We are a synthetic chemistry group which uses a combination of organofluorine chemistry, catalysis and synthetic chemistry to tackle a variety of chemical challenges.

One of the main areas we are interested in is the development of new synthetic methodologies. Particularly in the areas of organofluorine chemistry and late-stage diversification of biologically relevant scaffolds. We try to develop new methods which are simple to perform, use commercially available reagents and which can be carried out under mild conditions. We wish to develop industrially relevant reactions and work alongside a variety of industrial partners to achieve this.

Recently we have been focusing on developing reactions across a variety of applications these have included:

New methods of deoxyfluorination and the application of in-situ acyl fluoride formation to various coupling processes.

Development of new fluorinated heterocyclic motifs.

The recycling and valorisation of fluorine containing waste streams in particular the use of commodity refrigerant gases as low cost building blocks for medicinal chemistry.

The development of new methods to generate metal chelating molecules for anti-cancer treatments and the use of organofluorine probes in the area.

Generation of new protecting group strategies using simple to install and remove fluorinated moieties.