Professor Chris Willis

Professor Chris Willis
BSc(Lond), DPhil(Sus)

Professor of Organic Chemistry

Area of research

Natural Products: Synthesis and Biosynthesis

Office N310
Cantock's Close,
Clifton, Bristol BS8 1TS
(See a map)

Tel. +44 (0) 117 928 7660
chris.willis@bristol.ac.uk

Research summary

Natural products isolated from bacteria, fungi and plants from both marine and terrestrial environments are a rich source of compounds of medicinal and agrochemical importance. We have published >130 papers which centre upon:-

• Structure elucidation and total synthesis of natural products

• Design and synthesis of probes to elucidate biosynthetic pathways and enzyme mechanisms

• Enantioselective synthesis of amino acids and heterocycles

• Isotopic labelling, biotransformations and reaction mechanisms

Recent publications

Hesse, MJ, Butts, CP, Willis, CL & Aggarwal, VK 2012, ‘Diastereodivergent Synthesis of Trisubstituted Alkenes through Protodeboronation of Allylic Boronic Esters: Application to the Synthesis of the Californian Red Scale Beetle Pheromone’. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol 51., pp. 12444-12448
Killen, JC, Axford, LC, Newberry, SE, Simpson, TJ & Willis, CL 2012, ‘Convergent syntheses of 3,6-dihydroxydec-4-enolides’. Organic Letters, vol 14., pp. 4194-7

School of Chemistry

Professor Chris Willis