After completing his PhD at King’s College London in 1993, Jim undertook two postdoctoral fellowships, firstly in Prof Eiichi Kimura’s group in Hiroshima University, Japan (1993-4) and then in Nobel Prize winner Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn’s group at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France (1994-5).
In 1995, he returned to the UK to take up a Lectureship in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Exeter. In 2005, Jim moved to the University of Birmingham and in 2009 commenced his EPSRC Leadership Fellowship, which will run until 2014.
Research Themes
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DNA synthesis and DNA sensing
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Supramolecular chemistry
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Ferrocene and anthracene chemistry
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Molecular motion
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Chiral sensors
Research Activity
Research in the Tucker group is focused primarily on the design and study of functional supramolecular and DNA-based systems, which often contain redox-active or photo-active sub-units. Students and postdocs receive training in a variety of techniques, including molecular synthesis, DNA synthesis, fluorescence spectroscopy and electrochemistry.
For more information on current projects, many of which involve collaborations with research groups in the UK and abroad, please visit the group website.
Giordano, L., Hoang, C.T., Shipman, M., Tucker, J.H.R., Walsh, T.R. (2011), Aziridine Scaffolds for the Detection and Quantification of Hydrogen-Bonding Interactions through Transition-State Stabilization., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 50: 741.
Mirri, G., Bull, S.D., Horton, P.N., James, T.D., Male, L., Tucker, J.H.R. (2010), Electrochemical method for the determination of enantiomeric excess of binol using redox-active boronic acids as chiral sensors, J. Am. Chem. Soc.,132: 8903., ,: 8903.
Bedford, R.B., Betham, M., Butts, C.P., Coles, S.J., Hursthouse, M.B., Scully, P.N., Tucker, J.H.R., Wilkie, J., Willener, Y. (2008), Anion complexation via C-H...X interactions using a palladacyclic receptor, Chem. Commun.,2429., , 2429.
Moran, N., Bassani, D.M., Desvergne, J.-P., Keiper, S., Lowden, P.A.S., Vyle, J.S., Tucker J.H.R. (2006), Detection of a single DNA base-pair mismatch using an anthracene-tagged fluorescent probe,Chem. Commun.,50035003.
Molard,Y., Bassani, D.M., Desvergne, J.-P., Horton, P.N., Hursthouse, M.B., Tucker J.H.R. (2005),Photorelease of an organic molecule in solution: Light-triggered blockage of a hydrogen-bonding receptor site, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,44: 1072. ,: 1072