Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
Currently working on the development of scalable photochemical and electrochemical flow reactors and their application in organic synthesis. Research interests include green and sustainable organic synthesis, catalysis and flow chemistry.
I was based in the Research Group of Prof. Sir Martyn Poliakoff and Prof. Mike George and I am working primarily on collaborative projects involving photochemistry and electrochemistry in flow. I was involved in a mixture of organic chemistry and the development of new and more efficient reactor designs.
In the laboratory of Prof. Simon Woodward I worked on two projects. The first of which was an EPSRC Impact Award for the scale up and industrial applications of DABAL-Me3 promoted formation of amides (See video below for handling AlMe3 vs DABAL-Me3 in air!). In collaboration with Aesica, Key Organics and Uniqsis, several different routes to large scale amide couplings have been developed. I have developed a large scale, cost effective synthesis of the DABAL-Me3 reagent itself. I have been working on understanding the kinetics of the large scale reactions, as well as carrying out the reactions using both commercial (Uniqsis, http://uniqsis.com/fcApplications.aspx) and custom built flow chemistry equipment (in collaboration with Martyn Poliakoff at Nottingham). Additionally, I have been expanding the scope of the DABAL-Me3 coupling reaction to encompass more challenging substrates. In the second EPSRC funded project, I developed new methodology for the synthesis of dichlorocyclopropanes from electron deficient alkenes using TMSCCl2Br.
Proof of concept project for the use of additive manufacturing techniques (Ultrasonic welding) in the construction of electrochemical flow cells.
Responsible for demonstrating a range of practical chemistry sessions (in several chemistry disciplines) and spectroscopy workshops to undergraduate students of all years with class sizes of up to 80 students. In addition, I was charged with taking care of students that required 1 to 1 assistance.