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Benson Kariuki

Dr Benson Kariuki

Senior Experimental Officer in X-Ray Crystallography.

School of Chemistry

Overview

  • Structure: Polymorphism, supra-molecular assembly and structure-property relationships.
  • Solid state processes: crystal growth, phase transformations and solid state reactivity.
  • Materials: From organic salts to host-guest complexes.
  • Diffraction:   Single crystal diffraction, powder diffraction and diffraction physics.

For more information, click on the 'Research' tab above.

Publication

2024

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Articles

Conferences

  • Arora, M., Pineda, S., Williams, P., Harris, K. and Kariuki, B. 2017. Polymorphic adaptation. Presented at: 17th International Conference, CAAD Futures 2017, Istanbul, 12-14 July 2017 Presented at Çağdaş, G. et al. eds.Future Trajectories of Computation in Design. Istanbul: Istanbul Technical University pp. 474-491.
  • Pineda, S., Arora, M., Williams, P. A., Kariuki, B. and Harris, K. D. M. 2016. The Grammar of crystallographic expression. Presented at: Acadia 2016, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 27-29 October 2016Acadia 2016 Posthuman Frontiers: Data, Designers, and Cognitive Machines: Projects Catalog of the 36th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture. Ann Arbor: Acadia Publishing Company pp. 236-243.
  • Sutter, J. P., Dolbnya, I. P., Collins, S. P., Harris, K. D. M., Edwards-Gau, G. R., Kariuki, B. and Palmer, B. A. 2016. Novel technique for spatially resolved imaging of molecular bond orientations using x-ray birefringence. Presented at: 12th Annual Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation - SRI2015, New York City, NY, USA, 6-10 July 2015Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation - SRI2015, Vol. 1741. American Institute of Physics pp. 50009., (10.1063/1.4952929)

Research

Polymorphs are fascinating because they represent special cases where the delicate balance between intra-crystal interactions gives rise to alternative results. Investigation of polymorphism provides some insight into the subtle interplay between the forces involved. An understanding of such interactions and the resulting structural patterns is clearly a prerequisite to materials design.

Of particular interest is reactivity in the solid state, with the ideal process occurring in crystalline materials. The results can be starkly different in comparison to reactions in the fluid state; for example, unique products may be obtained in pure form, i.e. uncontaminated by impurities or solvents. A distinct product may also be obtained for each form in polymorphic systems. An aim of the research in this area is to understand and subsequently control the crystallisation process in order to influence the reaction products.

Teaching

CH0004 Inorganic and Redox Chemistry

CH3104 Introduction to the Solid State and Applications of Spectroscopy

CH2112 Forensic Chemistry

CH3407 Advanced Materials

Details of modules can be found in course finder.

Biography

PhD, University of Cambridge (1990, W. Jones, Organic Solid State Chemistry). Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Liverpool (1990-94), University College London (1994-95), University of Birmingham (1995-99). Research Fellow in X-ray Diffraction, University of Birmingham (1999-2008). Appointed Senior Lecturer in X-ray Crystallography, Cardiff, 2008.