Previous members

Fellows

Ramsey Memorial Fellow

Bao Nguyen
2011-2012

Bao Nguyen has been a Ramsay Memorial Fellow at Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London since October 2010. He is working on activation of carbon dioxide for conversion into high value chemicals. His research interests include understanding and applying novel concepts in catalysis, using a wide range of state-of-the-art physical and analytical techniques. Bao did his PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, under the supervision of Dr John M. Brown. He then moved to Dr Michael C. Willis' group, where he developed the first Pd-catalysed coupling reaction employing sulfur dioxide. Before taking up his first independent position, he joined Dr Mimi Hii's group at Imperial College London as a post-doc, working to delineate the nature of the palladium species in different catalytic reactions and developing separation methods for these species. He left to take up a faculty position at Leeds University in August 2012. Nguyen group website: Nguyen group.

Postdoctoral Research Assistants

Yolanda Perez

2005-2007

Yolanda was a postdoc from Spain who did her undergraduate degree at the University of the Basque Country and the University of Saragosa. She completed her PhD at Bath under Dr Steve Bull and Dr Tony James on "New Strategies Using Binol-Boron Compounds in Organic Synthesis". In the Braddock group she worked on the synthesis of marine natural products.

  • "Bromonium Ion Induced Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation-Fragmentation in Model Obtusallene Systems and Structural Reassignment of Obtusallenes V-VII" - DOI
  • "The stereochemical course of bromoetherification of enynes" - DOI
  • "A biosynthetically-inspired synthesis of the tetrahydrofuran core of obtusallenes II and IV" - DOI

Romain Heck

2005-2006

Romain obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the University Henry Poincar Nancy I in 2003. He joined the group in 2005 and worked in collaboration with Dr Nick Long and Prof Henry Rzepa using computational modelling to explore the synthesis, theory and the catalytic ability of a new class of transition metallocomplexes.


Andrea Ruggiero

2007

Andrea finished his PhD with Professor AGMB Barrett at Imperial and then moved downstairs for a post-doctoral stint in the Braddock group. He looked at the stereochemical course of intermolecular bromoetherification of enynes. Andrea is currently working at the MHRA as pharmaceutical assessor withing the drug licensing division. In his spare time Andrea plays Capoeira and enjoys dj-ing around London.

  • "The stereochemical course of bromoetherification of enynes" - DOI

Rebecca Pouwer

2007-2009

Rebecca graduated from her Ph. D. in 2008 from the University of Queensland, Australia, under the supervision of Dr. Craig Williams. During her Ph. D., Rebecca researched the bridgehead alkynylation of caged bicycles with silver acetylides, and worked towards the total synthesis of trans-crotonin. She joined the Braddock group in October 2007, and worked on bromonium ion chemistry. Rebecca left to take up a post with David Chen in Singapore.

  • "The Reaction of Aromatic Dialdehydes with Enantiopure 1,2-Diamines - an Expeditious Route to Enantiopure Tricyclic Amidines" - DOI
  • "Clarification of the Stereochemical Course of Nucleophilic Substitution of Arylsulfonate-Based Nucleophile Assisting Leaving Groups" - DOI
  • "Bromonium Ion Induced Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation-Fragmentation in Model Obtusallene Systems and Structural Reassignment of Obtusallenes V-VII" - DOI
  • "The Generation and Trapping of Enantiopure Bromonium Ions" - DOI
  • "The stereochemical course of bromoetherification of enynes" - DOI

Muhammad Yaqoob

2008-2010

Muhammad completed his Master degree from Karachi and obtained his D. Phil from lovely Oxford (St. Peter's College) under the supervision of Dr Mark Moloney. There he worked on the total synthesis of Oxazolomycin. He moved to Imperial College to work on the biomimetic synthesis of medium ring ethers, marine natural products from Laurencia species. He enjoys running and playing football and badminton. At the end of his 2 year post-doc here, Muhammad went off to work with Dr Geoff Brown at reading University

  • "Intramolecular Bromonium Ion Assisted Epoxide Ring-Opening: Capture of the Oxonium Ion with an Added External Nucleophile" - DOI
  • "Epimeric Face-Selective Oxidations and Diastereodivergent Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation-Fragmentations: Computational Modelling & Total Syntheses of 12-Epoxyobtusallene IV, 12-Epoxyobtusallene II, Obtusallene X, Marilzabicycloallene C and Marilzabicycloallene D" 'Featured Article' - DOI

Gajan Santhakumar

2017-2018

Gajan graduated from the University of York, which included a year at F. Hoffmann La Roche AG, under the supervision of Dr. Rosa Maria Rodriguez Sarmiento. Upon the completion of his undergraduate degree he conducted his PhD guided by Prof. Richard Payne at the University of Sydney. His thesis focussed on the total synthesis of non-ribosomal peptide natural products. This was followed by a postdoctoral position within Prof. Mark Rizzacasa’s group at the University of Melbourne, working towards the total synthesis of myxobacterial metabolites. In 2017 he returned to London, joining the Braddock group as an EPSRC supported PDRA. In 2018 he left to take up a position at Sygnature Discovery, Nottingham.

  • "Tetramethyl Orthosilicate (TMOS) as a Reagent for Direct Amidation of Carboxylic Acids" - DOI

    Karim Bahou

    2018-2020

    Karim

    Karim graduated from the University College London with a first-class honours MSci degree, which included a final-year project under the supervision of Prof. Stephen Caddick and Dr. Vijay Chudasama working on hydroacylation chemistry. Upon the completion of his undergraduate degree, he conducted his PhD guided by Prof. Chris Braddock at Imperial College London working towards the synthesis of marine algae-derived brominated natural products, ultimately focussing in olefin metathesis, which included a year based at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) under the supervision of Dr Adam Meyer and Dr G. Paul Savage. Subsequently, Karim re-joined the Braddock group in 2018 as a post doctoral research associate (PDRA) position to further investigate aspects of olefin metathesis. In June 2020, he left to take up the role of Research Coordinator in Professor John Bower's group at Liverpool University. 

    • "Kinetic Benchmarking Reveals the Competence of Prenyl Groups in Ring-Closing Metathesis" - DOI
    • "A Relay Strategy Actuates Pre-Existing Trisubstituted Alkenes in Monoterpenoids for Cross-Metathesis with Trisubstituted Alkenes" - DOI
    • "Relay Cross Metathesis for the Iterative Construction of Terpenoids and Synthesis of a Diterpene Benzoate Macrolide of Biogenetic Relevance to the Bromophycolides" - DOI

PhD Students

Ben Perry

1999-2002

Ben graduated with an MChem from the University of Wales, Swansea in July 1999. For his final year project at Swansea he studied lithiation chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Keith Smith. He started his PhD at Imperial College in October 1999, as the first PhD student of Dr Chris Braddock. Ben's PhD was in the arena of Metal Free Asymmetric Catalysis. In 2003 Ben was working as a senior scientist at CellTech, Cambridge.

  • "Planar Chiral PHANOLs as Double Hydrogen-Bonding Donor Organocatalysts: Synthesis and Catalysis" - DOI
  • "Planar Chiral PHANOLs as Organocatalysts for the Diels-Alder reaction via Double Hydrogen Bonding to a Carbonyl Group" - DOI
  • "Improved Synthesis of (±)-4,12-Dihydroxy[2.2]paracylophane and its Enantiomeric Resolution by Enzymatic Methods: Planar Chiral (R)- and (S)-PHANOL" - DOI
  • "A Curious Aromatic Deacylation Reaction: Neighbouring Group Participation in pseudo-gemacylhydroxy[2.2]Paracyclophanes" - DOI

Jerome Peyralans

2000-2004

Jerome graduated from Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse in 1998 where he obtained his Maitrise of Chemistry. He started his PhD in June 2000 and worked on the synthesis of novel asymmetric catalysts for the Mukaiyama aldol reaction. After his PhD he went to start a post-doc in Germany.

  • "A General Synthesis of Five, Six and Seven-Membered Silasultones via Dehydrative Cyclisation" - DOI
  • "Ytterbium(III) Tris(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)methide. Preparation of a Highly Active Lanthanide Catalyst" in The Fluorous Handbook

Ai Matsuno

2000-2004

Ai Matsuno graduated in March 2000 from Keio University in Yokohama, Japan. For her final year project at Keio University, she studied the synthesis of glycosidase inhibitors, pseudo sugars and was supervised by Professor Seiichiro Ogawa. She started her PhD at Imperial College under the supervision of Dr Chris Braddock in October 2000, investigating the the use of tandem catalytic processes. She went on to start a post-doc in Germany in April 2004.

  • "A Silicon-Centred Tetrafunctionalised Reagent for the Cyclopropylmethylsilane Terminated Prins Reaction and a Concise Synthesis of Lyngbic Acid" - DOI
  • "The Cyclopropylmethylsilane Terminated Prins Reaction: Stereoelectronic Controlled Formation of (E)-Skipped Dienes Alcohols and a (Z)-Skipped Diene Modification" - DOI
  • "In situ tandem allylic acetate isomerisation-ring closing metathesis: 1,3-Dimesityl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidene ruthenium benzylidenes and palladium (0) phosphine combinations" - DOI

Roshni Bhuva

2000-2005

Roshni graduated from King's College London in July 2000 with a BSc. She started her PhD at Imperial College in October 2000 and worked on the synthesis of the fascinating polyhalogenated, bromoallene containing macrocyclic ether marine natural product Obtusallene IV.

  • "The stereochemical course of bromoetherification of enynes" - DOI
  • "A biosynthetically-inspired synthesis of the tetrahydrofuran core of obtusallenes II and IV" - DOI

Gemma Cansell

2001-2004

Gemma came to Imperial after graduating with an MChem from the University of Leicester. For her final year she worked for Dr Alison Stuart in organofluorous methodology. For her PhD she was investigating a novel method for catalytic asymmetric bromination. After her PhD Gemma was recruited by Pfizer at Sandwich.

  • "The Reaction of Aromatic Dialdehydes with Enantiopure 1,2-Diamines - an Expeditious Route to Enantiopure Tricyclic Amidines" - DOI
  • "Amidines as potent nucleophilic organocatalysts for the transfer of electrophilic bromine from N-bromosuccinimide to alkenes" - DOI
  • "Dimethylformamide, dimethylacetamide and tetramethylguanidine as nucleophilic organocatalysts for the transfer of electrophilic bromine from N-bromosuccinimide to alkenes" - DOI
  • "Ortho-Substituted Iodobenzenes as Novel Organocatalysts for Bromination of Alkenes" - DOI
  • "Bromoiodinanes with an I(III)-Br bond: preparation, X-ray crystallography and reactivity as electrophilic brominating agents" - DOI
  • "An Asymmetric Synthesis of Enantiopure Chair and Twist trans-Cyclooctene Isomers" - DOI
  • "(Diacetoxyiodo)-Lithium Bromide System as a Convenient Electrophilic Br+ Source" - DOI

Simon Ahmad

2002-2006

Simon was an Imperial graduate and started his PhD in 2002, working on paracyclophane chemistry.

  • "Amidines as potent nucleophilic organocatalysts for the transfer of electrophilic bromine from N-bromosuccinimide to alkenes" - DOI
  • "Dimethylformamide, dimethylacetamide and tetramethylguanidine as nucleophilic organocatalysts for the transfer of electrophilic bromine from N-bromosuccinimide to alkenes" - DOI
  • "A Preparative Microwave Method for the Isomerisation of 4,16-Dibromo[2.2]paracyclophane into 4,12-Dibromoparacyclophane" - DOI

Kiyotaka Tanaka

2003-2006

Kiyo graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2003 with a BA & MSci in Natural Sciences. His final year project under David Spring was the total synthesis of Laurifonine. Kiyo was sponsored by BASF for his PhD, jointly supervised by Prof David Chadwick in the Department of Chemical Engineering here at Imperial, and he was looking at aspects of olefin metathesis.

  • "Vacuum-driven anionic ligand exchange in Buchmeiser-Hoveyda-Grubbs ruthenium(II) benzylidenes" - DOI
  • "Anionic ligand exchange in Hoveyda-Grubbs ruthenium(II) benzylidenes" - DOI

Joanna Redmond

2004-2007

Joanna graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford, with a BA & MSci. Her final year project was with Dr Anthony Fairbanks. She started her PhD working on bromination in October 2004, was viva'd in December 2007 and left IC to work for GSK.

  • "The Reaction of Aromatic Dialdehydes with Enantiopure 1,2-Diamines - an Expeditious Route to Enantiopure Tricyclic Amidines" - DOI
  • "The Generation and Trapping of Enantiopure Bromonium Ions" - DOI
  • "Amidines as potent nucleophilic organocatalysts for the transfer of electrophilic bromine from N-bromosuccinimide to alkenes" - DOI
  • "Fractional crystallisation of (+/-)-iso-amarine with mandelic acid: convenient access to (R,R)- and (S,S)-1,2-diamino-1,2-diphenylethanes" - DOI
  • "A convenient preparation of (+)-(1R,2R)- and (-)-(1S,2S)-1,2-diamino-1,2-diphenylethane" - DOI

Savade Solanki

2005-2009

Savade did his PhD research towards the synthesis of a marine natural product. Before this he did a year in Tony Barrett's laboratory in the research of new agents for Photodynamic Therapy. Savade finished his thesis and moved to the Institute of Cancer Research for a post doctoral position in Feb 2009.

  • "Bromonium Ion Induced Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation-Fragmentation in Model Obtusallene Systems and Structural Reassignment of Obtusallenes V-VII" - DOI
  • "A biosynthetically-inspired synthesis of the tetrahydrofuran core of obtusallenes II and IV" - DOI
  • "Epimeric Face-Selective Oxidations and Diastereodivergent Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation-Fragmentations: Computational Modelling & Total Syntheses of 12-Epoxyobtusallene IV, 12-Epoxyobtusallene II, Obtusallene X, Marilzabicycloallene C and Marilzabicycloallene D" 'Featured Article' - DOI

Anna Monta

2006-2012

Anna is originally from Cyprus and came to the UK to study Chemistry at Imperial College London. She spent a year in Germany working for Boehringer Ingelheim, and in her final year she worked under Prof. Alan Armstrong's supervision on the rearrangement of "push-pull" cyclopropanes. Following her graduation, she joined the Braddock group, working on aspects of Gold chemistry and was awarded her PhD in 2012.

  • "Total Synthesis of the Marine Metabolite (±)-Polysiphenol via Highly Regioselective Intramolecular Oxidative Coupling" - DOI

Thaïs Cailleau

2007-2011

Thaïs originally comes from the sunny south of France and came to the UK to do her master placement in Steve Davies group in Oxford. She then decided to stay in the UK a bit longer and joined the Braddock group to do her PhD working on selective bromonium ion formation. She really enjoyed living in London and thinks it would be the perfect city with more real hot sun and fantastic french food! Thais got her PhD in late 2011 and started work at Syngenta.

  • "The Reaction of Aromatic Dialdehydes with Enantiopure 1,2-Diamines - an Expeditious Route to Enantiopure Tricyclic Amidines" - DOI

Karl Bonney

2008-2012

Karl did his undergraduate degree at Imperial College, doing his fourth year MSci project working towards the synthesis of the core structure of the anticancer agent Mitomycin C, under the supervision of Mimi Hii. He joined the group for a PhD, and worked on biosynthetically-inspired natural product synthesis. He got his PhD in January 2012 and went off to post-doc with Franziska Schoenebeck at ETH Zurich.

  • "Intramolecular Bromonium Ion Assisted Epoxide Ring-Opening: Capture of the Oxonium Ion with an Added External Nucleophile" - DOI
  • "A Unifying Stereochemical Analysis for the Formation of Halogenated C15-Acetogenin Medium-Ring Ethers From Laurencia Species via Intramolecular Bromonium Ion Assisted Epoxide Ring-Opening and Experimental Corroboration with a Model Epoxide" - DOI
  • "Epimeric Face-Selective Oxidations and Diastereodivergent Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation-Fragmentations: Computational Modelling & Total Syntheses of 12-Epoxyobtusallene IV, 12-Epoxyobtusallene II, Obtusallene X, Marilzabicycloallene C and Marilzabicycloallene D" 'Featured Article' - DOI

Jared Marklew

2009-2013

Jared did his undergraduate degree at the University of Sheffield working in Ahmed Iraqi's group on the synthesis of carbazole based conjugated polymers for use in photovoltaic cells. As part of his degree he undertook an industrial placement at Pfizer pharmaceuticals and started a PhD in the Braddock group in 2009 with a CASE award from AstraZeneca (Arrow Therapeutics). Jared developed methods for the generation and trapping of enantiomerically pure bromonium ions.

  • "Enantiospecific bromonium ion generation and intramolecular capture: a model system for asymmetric bromonium ion-induced polyene cyclisations" - DOI
  • "An Enantiospecific Polyene Cyclisation Initiated by an Enantiomerically Pure Bromonium Ion" - DOI

Alex Jones

2010-2014

Alex did his undergraduate degree at Cambridge University. For his final year he worked with Steven Ley on the development of polymer supported oxidising agents. He did his PhD jointly supervised by Chris Braddock and Alan Armstrong, working on reaction kinetics of halogenation reactions. He likes going to the cinema, going out with friends and reading.

  • "Catalytic asymmetric bromolactonisation reactions using (DHQD)2PHAL-benzoic acid combinations" - DOI

Lauriane Buisson

2010-2014

Lauriane graduated from CPE Lyon, in 2010, with a Master's degree. She carried out her Master's project in the group of O. Piva, at the University Lyon 1, working on the synthesis of selective ligands of 5-HT7 receptors for medical imaging. She started her PhD in October 2010 under the joined supervision of Dr Braddock and Professor Barrett, working on a medicinal chemistry project. She really enjoys living in London, and particularly likes travelling and meeting people from around the world.

  • "Approaches to design non-covalent inhibitors for human granzyme B (hGrB)" - DOI

Simon Sung

Bao pic2011-2015

Simon completed his undergraduate degree at Imperial College. As part of his degree, he was undertook an industrial placement at the Home Office Scientific Development Branch. Under the supervision of James Wilton-Ely, he worked towards the synthesis of multimetallic MRI contrast agents for his final year MSci project. Simon joined the group co-supervised with Dr Rob Davies and Professor Alan Armstrong, working on understanding aspects of copper catalysed reactions. In his spare time, he enjoys travelling and is a keen photographer. Simon left to take up a post-doc position at NUS Singapore working with Professor Rowan Young .

  • "Synthesis, Characterisation and Reactivity of Copper(I) Amide Complexes and Studies on Their Role in the Modified Ullmann Amination Reaction" - DOI
  • "Mechanistic Studies on the Copper-Catalyzed N‐Arylation of Alkylamines Promoted by Organic Soluble Ionic Bases" - DOI

James Campbell

2010-2015

James joined the group jointly co-supervised with Dr Rob Davies (chemistry) and Professor Andrew Livingston (chemical engineering).

  • "Hybrid polymer/MOF membranes for Organic Solvent Nanofiltration (OSN): Chemical modification and the quest for perfection" DOI
  • "Improving the permeance of hybrid polymer/metal–organic framework (MOF) membranes for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) – development of MOF thin films via interfacial synthesis" - DOI
  • "Fabrication of Hybrid Polymer/Metal Organic Framework Membranes: Mixed Matrix Membranes versus In-Situ Growth" - DOI

Shaun Wood

2012-2014

Shaun joined the group jointly co-supervised with Dr Rob Davies and Professor Alan Armstrong. He enjoys a lot a of fencing and badminton in his free time, as well as good food!


James Clarke

2012-2016

James stayed on in the group to do a PhD starting October 2012. He passed his PhD viva in September 2016.

  • "Epoxidation of Bromoallenes Connects Red Algae Metabolites by an Intersecting Bromoallene Oxide-Favorskii Mechanism" 'Hot Article' - DOI
  • "Epimeric Face-Selective Oxidations and Diastereodivergent Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation-Fragmentations: Computational Modelling & Total Syntheses of 12-Epoxyobtusallene IV, 12-Epoxyobtusallene II, Obtusallene X, Marilzabicycloallene C and Marilzabicycloallene D" 'Featured Article' - DOI

Ben Rowley

2013-2017

Ben started his PhD in October 2013 as a Pharmacat supported studentship jointly supervised with Prof Paul Lickiss. He graduated in November 2017 and joined Pharmaron.

  • "Tetramethyl Orthosilicate (TMOS) as a Reagent for Direct Amidation of Carboxylic Acids" - DOI
  • ''On the Use of Triarylsilanols as Catalysts for Direct Amidation of Carboxylic Acids'' - DOI

Karim Bahou

2013-2018

Karim did his undergraduate degree at University College London in Natural Sciences (MSci) and worked in Steve Caddick's group on the development of new methods for hydroacylation of C=C and N=N double bonds. Karim joined the Braddock group on a joint Imperial-CSIRO PhD studentship in October 2013 researching halogenated natural products as anti-malarial leads. Karim is a keen supporter of London Wasps rugby club and enjoys cycling and watching live music.

  • "Kinetic Benchmarking Reveals the Competence of Prenyl Groups in Ring-Closing Metathesis" - DOI
  • "Relay Cross Metathesis for the Ascent of the Terpenoids" - ChemRxiv

Quintin Lo

2015-2019
Quintin Lo starts his PhD in October 2015 as a Pharmacat supported studentship. Quintin completed his undergraduate degree at Imperial College. He carried out his final year project under the supervision of George Britovsek on the development of new catalysts for the oligomerisation of ethylene. In his spare time, he enjoys travelling and reading.

  • "Mechanistic and Performance Studies on the Ligand-Promoted Ullmann Amination Reaction" - DOI
  • "New Insights into the Reaction Capabilities of Ionic Organic Bases in Cu-Catalyzed Amination" - DOI

Yusrah Al-Gharebawi

Yusrah Al-Gharebawi

2016-2020
After completing her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Imperial, Yusrah started her PhD in October 2016 (DTG funding) and investigated the synthesis of medium ring ethers of the red algae Laurencia species.  In her spare time she loves to go boxing and  she won a postgraduate teaching award for demonstrating in undergraduate synthetic labs.

 


 Daniel O'Reilly

2017-2022
Dan joined the group for his MSci project where he looked at some aspects of bromoallene chemistry. He stayed in the group to start his PhD in October 2017 (DTG funding), where he is exploring the use of adamantyl groupings to kinetically stabilise reactive intermediates. In his spare time, Dan is an avid reader.  Dan graduated in 2022 and went onto Post-doc with Jeffry Winkler at Penn State University.

MRes Students

Daniel Lee Byrom

2010

Dan carried out his undergraduate degree at the University of Newcastle and moved to Imperial to undertake a MRes in Green Chemistry. In collaboration with Prof Tom Welton and Dr Chris Braddock, Dan was studying the use of ionic liquids in organic synthesis. Dan enjoys music production and riding his motorbike during his free time.


Daniel Perks

2011-2012

Daniel joined the group as a MRes student on the Drug Discovery & Development course. Daniel graduated from Durham University with a Masters in Chemistry and his final year project was based on novel synthetic methodology for the formation of nucleotide pyrophosphates with Dr.David Hodgson. His project at IC focussed on the development and in vitro potency testing of novel conjugates for use in the treatment of cholangiocarcinomas, jointly supervised with Duncan Spalding. Daniel graduated with distinction on the DDD MRes and went on to start his PhD wirh Dr Erik Arstad at UCL.


Alison Keating

2012-2013

Alison completed her undergraduate degree at Trinity College, Dublin. For her final year project she worked under the supervision of Prof. Patricia Melnyk at Université Lille 2 developing potential anti-Alzheimer's compounds. She joined the group in 2012 as part of the MRes Drug Discovery & Development program, jointly supervised by Dr Woscholski, to develop molecular probes and selective inhibitors for protein tyrosine phosphatases. She graduated with distinction in August 2013 finishing top of the class.


Günzu Oztas

2013-2014

Günzu joined the group on the DDD MRes programme jointly supervised with Rudiger Woscholski.


Kipras Tornau

2013-2014

Kipras joined the group on the DDD MRes programme jointly supervised with Rudiger Woscholski.


Joel Lee

2013-2014

Joel joined the group on the Green MRes programme jointly supervised with Rob Davies and Alan Armstrong.


Jonathan Kwan

2014-2015

Jonathan joined the group on the Green MRes programme jointly supervised with Paul Lickiss.


Monica Planchat

2014-2015

Monica Planchat joined the group on the DDD MRes programme looking at aspects of Antibody Drug Conjugates in collaboration with AntiKor Biopharma. She left to take up a PhD position at Kings College in October 2015.


Mary Rose Ropner

2014-2015

Mary Rose joined the group on the DDD MRes programme looking at aspects of Antibody Drug Conjugates in collaboration with AntiKor Biopharma. She graduated and immediately took up a position in London as a healthcare analyst.


Anna Duran Corbera

2015-2016

Anna joined the group on the Chemical Biology MRes programme jointly supervised with Rudiger Woscolski. She graduated with distinction.

  • ''(±)-Polysiphenol and Other Analogues via Symmetrical Intermolecular Dimerizations: A Synthetic, Spectroscopic, Structural, and Computational Study'' - DOI

Philipp Rhein

2015-2016

Philipp joined the group on the Chemical Biology MRes programme jointly supervised with Rudiger Woscolski. He graduated with distinction.


Albert Shi

2015-2016

Albert joined the group on the Catalysis MRes programme jointly supervised with Paul Lickiss. He graduated and stayed on in the Braddock Group to start his PhD as funded by the CSC.


Abi Giri

2015-2016

Abi joined the group on the Catalysis MRes programme jointly supervised with Rob Davies.


Fuyi Huang

2015-2016

Fuyi joined the group on the DDD MRes programme. He graduated with distinction.


Ziyao Lu

2016-2017

Lu joined the group on the Chemical Biology programme jointly supervised with Rudiger Woscholski.


Shijia Zhu

2017-2018

Shijia joined the group on the Green MRes course. She graduated with distinction.


Lu Yu

2017-2018

Lu joined the group on the Green MRes course.


Inyoung Cho

2017-2018

Inyoung joined the group on the Catalysis MRes course.


Tianyou He

2017-2018

Tianyou joined the group on the Chemical Biology MRes course.


Jeremy Xue

2017-2018

Jeremy joined the group on the Drug Discovery MRes course. He graduated with distinction.


Masih Nilforoushan

Masih

2018-2019

Masih joined the group in Jan 2018 to conduct his one-term BSc project. After graduating with a 1st class degree, he rejoined the group as an MRes student to work on the synthesis of some related natural product precursors. He also has some interests in the computational and physical chemistry, and was co-supervised by Prof. Henry Rzepa for his MRes project. In his spare time, he enjoys getting lost in the mountains.

  • ''(±)-Polysiphenol and Other Analogues via Symmetrical Intermolecular Dimerizations: A Synthetic, Spectroscopic, Structural, and Computational Study'' - DOI

Shuyang Sun

Shuyang

2018-2019

Shuyang joins the group on the Drug Discovery & Development MRes course. His project in the Braddock group focused on the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), jointly supervised by Dr. Gokhan Yahioglu at Antikor. His previous research experience included pharmacology projects on pulmonary hypertension and a diabetes relevant pharmacokinetics project.


Ziye Yang 

ziye

2018-2019

Ziye graduated from the University of Liverpool with first-class honours BSc degree and joined the group as a MRes student in Chemical Biology. His early research experience has mainly focused on organic synthesis, and his spare time goes into classical music and amateur chemistry experiments.


Ella White

Ella2018-2019

After graduating from Queen Mary University of London, Ella joined the group on the MRes Catalysis: Chemistry and Engineering course. Her research focused on methods for direct amidation of carboxylic acids with amines.


 

Man Sing (Jimmy) Wong

Jimmy Wong2018-2019

After graduating from City University of Hong Kong with a first-class honours BSc degree, ManSing joined the group as a Green Chemistry MRes student to focus on the direct amidation reactions of carboxylic acids with amines. His previous research experience included synthesising phosphorescent bioorthogonal probes and studying Immunometabolism.

 


Yuqin Xia

yuqin2020-2021

After graduating from University of Manchester with a first-class honours BSc degree, Yuqin joined the group in October 2020 as a MRes student in Catalysis. Her previous project focused on synthetic approaches of natural products. Now she is exploring new advances in copper-catalyzed Suzuki reaction, with joint supervision of Dr Rob Davies. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music and planting flowers.


Zeshu Yang

Zeshu2020-2021

Zeshu graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2020 with a first class BSc honours degree in Chemistry, focussing on the preparation and application of photoredox catalysts in organic synthesis for her final year project. In October 2020, she joined the group as a MRes student in Green Chemistry, working on from recovered palladium to multicomponent catalyst precursors as jointly supervised with Dr James Wilton-Ely. During her free time, she enjoys travelling and trying out Michelin starred and new restaurants.

 

MSci Students

Andrew Wildsmith

1999-2000

Andy did his final year project in the Braddock group, looking at Ru/Pd combinations for tandem processes.

  • "On the Use of Tandem Allylic Acetate Isomerisation and Ring-Closing Metathesis with Palladium (0) Phosphine Complexes and Ruthenium Benzylidenes as Orthogonal Catalysts" - DOI

Edward Walker

1999-2000

Ed joined the group in 1999 and looked at some silylcyclopropane chemistry.


Michael Badine

2000-2001

Mike worked in the Braddock group lab for the final year project of his Masters in 2000. He worked on the development of a novel Sakurai-type reaction. Mike left Imperial to do a PhD at Bristol University with Prof. Varinder Aggarwal.

  • "The Cyclopropylmethylsilane Terminated Prins Reaction: Stereoelectronic Controlled Formation of (E)-Skipped Dienes Alcohols and a (Z)-Skipped Diene Modification" - DOI
  • "The Cyclopropylmethylsilane Terminated Prins Reaction: Stereoelectronic Controlled Formation of (E)-Skipped Dienes" - DOI

Lynsey Geldeard

2001-2002

Lynsey did her final year MSci project in the group in 2001, working on the enantioselective synthesis of deacyl irciniasulfonic acid.


Margarita Rodriguez-Lens

2001-2002

Margarita worked in the Braddock group in 2001 for the final year project of her Masters. She worked on the development of a novel Sakurai-type reaction.

  • "The Cyclopropylmethylsilane Terminated Prins Reaction: Stereoelectronic Controlled Formation of (E)-Skipped Dienes Alcohols and a (Z)-Skipped Diene Modification" - DOI

Christopher Cullen

2002-2003

Chris undertook his final year project in the Braddock group with further studies towards the enantioselective synthesis of deacyl irciniasulfonic acid.


Alan O'Boyle

2002-2003

Alan's project involved developing a Z-selective Prins-type reaction.


Harun Rashid

2003-2004

Harun did the final year project for his Masters in the group in 2003, on the total synthesis of natural product Malyngamide A.


Gordon Douglas

2003-2004

Gordon worked in the Braddock Group in 2003 for the final year of his Masters at Imperial College. He worked on the development of [2.2]paracyclophane chemistry. He then went to do a PhD with Prof. Sue Gibson.

  • "A Preparative Microwave Method for the Isomerisation of 4,16-Dibromo[2.2]paracyclophane into 4,12-Dibromoparacyclophane" - DOI

James Kitulagoda

2004-2005

James was in the Braddock lab in 2004 for the final year of his Masters at Imperial. He was working on developing a medium-sized ring-closing model.


Patrick Philips

2004-2005

Patrick did his final year MSci project in the group in 2004, working on paracyclophane chemistry.


Dilraj Judge

2005-2006

Dil was a final year Masters student at Imperial College in 2005. She worked on the Prins reaction.


Lillian Kwok

2005-2006

Lil did her final year MSci project in the Braddock group in 2005, working on halogenated natural product synthesis and catalytic bromination.

  • "The Generation and Trapping of Enantiopure Bromonium Ions" - DOI

Simon Nance

2006-2007

Simon joined the group in 2006 and looked a catalytic asymmetric approach to a halogenated natural product for his project.


Bingli Mo

2006-2007

Bingli did her final year project in the group in 06/07 working on the synthesis of marine natural products the malygamides.


Daniel Trofimczuk

2007-2008

Dan did his final year project in the braddock group working on bromoetherifcation reactions.


Jennifer Lloyd

2007-2008

Jen joined the Braddock group in 2008 and looked at the possibility of using some nucleophile assisting leaving groups in the synthesis of the obtusallenes.


Serkan Osman

2008-2009

Serkan's project involves the biomimetic synthesis of natural products via enantiopure bromonium ions. In his past time he enjoys rock climbing and working on art, he also likes cooking when ever he gets the chance.


Tim Barrett

2010-2011

Tim joined the group for a summer undergraduate research project and decided to continue with the group for his master's project. Tim worked on and completed the total synthesis of (±)-Polysiphenol. Tim enjoys travelling around the globe as much as he can and visits back to his home county of Essex. He moved upstairs to start his PhD in the Barrett group starting October 2011.

  • "Total Synthesis of the Marine Metabolite (±)-Polysiphenol via Highly Regioselective Intramolecular Oxidative Coupling" - DOI

Ed Moore

2010-2011

Ed investigated rearrangement reactions of halogenated compounds. When he isn't in the lab, Ed enjoys sailing and also playing and watching rugby.

  • "Verification of stereospecific dyotropic racemisation of enantiopure D and L-1,2-dibromo-1,2-diphenylethane in non-polar media" - DOI

Alison Gao

2011-2012

Alison joined the group to work on the synthesis of halogenated natural products. After she graduated with a first class degree, she headed west to take up PhD position at Columbia University, New York.

  • "Studies Towards the Synthesis of Halomon: Asymmetric Hexafunctionalisation of Myrcene" - DOI

James Clarke

2011-2012

James joined the group to work on the synthesis of halogenated natural products. He graduated with a first class degree and stayed on in the group to start a PhD in October 2012.


David Freeman

2012-2013

Dave joined the group in October 2012 to do his final year MSci project on the total synthesis of a halogenated marine natural product. As part of his degree he completed a year in industry at GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage as a member of the fragment chemistry group. He can also play ukulele, make excellent haloween costumes and is currently trying his best to learn mandarin. He has two fish. Dave graduated in June 2013, and left to take up a PhD position with Hugo Bronstein at UCL.


Dan-Tiberiu Sbircea

2012-2013

Tibi joined the group in October 2012 for his final year project. He worked on the synthesis of a putative biogenetic precursor to the red algae Laurencia C15-Acetogenin medium ring ethers. In his spare time, Tibi enjoys cooking, ping-pong and fishing. He graduated in June 2013 with a first class degree, winning the runner up prize for best organic talk at the final year MSci presentations, and also the prize for best organic project. He stayed on at Imperial starting a PhD with Prof Iain McCulloch in October 2013.

  • "Proof-of-Principle Direct Double Cyclisation of a Linear C15-Precursor to a Dibrominated Bicyclic Medium-Ring Ether Relevant to Laurencia Species" - DOI

Jackie Leung

2013-2014

Jackie joined the group in October 2013 for his final year MSci project, looking at developing new radical chain processes. He enjoys bowling and cycling in his free time; learning Japanese is also one of his interests. He likes travelling and has been to several European countries over the years since he came to the UK.


Mariko Whyte

2013-2014

Mariko joined the group in October 2013 for her MSci project on the enantioselective total synthesis of a halogenated marine natural product. She had just come from a year in Industry in Germany working in the combinatorial chemistry group at Boehringer-Ingelheim. Outside the lab she enjoys cooking, hiking, and bell ringing.

  • "Studies Towards the Synthesis of Halomon: Asymmetric Hexafunctionalisation of Myrcene" - DOI

Wenyi Chen

2014-2015

Wenyi joined the group in 2014 for her final year project. Wenyi stayed on at Imperial for a PhD with Dr Mark Crimmin.


Janie Anka-Lufford

2014-2015

Janie joined the group in 2014 for her final year project. Janie stayed in London after graduating to work as a mentor in a Tower Hamlets' school


Iuliana Maria

2015-2016

Iuliana joined the group for her final year project working on halogenated natural products. Iuliana graduated with a 1st class degree and stayed on at Imperial to start a PhD with Prof Iain McCulloch .


Areeb Mahtey

2015-2016

Areeb joined the group looking at bromoallene chemistry for his final year project. Areeb graduated with a 1st class degree and left for Cambridge to start a PhD with Prof Shankar Balasubramanian.

  • "Stable Bromoallene Oxides" - DOI

Sascha More

2016-2017

Sascha will join the group investigating novel routes to polyene cyclisation precursors.


Daniel O'Reilly

2016-2017

Dan joined the group investigating aspects of bromoallene oxide chemistry.


Michael Cheung

2017-2018

Michael joined the group to look at some halogenated natural product derivatives.


Brendan Zhu

2017-2018

Brendan joined the group to look at some olefin metathesis chemistry.


Felix de Courcy-Ireland

Felix

2018-2019

Felix joined the group in October 2018 to look at some halogenated natural product derivatives. His previous experience included a summer research placement in the lab of Dr Andrew Ashley, working on the activation of dinitrogen using Frustrated Lewis Pair (FLP) chemistry. When not in the lab, Felix enjoys: exercising, drinking in the pub with Josh Davies and reading the second edition of Clayden’s Organic Chemistry. He grduated in 2019 and left to start a PhD at Bristol University.


Josh Davies

Josh Davies

2018-2019
Josh joined the group in October 2018 to look at some olefin metathesis chemistry. His previous experiences included Glycosyl Isonitrile and Nucleoside synthesis with the Barrett group during a summer research project. In his spare time, Josh enjoys singing in the choir, drinking in the pub with Felix de Courcy-Ireland and quizzing with his local team, The Mint Imperials. Josh graduated in 2019 with a first clas degree and remained in the Braddock Group to start a PhD on the new Synthesis 4.0 CDT programme. 


Diana Berheci

Diana2019-2020

Diana joined the group in October 2019 for her MSci project to look at some olefin metathesis chemistry. In the past, she has been part of an Imperial undergraduate team taking part in an international student competition, with the aim of designing a biosensor capable of detecting vancomycin levels in blood. She also undertook an UROP in the Craig Group to look at synthetic pathways towards morphine. In her spare time she enjoys travelling, karaoke and good coffee. Diana graduated with a first class degree and left to start a PhD at Oxford University.


Matthew Smith

Matt Smith2019-2020

Matt joined the group in October 2019 for his MSci project to look at some olefin metathesis chemistry.  He had previously undertaken a UROP under the supervision of Dr Kafizas into the synthesis of thin film layers of strontium oxide, titanium oxide and strontium titanate by chemical vapour deposition. In his spare time he enjoys exercising, watching football and travelling. Matt graduated with a first class degree and left to start a PhD at Liverpool University with Professor John Bower.


Lindsey Li

lindsey2020-2021

Lindsey joined the group in October 2020 for her MSci project to look at some metathesis chemistry of trisubstituted olefins. She has previously undertaken a UROP under the supervision of Dr. Kuimova to look at properties of asymmetric lipid bilayers. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and trying out new recipes.

 


Annie Rouse

2020-2021

Annie joined the group in October 2020 for her MSci project, to research iterative olefin metathesis chemistry for terpenoid construction. She has previously undertaken a UROP with Prof. Phil Parsons, looking at transition metal free ring opening reactions of cyclobutanols. In her spare time, she enjoys knitting inspired by geometrical shapes, cooking, and miniature painting. 

 

Harjinder Singh

 2021-2022 

Harjinder joined the group for his final year MSci project on investigating a new approach of triggering polyene cyclisations. He is strongly interested in the chemical industry and the new developments in the sector. Harjinder enjoys playing cricket, cooking new foods and travelling in his spare time. 

Tahmidur Rahman

2021-2022 Tahmidur joined the group in October 2021 for his final year project.

Agathe Viort

2021-2022 

Agathe joins the group for her final year MSci project on the synthesis of natural marine C15 acetogenin compounds via a bromonium ion-assisted epoxide ring-opening reaction.  She has a strong interest in the pharmaceutical industry and its sustainable development. In her spare time, Agathe enjoys yoga, cooking Latin American food and music.

BSc Students

Philippa Owens

2011

Philippa joined the group to investigate some kinetic resolutions of [2.2]paracyclophane derivatives.


Meha Shah

2012

Meha joined the group to investigate the synthesis of some fluorescent labelleled compounds.


Joel Lee

2013

Joel joined the group for his BSc project in Spring term 2013. He graduated with a first class degree in June 2013.


Jaren Soo

2013

Jaren joined the group in October 2013 for his final year BSc project. He studied the epoxidation of bromoallenes. When not in the lab preoccupied with getting a good yield of his products, Jaren can be found in the kitchen trying out new recipes to satisfy his cravings for food. He also likes to be up close with nature, be it the Gullfoss of Iceland or hiking up Mt Hallasan in Jeju Island, South Korea. Photography is also one of his other hobby that compliments his travelling. Other than that he could be just lazing on the couch on a Sunday afternoon with his Korean drama. He graduated in June 2014 with a first class degree.


Qamarul Bin Abd Rashid

2015

Qamarul joined the group in 2015 for his final year project, looking at an aspect of chemistry of bromoallenes.


Jenny Jiang

2016

Jenny joined the group for the Autumn term 2016 for her final year BSc project.


Shijia Zhu

2017

Shijia joined the group for the Spring term 2017 for her final year BSc project.


Panayiota Kelis

2017

Pani joined the group for the Autumn term 2017 her final year BSc project.


Masih Nilforoushan

2018

Mashi joined the group for the Spring term 2018 for his final year BSc project.


Milly O'Sullivan

2018

Milly joined the group for the Autumn Term for her final year BSc project.


Zhanglei Yan

Zhanglei2019

Zhanglei joined the group in the Spring Term for his final year BSc project.


Ben Bryant

Ben B photo2019

Ben joined the group in October 2019 for his BSc project.  Ben has previously undertaken a BioChemistry internship at Bath University where he helped research water purification methods using various strains of yeast. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, reading and socialising.

 


Lei Zhang

Lei

2020

Lei joined the group in Janaury 2020 for her BSc project in organic synthesis. Leis has worked as a data analyst for her two-month internship in FMC Asia innovation center in Shanghai. In her spare time she enjoys reading detetcive books and listening to Korean Pop Music.


Tamin Rahman

Tamim2020

Tamim joined the group for his final year BSc project exploring new aspects of ruthenium catalysed olefin metathesis.

 


Natnicha Limpaitoon

2021

Nan joined the group in January for her (remote) final year BSc project.