are in synthetic organic, inorganic, organometallic and supramolecular chemistry. I am interested in the design and synthesis of new functional materials. I have expertise in a wide range of synthetic and spectroscopic techniques including NMR, IR, UV-vis and X-ray crystallography. Major areas of interest include:
CuAAC “Click” coordination chemistry. The mild and modular Cu(I)-catalyzed 1,3-cycloaddition of terminal alkynes with organic azides (the CuAAC “click” reaction) allows the ready formation of functionalised 1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazole scaffolds and this has led to an explosion of interest in the coordination chemistry of these heterocycles. A diverse array of mono-, bi-, tri- and polydentate ligands incorporating 1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazole units have been synthesised and characterised. Easy access to readily functionalised ligand architectures is of crucial importance in a range of different areas and we are exploiting these ligands for the development of new catalysts, metallo-pharmaceuticals, bio-imaging agents, metallosupramolecular architectures, and molecular machines.
Synthetic molecular machines (nanotechnology). It is well established that the fundamental processes of life at the cellular level are governed by complex biological molecular machines which convert chemical energy into work. My research group is interested in exploiting a range of interlocked and non-interlocked molecular architectures for the development of synthetic molecular machines. These efforts are motivated by the goal of creating synthetic devices or materials that, like their far more complex biological counterparts, could carry out tasks by exploiting controlled molecular-level mechanical motion; a key requirement for the development of useable nanotechnology.
Functional metallosupramolecular architectures. I am also interested in the engineering of functional molecular architectures via self-assembly. In particular we are attempting to exploit these self-assembled cages as novel metallo-pharmaceuticals, for drug delivery and as nanoreactors for carrying out chemical transformations.
Publications
Lewis, J. E. M., Elliott, A. B. S., McAdam, C. J., Gordon, K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2014). 'Click' to functionalise: Synthesis, characterisation and enhancement of the physical properties of a series of exo- and endo-functionalised Pd2L4 nanocages. Chemical Science, 5, 1833-1843. doi: 10.1039/C4SC00434E
Noor, A., Moratti, S. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2014). Active-template synthesis of "click" [2]rotaxane ligands: Self-assembly of mechanically interlocked metallo-supramolecular dimers, macrocycles and oligomers. Chemical Science, 5(11), 4283-4290. doi: 10.1039/c4sc01438c
Noor, A., Lo, W. K. C., Moratti, S. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2014). CuAAC "click" active-template synthesis of functionalised [2]rotaxanes using small exo-substituted macrocycles: How small is too small? Chemical Communications, 50, 7044-7047. doi: 10.1039/c4cc03077j
Lewis, J. E. M., McAdam, C. J., Gardiner, M. G., & Crowley, J. D. (2013). A facile "click" approach to functionalised metallosupramolecular architectures. Chemical Communications, 33, 3398-3400. doi: 10.1039/c3cc41209a
Crowley, J. D., & Bandeen, P. (2010). A multicomponent CuAAC ″click″ approach to a library of hybrid polydentate 2-pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole ligands: New building blocks for the generation of metallosupramolecular architectures. Dalton Transactions, 39(2), 612-623. doi: 10.1039/b911276f
Chapter in Book - Research
Crowley, J. D., Kilpin, K. J., & Keep, C. C. (2011). Exploiting ferrocene to develop synthetic molecular machines. In E. S. Phillips (Ed.), Ferrocenes: Compounds, properties and applications. (pp. 149-188). New York: Nova Science.
Crowley, J. D., Kay, E. R., & Leigh, D. A. (2008). Chemically driven artificial molecular machines. In M. Shahinpoor & H.-J. Schneider (Eds.), Intelligent materials. (pp. 1-47). Cambridge, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Journal - Research Article
Noor, A., Maloney, D. L., Lewis, J. E. M., Lo, W. K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2015). Acid–base driven ligand exchange with palladium(II) "click" complexes. Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry, 4(3), 208-211. doi: 10.1002/ajoc.201402197
Kumar, S. V., Lo, W. K. C., Brooks, H. J. L., & Crowley, J. D. (2015). Synthesis, structure, stability and antimicrobial activity of a ruthenium(II) helicate derived from a bis-bidentate "click" pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole ligand. Inorganica Chimica Acta, 425, 1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ica.2014.10.011
Lo, W. K. C., McAdam, C. J., Blackman, A. G., Crowley, J. D., & McMorran, D. A. (2015). The pentadentate ligands 2PyN2Q and N4Py, and their Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes: A synthetic, spectroscopic and crystallographic structural study. Inorganica Chimica Acta, 426, 183-194. doi: 10.1016/j.ica.2014.11.036
Lo, W. K. C., Cavigliasso, G., Stranger, R., Crowley, J. D., & Blackman, A. G. (2014). Five-coordinate [PtII(bipyridine)2(phosphine)]π+ complexes: Long-lived intermediates in ligand substitution reactions of [Pt(bipyridine)2]2+ with phosphine ligands. Inorganic Chemistry, 53(7), 3595-3605. doi: 10.1021/ic403089j
Lewis, J. E. M., & Crowley, J. D. (2014). Exo- and endo-hedral interactions of counteranions with tetracationic Pd2L4 metallosupramolecular architectures. Supramolecular Chemistry, 26(3-4), 173-181.
Lewis, J. E. M., Elliott, A. B. S., McAdam, C. J., Gordon, K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2014). 'Click' to functionalise: Synthesis, characterisation and enhancement of the physical properties of a series of exo- and endo-functionalised Pd2L4 nanocages. Chemical Science, 5, 1833-1843. doi: 10.1039/C4SC00434E
Noor, A., Lo, W. K. C., Moratti, S. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2014). CuAAC "click" active-template synthesis of functionalised [2]rotaxanes using small exo-substituted macrocycles: How small is too small? Chemical Communications, 50, 7044-7047. doi: 10.1039/c4cc03077j
Scott, S. Ø., Shaffer, K. J., McAdam, C. J., & Crowley, J. D. (2014). 5-Ferrocenyl-2,2′-bipyridine ligands: Synthesis, palladium(II) and copper(I) complexes, optical and electrochemical properties. RSC Advances, 4(67), 35726-35734. doi: 10.1039/c4ra05333h
Noor, A., Moratti, S. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2014). Active-template synthesis of "click" [2]rotaxane ligands: Self-assembly of mechanically interlocked metallo-supramolecular dimers, macrocycles and oligomers. Chemical Science, 5(11), 4283-4290. doi: 10.1039/c4sc01438c
Kim, T. Y., Elliott, A. B. S., Shaffer, K. J., McAdam, C. J., Gordon, K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2013). Rhenium(I) complexes of readily functionalized bidentate pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole “click” ligands: A systematic synthetic, spectroscopic and computational study. Polyhedron, 52, 1391-1398. doi: 10.1016/j.poly.2012.05.003
Cubanski, J. R., Cameron, S. A., Crowley, J. D., & Blackman, A. G. (2013). Low symmetry pyrazole-based tripodal tetraamine ligands: Metal complexes and ligand decomposition reactions. Dalton Transactions, 42(6), 2174-2185. doi: 10.1039/C2DT32200E
Anderson, C. B., Elliott, A. B. S., McAdam, C. J., Gordon, K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2013). fac-Re(CO)3Cl complexes of [2-(4-R-1H-1,2,3-Triazol-1-yl) methyl]pyridine inverse "click" ligands: A systematic synthetic, spectroscopic, and computational study. Organometallics, 32(3), 788-797. doi: 10.1021/om300868k
Lewis, J. E. M., McAdam, C. J., Gardiner, M. G., & Crowley, J. D. (2013). A facile "click" approach to functionalised metallosupramolecular architectures. Chemical Communications, 33, 3398-3400. doi: 10.1039/c3cc41209a
Cavigliasso, G., Stranger, R., Lo, W. K. C., Crowley, J. D., & Blackman, A. G. (2013). The nature of species derived from [Pt(bipy)2]2+ in aqueous solution: X-ray structural, mass spectral, NMR, and computational studies. Polyhedron, 64, 238-246. doi: 10.1016/j.poly.2013.05.004
Vellas, S. K., Lewis, J. E. M., Shankar, M., Sagatova, A., Tyndall, J. D. A., Monk, B. C., Fitchett, C. M., Hanton, L. R., & Crowley, J. D. (2013). [Fe2L3]4+ cylinders derived from bis(bidentate) 2-pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole "click" ligands: Synthesis, structures and exploration of biological activity. Molecules, 18(6), 6383-6407. doi: 10.3390/molecules18066383
Lewis, J. E. M., & Crowley, J. D. (2013). Copper(II) complexes of a tripyridyl ligand: Anion-dependent metallosupramolecular structures. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 66(11), 1447-1454. doi: 10.1071/CH13379
Wright, J. R., Young, P. C., Lucas, N. T., Lee, A.-L., & Crowley, J. D. (2013). Gold(I) and Palladium(II) complexes of 1,3,4-trisubstituted 1,2,3-triazol-5-ylidene "click" carbenes: Systematic study of the electronic and steric influence on catalytic activity. Organometallics, 32(23), 7065-7076. doi: 10.1021/om400773n
Wright, J. R., Shaffer, K. J., McAdam, C. J., & Crowley, J. D. (2012). 3,5-Diferrocenylpyridine: Synthesis, characterisation, palladium(II) dichloride complex and electrochemistry. Polyhedron, 36(1), 73-78. doi: 10.1016/j.poly.2012.01.028
Noor, A., Lewis, J. E. M., Cameron, S. A., Moratti, S. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2012). A multi-component CuAAC 'click' approach to an exo functionalised pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole macrocycle: Synthesis, characterisation, Cu(I) and Ag(I) complexes. Supramolecular Chemistry, 24(7), 492-498. doi: 10.1080/10610278.2012.688126
Anderson, C. B., Elliott, A. B. S., Lewis, J. E. M., McAdam, C. J., Gordon, K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2012). fac-Re(CO)3 complexes of 2,6-bis(4-substituted-1,2,3-triazol-1-ylmethyl)-pyridine "click" ligands: Synthesis, characterisation and photophysical properties. Dalton Transactions, 48, 14625-14632. doi: 10.1039/c2dt31569f
Kilpin, K. J., Paul, U. S. D., Lee, A.-L., & Crowley, J. D. (2011). Gold(I) "click" 1,2,3-triazolylidenes: Synthesis, self-assembly and catalysis. Chemical Communications, 47(1), 328-330. doi: 10.1039/c0cc02185g
Kilpin, K. J., Gavey, E. L., McAdam, C. J., Anderson, C. B., Lind, S. J., Keep, C. C., Gordon, K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2011). Palladium(II) complexes of readily functionalized bidentate 2-pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole ″Click″ ligands: A synthetic, structural, spectroscopic, and computational study. Inorganic Chemistry, 50, 6334-6346. doi: 10.1021/ic200789b
Kilpin, K. J., Gower, M. L., Telfer, S. G., Jameson, G. B., & Crowley, J. D. (2011). Toward the self-assembly of metal—organic nanotubes using metal—metal and π-stacking interactions: Bis(pyridylethynyl) silver(I) metallo-macrocycles and coordination polymers. Inorganic Chemistry, 50, 1123-1134. doi: 10.1021/ic1020059
Scott, S. Ø., Gavey, E. L., Lind, S. J., Gordon, K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2011). Self-assembled palladium(II) “click″ cages: Synthesis, structural modification and stability. Dalton Transactions, 40, 12117-12124. doi: 10.1039/c1dt10551e
Crowley, J. D., Lee, A.-L., & Kilpin, K. J. (2011). 1,3,4-trisubstituted-1,2,3-triazol-5-ylidene 'Click' carbene ligands: Synthesis, catalysis and self-assembly. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 64(8), 1118-1132. doi: 10.1071/ch11185
Crowley, J. D., Bandeen, P. H., & Hanton, L. R. (2010). A one pot multi-component CuAAC ″click″ approach to bidentate and tridentate pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole ligands: Synthesis, X-ray structures and copper(II) and silver(I) complexes. Polyhedron, 29(1), 70-83. doi: 10.1016/j.poly.2009.06.010
Crowley, J. D., Goldup, S. M., Gowans, N. D., Leigh, D. A., Ronaldson, V. E., & Slawin, A. M. Z. (2010). An unusual nickel—copper-mediated alkyne homocoupling reaction for the active-template synthesis of [2]rotaxanes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132, 6243-6248. doi: 10.1021/ja101121j
Gower, M. L., & Crowley, J. D. (2010). Self-assembly of silver(I) metallomacrocycles using unsupported 1,4-substituted-1,2,3-triazole ″click″ ligands. Dalton Transactions, 39(9), 2371-2378. doi: 10.1039/b923211g
Crowley, J. D., & Gavey, E. L. (2010). Use of di-1,4-substituted-1,2,3-triazole "click" ligands to self-assemble dipalladium(II) coordinatively saturated, quadruply stranded helicate cages. Dalton Transactions, 39(17), 4035-4037. doi: 10.1039/c003683h
Kilpin, K. J., & Crowley, J. D. (2010). Palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes of bidentate 2-pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole "click" ligands: Synthesis, properties and X-ray structures. Polyhedron, 29(16), 3111-3117. doi: 10.1016/j.poly.2010.08.021
Crowley, J. D., & Bandeen, P. (2010). A multicomponent CuAAC ″click″ approach to a library of hybrid polydentate 2-pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole ligands: New building blocks for the generation of metallosupramolecular architectures. Dalton Transactions, 39(2), 612-623. doi: 10.1039/b911276f
Crowley, J. D., Hänni, K. D., Leigh, D. A., & Slawin, A. M. Z. (2010). Diels-Alder active-template synthesis of rotaxanes and metal-ion-switchable molecular shuttles. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132(14), 5309-5314. doi: 10.1021/ja101029u
Kilpin, K. J., Horvath, R., Jameson, G. B., Telfer, S. G., Gordon, K. C., & Crowley, J. D. (2010). Pyridyl gold(I) alkynyls: A synthetic, structural, spectroscopic, and computational study. Organometallics, 29(23), 6186-6195. doi: 10.1021/om1003978
Crowley, J. D., Bandeen, P. H., & Hanton, L. R. (2009). 1-(3-Bromopropyl)-4-(2-pyridyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole. Acta Crystallographica Section E, E65, o999-01000. doi: 10.1107/s1600536809012148
Crowley, J. D., Goldup, S. M., Lee, A.-L., Leigh, D. A., & Mcburney, R. T. (2009). Active metal template synthesis of rotaxanes, catenanes and molecular shuttles. Chemical Society Reviews, 38(6), 1530-1541. doi: 10.1039/b804243h
Crowley, J. D., Leigh, D. A., Lusby, P. J., Mcburney, R. T., Perret-Aebi, L.-E., Petzold, C., … Symes, M. D. (2007). A switchable palladium-complexed molecular shuttle and its metastable positional isomers. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 129, 15085-15090. doi: 10.1021/ja076570h
Crowley, J. D., Hänni, K. D., Lee, A.-L., & Leigh, D. A. (2007). [2]Rotaxanes through palladium active-template oxidative Heck cross-couplings. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 129(40), 12092-12093. doi: 10.1021/ja075219t
Aucagne, V., Berná, J., Crowley, J. D., Goldup, S. M., Hänni, K. D., Leigh, D. A., … Walker, D. B. (2007). Catalytic ″active-metal″ template synthesis of [2]Rotaxanes, [3]Rotaxanes, and molecular shuttles, and some observations on the mechanism of the Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-cycloaddition. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 129, 11950-11963. doi: 10.1021/ja073513f
Berná, J., Crowley, J. D., Goldup, S. M., Hänni, K. D., Lee, A.-L., & Leigh, D. A. (2007). A catalytic palladium active-metal template pathway to [2]Rotaxanes. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 46, 5709-5713. doi: 10.1002/anie.200701678
Crowley, J. D., Steele, I. M., & Bosnich, B. (2006). Protonmotive force: Development of electrostatic drivers for synthetic molecular motors. Chemistry: A European Journal, 12(35), 8935-8951. doi: 10.1002/chem.200500519
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Elliott, A. B. S., Kim, T. Y., Shaffer, K. J., McAdam, C. J., Crowley, J. D., & Gordon, K. C. (2013). Spectroscopic and computational studies of a family of bidentate pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole rhenium (I) complexes. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (AMN6). [USB Memory Stick] [Abstract]
Aucagne, V., Berná, J., Crowley, J. D., Goldup, S. M., Hänni, K. D., Lee, A.-L., & et al (2008). Active metal-template approaches to rotaxanes. Proceedings of the Inorganic Chemistry Conference. (pp. 225). Christchurch, New Zealand: Department of Chemistry, University of Canterbury. [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)
McNeill, S. M., Robert, A., Knerr, K., Lewis, J., Crowley, J. D., & Giles, G. I. (2013, August). The potential use of palladium metallosupramolecular cages as drug targeting agents for cancer therapy. Poster session presented at the Queenstown Molecular Biology (QMB) Meetings, Queenstown, New Zealand.
Aucagne, V., Berná, J., Crowley, J. D., Goldup, S. M., Hänni, K. D., Lee, A.-L., … Walker, D. B. (2007, March). Active metal-template approaches to rotaxanes. Poster session presented at the Supramolecular Chemistry and Nanoscience Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Crowley, J. D., Leigh, D. A., Lusby, P. J., Mcburney, R. T., Perret-Aebi, L.-E., Petzold, C., … Symes, M. D. (2008, November-December). A protonmotive driven palladium containing molecular shuttle. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the New Zealand Society of Plant Biologists Combined Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Crowley, J. (2008, April). Functional supramolecular systems: Hydrogen storage and the development of molecular machines. Verbal presentation at the 3rd Korea-New Zealand Material Science Workshop, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Aucagne, V., Berná, J., Crowley, J. D., Goldup, S. M., Hänni, K. D., Lee, A.-L., … Walker, D. B. (2007, March). Active metal-template approaches to rotaxanes. Verbal presentation at the Supramolecular Chemistry and Nanoscience Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
