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This thesis describes the preparation and study of fluorescent iodotriazole containing host molecules exploiting halogen bonding for the selective molecular recognition and sensing of hydrosulfide and other anions. Chapter One introduces the field of anion supramolecular chemistry, highlighting the areas of relevance to this thesis, including the non-covalent interaction halogen bonding (XB), and reviews artificial molecular receptors for the selective recognition and sensing of anion guest species, in particular hydrosulfide. Chapter Two describes the development of a series of halogen bonding coumarin based receptors, including acyclic, macrocyclic and mechanically interlocked systems. The synthetic procedures and characterisation of each receptor are described. The capability of each receptor to recognise anions in organic solvent media, coupled with the coumarin fluorophore's ability to relay and sense the binding event via changes in fluorescence, is explored using ¹H NMR and fluorescence emission spectroscopy titration experiments. Chapter Three builds on the results of Chapter 2, detailing the synthesis and characterisation of two generations of acyclic water-soluble halogen bonding coumarin receptors. The receptors, each employing water solubilising TEG groups, are investigated for their ability to recognise and sense hydrosulfide and other anions in pure and buffered water. Computational Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Molecular Dynamics simulations are used to corroborate the experimental anion binding observations. Chapter Four investigates the use of BODIPY as a fluorescent reporter group in anion receptor design. A variety of BODIPY-iodotriazole containing receptors are prepared, including acyclic receptors, mechanically interlocked molecules, and porphyrin-BODIPY [2]rotaxanes. The anion recognition and fluorescence emission sensing properties of each receptor are investigated in organic and organic-aqueous solvent mixtures. Chapter Five provides a summary of the main conclusions of this thesis. Chapter Six details the experimental procedures employed in this work, including synthetic protocols and characterisation data for novel compounds.

Property-led development and the relations between local authorities and private sector developers are topics that have formed the subject of much theoretical analysis in socio-legal studies, town planning literature and urban studies. However, there has been little examination of the network of contractual arrangements that underpin a property-led development project. These contractual underpinnings are important because they can facilitate the assembly of a development site. In addition, this network of contractual arrangements commonly stipulates both the terms on which a local authority transfers land it owns or has acquired to a private sector developer and a series of conditions to be discharged before a developer becomes obliged to commence construction of a development project. This research, therefore, offers an original contribution to knowledge through a detailed study of this network of contractual arrangements. It does so by asking research questions that are specific to a property-led development project in a small city called Winchester, situated in the southeast of England. Alongside these specific questions, the research considers broader questions designed to provide insights into property-led development and legal practices beyond the confines of the case study. The research particularly examines the use of contractual arrangements as an instrument of land assembly, and analyses the role of law and legal technologies in property-led development. By drawing upon recent scholarship in socio-legal studies, the research also questions the extent to which ‘time’ functions as an ordering device in the contractual arrangements commonly deployed in property-led development practice, and considers the extent to which this network of contractual arrangements produces and sustains a sense of movement along a defined development trajectory.

Small scale biomass burning stoves and boilers are growing in popularity in the UK and abroad, owing in part to renewable heat incentives and policies. However, combustion in domestic scale appliances is often inefficient and uncontrolled in comparison to larger systems, leading to high emissions factors of gaseous pollutants such as CO, NOx and PAH, as well as fine particulate matter (PM). Evidence is presented from 105 source apportionment studies from 31 developed countries showing that the impact of residential solid fuel (RSF) combustion on air quality is more wide spread that previously thought. Wood burning contributes to up to 95% of wintertime ambient PM in some rural communities in New Zealand, which is used as a case study throughout this work. Modelling work has shown that emissions from heating stoves may be underestimated in global climate models (GCMs) and UK residential wood consumption is forecast to increase by a factor of 14 between 1990 and 2030. By 2030, annual emissions of black carbon (BC) from UK wood stoves and fireplaces are predicted to exceed 3000 tonnes which is higher than the traffic sector. BC is the most important component of RSF radiative forcing, accounting for over 77% total warming effect. Model inventory and literature emission factors (EFs) for over 150 pollutants have been compared and contrasted, and compiled into a new RSF emissions inventory. Results are presented from experimental work on the emissions testing of a 6 kWth multi-fuel stove and three high quality cook stoves, burning a range of over 25 conventional and novel fuels including wood, coal, agricultural residues and torrefied wood briquettes. Despite a large resource of agricultural residues being available with lower EFs than open burning, their suitability as a residential solid fuel is uncertain. For example, straw briquettes had a measured density less than half that of wood logs and reed briquettes showed evidence of ash melting in the stove bed due to a high sodium, silica and chlorine content. It was found that PM and CO emissions were correlated to the content and composition of volatile matter within the fuel and NOx is linearly dependent on fuel nitrogen content. Mean whole cycle PM EFs ranged from 2.1 g kg-1 for wood logs to 4.2 g kg-1 for coal and 0.5 g k-1 for smokeless fuel. Torrefaction of wood has the potential to significantly reduce emissions, with PM EFs 49% lower than wood logs. However, emissions from all fuels were highly dependent on the duration of the flaming phase of combustion, during which EFs may be a factor of 5-9 higher than the smouldering phase. Heat treatment such as torrefaction removes 10-15% of volatiles, shortening the flaming phase and removing key species involved in the chemical soot formation pathways, which are discussed in detail. The physical and optical properties of collected particulate samples collected were also examined using electron microscopy and spectroscopy, which are useful for GCMs. Flaming phase particles had a high average EC/TC ratio ( > 0.9), a high carbon:oxygen ratio (93:5.4) and an Ångström Absorption Exponent (AAE) near 1 (0.9-1.2). After emission, it was found that particles undergo a significant increase in branching and oxygenation (C:O 88:10). The morphology of particles was also found to change following the injection of plasma into the flue, which is evaluated as a promising retrofit abatement technology.