Dr Paul Davies

Dr Paul Davies

School of Chemistry
Reader in Organic Chemistry
Senior Admissions Tutor

Contact details

Address
School of Chemistry
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Paul Davies runs an active research group focused in the areas of synthesis and catalysis. For more information on his research, please visit the Davies Group webpages.

Qualifications

• PhD in Chemistry 2003, Bristol University
• MChem in Chemistry with Year In Industry 1999, University of Sheffield

Teaching

Core courses taught in the undergraduate BSc and MSci Chemistry programme include:
• CHM1C3: Structure, Representation and Isomerism, Year 1 core module.
• CHM2C3: Synthesis and Mechanism - Reactive Intermediates; Year 2 core module.
• CHM4M2-III: Modern Methods in Synthesis - Transition-Metal Catalysis; Year 4 module.

In addition to full lectures and seminars, other regular teaching activities include:
• Small group tutorials.
• Undergraduate teaching lab and BSc/MSci project supervision.

Postgraduate supervision

The research conducted by Paul Davies and his group involves the design, development and application of novel synthetic transformations and strategies that allow them to prepare complex molecules more efficiently with less effort, cost and waste, and access unique chemical entities for application in synthesis and functional molecular design.

The group's research projects cover the following areas:

Reaction development
Transition-metal catalysis (using Au, Ag, Pt, Cu, Rh and Pd)
Synthesis of biologically relevant products
Mechanistic studies
Organic synthesis
Transition-metal catalysis
Organocatalysis
Organometallic chemistry

Other activities

  • Appointed Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Organic Division Council (2018-21)

Paul was previously:

  • Elected Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Organic Division Council (2015-18)
  • Chair of the Young Chemists Panel, Society of Chemical Industry (2014-2016)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Gillie, AD, Wakeling, MG, Greene, BL, Male, L & Davies, PW 2024, 'A laterally-fused N-heterocyclic carbene framework from polysubstituted aminoimidazo[5,1-b]oxazol-6-ium salts', Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 20, pp. 621–627. https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.20.54

Sekar, P, Gupta, A, English, LE, Rabbitt, CE, Male, L, Jupp, AR & Davies, PW 2024, 'Regiodivergent Synthesis of 4- and 5-Sulfenyl Oxazoles from Alkynyl Thioethers', Chemistry: A European Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202401465

Li, S, Du, H-W, Davies, P & Shu, W 2024, 'Synthesis of unprotected α-tertiary amines and 1,2-amino alcohols from vinyl azides by light induced denitrogenative alkylarylation/dialkylation', CCS Chemistry, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1060. https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.023.202302999

Jordan, EJ, Calder, EDE, Greene, BL, Adcock, HV, Male, L, Davies, PW & Jupp, AR 2024, 'Tuning the Electronic Properties of Azophosphines as Ligands and Their Application in Base-Free Transfer Hydrogenation Catalysis', Organometallics, vol. 43, no. 20, pp. 2674-2685. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.organomet.4c00302

Li, S, Davies, P & Shu, W 2022, 'Modular synthesis of α-Arylated carboxylic acids, esters and amides via photocatalyzed triple C−F bond cleavage of methyltrifluorides', Chemical Science, vol. 2022, no. 22, pp. 6636-6641. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2SC01905A

Li, S, Wang, Y, Wu, Z, shi, W, lei, Y, Davies, P & Shu, W 2021, 'A radical-initiated fragmentary rearrangement cascade of ene-ynamides to [1,2]-annulated indoles via site-selective cyclization', Organic Letters, vol. 23, no. 18, pp. 7209-7214. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.1c02519

Priest, J, Male, L & Davies, P 2021, 'Diastereoselective sulfur ylide rearrangements from gold catalysed oxidation of ynamides', Tetrahedron, vol. 78, 131757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tet.2020.131757

Heer, P & Davies, P 2021, 'Gold-catalysed cycloisomerisation of ynamides to access 2,2-disubstituted tetrahydrothiophene motifs', Synlett, vol. 2021, no. 00, pp. 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1434-4273

Davies, P 2021, 'Gold-catalyzed annulations with nucleophilic nitrenoids enabled by heteroatom-substituted alkynes', The Chemical Record, vol. 21, no. 12, pp. 3964-3977. https://doi.org/10.1002/tcr.202100205

Rist, P, Grainger, R & Davies, P 2021, 'Gold-catalyzed intermolecular alkyne oxyarylation for C3-functionalization of benzothiophenes', Organic Letters, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 642–646. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.0c03596

Simm, P, Sekar, P, Richardson, J & Davies, P 2021, 'Gold(I)-catalyzed synthesis of 3-sulfenyl pyrroles and indoles by a regioselective annulation of alkynyl thioethers', ACS Catalysis, vol. 11, no. 11, pp. 6357–6362. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.1c01457

Arce, EM, Lamont, SG & Davies, PW 2020, 'Sulfenyl ynamides in gold catalysis: synthesis of oxo‐functionalised 4‐aminoimidazolyl fused compounds by intermolecular annulation reactions', Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis, vol. 362, no. 12, pp. 2503-2509. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsc.202000134

Zhao, Y, Wakeling, M, Meloni, F, Sum, TJ, Nguyen, VH, Buckley, BR, Davies, P & Fossey, J 2019, 'Balancing bulkiness in gold(I) phosphino-triazole catalysis', European Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 2019, no. 31-32, pp. 5540-5548. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.201900850

Chapter

Davies, P & Priest, J 2024, Ynamides as Precursors of Carbenes and Carbenoids. in G Evano & J Zhao (eds), The Chemistry of Ynamides: Development, Syntheses, and Applications in Organic Synthesis. Jenny Stanford Publishing, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781032670997-7

Letter

More, NY, Rist, PA, Gupta, A & Davies, PW 2024, 'Regiodivergent Gold-Catalyzed Rearrangement–Addition Reactions of Sulfenylated Propargylic Carboxylates with Indoles', Organic Letters, vol. 26, no. 36, pp. 7713-7717. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.4c02853

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

The construction of organic molecules; use of catalysis to design new strategies to build molecules; pharmaceutical development.

Alternative contact number available for this expert: contact the press office