My interest in chemistry is broad ranging, but a core theme is an abiding interest in bonding - both in terms of bond formation processes and in terms of unusual bonding arrangements, whether it is the multi-centre bonding patterns of main group chemistry or orbital-based non-covalent interactions. The multiple bonding modes available to (transition) metals is a continuing fascination, and the formation of functional complexes has been a recent focus of research.
Since the concept of aromaticity was introduced during my school years it has continued to charm me, in particular the expansion to heterocyclic systems. Current interests include the oxidative interruption of aromaticity by microbes, the inability of chemists to duplicate this in the lab and the use of such microbial metabolites in natural product synthesis.
Reaction Mechanisms · Molecular Interactions and Supramolecular Chemistry · Medicinal Chemistry · Chemical Biology · Synthetic Organic Chemistry · Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry · Aromatic Heterocyclic Chemistry · Reaction Discovery and Synthetic Methodology · Natural Products Chemistry · Materials Chemistry · Crystallography · Density Functional Theory Calculations · Microwave-Assisted Synthesis · Flow Chemistry