About James
James is originally from Barnstaple in North Devon, UK. He completed a Masters degree in Chemistry for Drug Discovery at the University of Bath in 2008, where he was awarded the Robert W. Bolland Memorial Prize for Most Outstanding Chemistry Graduate. James was the recipient of a University of Bath Ph.D. Scholarship and completed his thesis entitled “New Applications of Organocatalysis” in 2011 under the joint supervision of Dr Steven Bull and Prof. Jonathan Williams. In 2012 James spent time at the Université Paris-Sud XI on a COST short-term scientific mission fellowship in the laboratory of Prof. David Aitken.
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James subsequently moved to the University of St Andrews as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the group of Prof. Andrew Smith where his research focused on the development and understanding of new Lewis base-catalysed processes.
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In 2015 James began his independent research career at the University of St Andrews as a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow, focusing on the development of new catalytic processes for the activation of readily-available functional groups.
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In 2018, James returned to the University of Bath as a Lecturer in Drug Discovery and in 2023 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer. James is also the Chair of the Society of Chemical Industry's Young Chemists Panel.
Teaching
CH12003
Year 1 Laboratory
CH20160
Major Therapeutic Areas
CH3/40037
Synthesis of Medicinal Compounds
CH3/40068
Modern Physical Organic Chemistry
XX50228
Organic, Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
XX50229
Synthesis of Medicinal Compounds
Roles and Responsibilities
Years 3,4,5 Director of Studies, Chemistry
Deputy Director of Studies, MSc in Drug Discovery
Presentations and Conferences
2021
Emerging Academics Symposium, GSK
Catalytic Dehydrative Substitution of Alcohols
2019
Young Chemists 2019, Imperial College London
Catalytic Activation of Alcohols
2019
Advances in Organocatalysis, Society of Chemical Industry
Organocatalytic Activation of Alcohols
2019
RSC South West Organic Division Regional Meeting, University of Cardiff
Catalytic Dehydrative Substitution of Alcohols
2018
Modern Developments in Organic Synthesis, Society of Chemical Industry
N-Heterocyclic Carbene Catalysis
2018
Bolland Symposium, University of Bath
Catalytic Activation of Alcohols
2018
46th Regional Meeting of the RSC Organic Division, University of Edinburgh
Catalytic Activation of Alcohols
2017
Organic Symposium, University of Birmingham
Catalytic Functionalisation of Alcohols
2016
Organic Symposium, University of St Andrews
Catalytic Functionalisation of Alcohols
2016
MSMLG, University of Bath
Acylative Kinetic Resolution of Alcohols
2015
CASE 2015, Trinity College Dublin
Lewis Base Organocatalysis: Applications in the Synthesis and Functionalisation of Heterocycles
2013
Organic Symposium, University of St Andrews
Asymmetric Synthesis of Highly Substituted Lactones
2013
42nd Regional Meeting of the RSC Organic Division, Heriot-Watt University
NHCs in Organocatalysis: Stereospecificity and Mechanistic Insights
2012
Organic Symposium, Universite Paris-Sud XI
Asymmetric Synthesis of Highly Substituted Lactones
2011
CASE 2011, University of Birmingham
DBN as an Efficient Acyl Transfer Agent
2011
ACS Pacifichem 2010, Hawaii, U.S.
Organocatalytic C-Acylation of N-Alkyl Pyrroles and Indoles