Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences
Professor Clark has a research focus in the area of wine chemistry.
More specifically his research group studies the oxidative and reductive development of wine. Their aim to progress knowledge in this area to limit the spoilage of wine during its aging in bottle. This has involved detailed investigations into the reactions of phenolic compounds and/or ascorbic acid in wine, and the identification of the products eminating from such reactions. The involvement of metal ions in the wine development mechanisms has also been studied, and novel approaches have been developed to enble the measurement of different forms of metals in wine. Research has also been conducted on the impact of light on wine development.
Although many branches of chemistry are drawn upon for such studies, analytical chemistry is probably the underpinning discipline in the work conducted by Professor Clark and his research group. This has included extensive work with liquid and gas chromatographies, with their various detectors (i.e., QTOF, QQQ and SCD), and electrochemical and colorimetric analyses.
An example of the key outcomes emanating from the recent work by Professor clark and his research group are: