Jonathan Clayden's research group designs, synthesises and characterises molecules with dynamic three-dimensional shapes that allow them to react in unusual ways or to display functional behaviour. Over the last 30 years, these molecules have included configurationally and conformationally controllable organolithiums, atropisomers (molecules showing slow bond rotation) and dynamic foldamers (extended flexible molecules that nonetheless adopt well defined shapes).
He is particularly interested in making molecules that display functions typically characteristic of biology, and the reactions he has discovered allow access to classes of molecules that complement their natural counterparts. His early work on atropisomer dynamics and atropisomeric functional groups underpins current understanding of atropisomers in medicinal chemistry, and he has shown that dynamic foldamers can communicate messages over multi-nanometre distances by relayed conformational switching.
He is author of a globally acclaimed undergraduate textbook on Organic Chemistry, and was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry's Meldola Medal, Corday-Morgan Prize, Stereochemistry Prize Merck Award and Tilden Prize, and the Prix Franco-Britannique of the Société Française de Chimie. He has held two successive ERC Advanced Investigator Grants, and was elected Member of the Academia Europaea in 2022.
Professional position
- Professor of Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
