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Postgraduate Training:
Cancer Medicinal Chemistry:
4 year programme funded by CRUK
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Dyestuff Fading
It's amazing where a casual conversation at a Local Section meeting of the Royal Society of Chemistry can take you - but we've greatly enjoyed the journey into the world of Museum Conservation and where it has led us!
Historic Dyestuffs
We are interested in the light fastness of historic natural products dyestuffs (see Chem. Soc. Rev., 2005). In collaboration with Prof. Hamish McNab at the University of Edinburgh and Dr. Anita Quye at the National Museums of Scotland we have investigated the light-ageing of natural yellow flavonoid dyes such as those found in the plants weld (Microchim. Acta, 2008) and dyers greenweed, and red/black neoflavonoid dyes such as those found in brazilwood (Phytochemistry, 2005). From 2002-2005 we took part in the largest project funded under the EC FP5 Cultural Heritage Programme (Contract: EV4K-CT-2001-00048) on the Monitoring of Damage in Historic Tapestries (MODHT). This project scientifically assessed the effects of a range of factors such as original dyeing procedures, light ageing and other degradation processes, and past storage and conservation measures, on the strength of the wool and silk fibres which make up a tapestry. These results allowed us to conclude what were the most important determinants for long-term tapestry integrity. Since tapestries were used as ostentatious symbols of wealth, as well as for their artistic merit (many were designed by the leading artists of the day), the project involved collaboration with two royal palaces, Hampton Court Palace in London and the Palacio Real in Madrid, as well as the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Belgium. Sample sizes are necessarily very small, and we pioneered the use of LC-MS (Int. J. Mass Spec., 2009) for the analysis of historic textile dyestuffs.
Modern Dyestuffs
The photostability of dyestuffs is a modern problem as much as an historic one. With the rapid rise in digital cameras and home-printing of photographs the kind of problems that can arise can easily be seen in faded old pictures. Continuing our collaboration with Prof. Hamish McNab and with a CASE award from Avecia we have explored factors affecting the stability of some modern inkjet dyestuffs. The results of these studies are obviously confidential!