Research at the Department of Chemistry
The research activities at the Department of Chemistry are organised under four research groups and focus on two major thematic areas; Energy and Sustainable Production and Molecular Life Science. A third major area, Marine Chemistry, is currently being developed..
Main content
Chemistry is a central discipline for gaining insight into and finding solutions to many of the major challenges facing our contemporary society. In line with this, the Department of Chemistry makes essential contributions to several of the strategic research and educational initiatives at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. We have ambitions to further strengthen and focus our efforts in the years to come. This is important for developing, articulating, and addressing the chemical dimension of these issues.
Most of the research activity at the department can be viewed in light of two fundamental themes: (i) Energy and renewable resources, and (ii) Molecular life sciences. Energy and renewable resources encompass the knowledge base and technologies for the green transition, such as carbon-free energy carriers (e.g., ammonia), biofuels, and biobased raw materials as a foundation for chemical synthesis and materials. The department’s nanoscience research projects include the development of materials for renewable energy (ammonia/hydrogen, energy storage), CO₂ capture, storage, and utilization (e.g., catalytic conversion of CO₂ into polymers), as well as the development of molecular catalysts applicable to biological resources. Molecular life sciences include, among other things, bioprospecting, the development and synthesis of compounds with biological activity and potential for therapeutic or diagnostic use. The initiative in bioinformatics through CBU strengthens the Department of Chemistry by providing methodological expertise in molecular modeling and cheminformatics, as well as relevant research challenges. The collaboration in pharmacy and the national NMR platform are additional factors that have led to significant activity and fruitful cooperation with research groups at the Faculty of Medicine and Haukeland University Hospital (HUS). The Department of Chemistry is also experiencing growing activity in marine chemistry and analysis, which includes molecular and structural characterization of marine biological material (e.g., distribution and composition of marine lipids and polyphenols), as well as isolation, purification, and structural elucidation of both marine and terrestrial natural products. This activity contributes to both of the aforementioned fundamental themes, for example through bioprospecting.