Aggarwal Research Group
Research
Group Members
Resources and Activities
Our group interests lie in the field of organic chemistry, focusing especially on stereoselective synthesis, mechanistic studies and total synthesis of natural and non-natural products. The aim of our research is to design and develop new synthetic tools, allowing ultimately for the efficient and rapid synthesis of complex targets and biologically relevant compounds.
Recent News
April 2013
Congratulations to Johnathan Matlock for securing first prize from Syngenta Poster Competition held at Bristol University on April 24, 2013.
March 2013
Group reports in JACS: Highly Diastereo-and Enantioselective Allylboration of Aldehydes using α-Substituted Allyl/Crotyl Pinacol Boronic Esters via in situ Generated Borinic Esters.
- congrats Chen, Scott, Hesse, Willis.
- more details
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Group reports in Angewandte Chemie: Stereoselective Total Synthesis of (+)-Giganin and Its C10 Epimer by Using Late-Stage Lithiation–Borylation Methodology.
- congrats Fletcher, Wheelhouse.
- more details
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Dec 2012
Group reports in Angewandte Chemie: Enantioselective Synthesis and Cross-coupling of Tertiary Propargylic Boronic Esters Using Lithiation-Borylation of Propargylic Carbamates.
- congrats Benjamin, Laëtitia, Matthew & Alexander.
- more details
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Group reports in Angewandte Chemie: Diastereo-divergent Synthesis of Trisubstituted Alkenes through Protodeboronation of Allylic Boronic Esters: Application to the Synthesis of the Californian Red Scale Beetle Pheromone.
- congrats Matthew, Craig & Christine.
- more details
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Sep 2012
Sven Fritz won the prize for "Best Postgraduate Oral Presentation" at the 27th Postgraduate Symposium of the RSC Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group held at GSK in Stevenage.
Aug 2012
Group reports in Nature: stereocontrolled organocatalytic synthesis of prostaglandin PGF2α in just seven steps.
- congrats Graeme & William.
- highlighted in Synfacts, News section of Nature & Totally Synthetic"
- leading news story in C&EN News
- more details
- highlighted in Synfacts, News section of Nature & Totally Synthetic"
- leading news story in C&EN News
- more details
June 2012
Congratulations to Chun Chen who has been selected to take part in "Roche Continents - Youth! Arts! Science!" He is one of 100 students from across Europe who is invited to Salzburg in August.
May 2012
Cath Fletcher and Helen Scott won the 1st and 2nd prizes for final year Ph.D. talk in the Organic and Biological section in the department. Well done!
Apr 2012
Many congratulations to Varinder, who has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society! See the Royal Society website for the citation.
Apr 2012
Sven Fritz wins a runner-up prize at the 23rd Regional(South) Postgraduate Symposium on Novel Organic Chemistry organised by the SCI, for his talk "Bromoethylsulfonium Triflate: Tale of an Annulation Agent". Well done!
Apr 2012
The group reports the synthesis of enantioenriched tertiary boronic esters from secondary allylic carbamates: application to the synthesis of C30 Botryococcene in JACS (pdf, 1.47mb). Congratulations to Alex!
March 2012
Congratulations to Matt Burns and Stefan Roesner for winning the prizes for the second year Ph.D. poster competitions in Organic and Biological section in the School of Chemistry. Well done!
Dec 2011
Congratulations to Cath Fletcher for securing the best poster prize on her synthesis of giganin at the conference on 'Recent Advances in Synthesis and Chemical Biology' held at University College, Dublin.
Oct 2011
The group reports a new class of secondary alkyl organometallic-type reagents based on simple boronic esters in JACS. (pdf 1.2mb) They react with a range of electrophiles with inversion. The paper was highlighted in Nature Chemistry. (pdf, 706kb) Well done Robin and Tim!
Oct 2011
The group reports the total synthesis of (+)-erogorgiaene and each of its diastereoisomers (4 in total) using lithiation–borylation methodology in JACS. (pdf 1.2mb) Congratulations to Tim, Stefan and Ravi!
Sept 2011
July 2011
Congratulations to Muhammad Arshad who has been appointed as an Assistant Professor at the University of the Punjab, in Lahore. Muhammad Arshad’s Ph.D. work and poster prize was highlighted in National Newspapers in Pakistan on 31st May 2011, and in HEC's monthly magazine. (jpg). Well done Muhammad!
July 2011
Chun Chen receives the 2011 ICIQ summer school award from Institut Català d'Investigació Química, Spain. Well done Chun!
July 2011
Gayle Hallett receives the 2011 Bristol ChemLabS Postgraduate Teaching Prize. Many congratulations!
June 2011
The group welcomes a new Ph.D. student - Maziar Mohiti, and visiting students - Eva Torres, Juan Francesco Moya and Jason Hui.
May 2011
The group welcomes two new Ph.D. students - Johnathan Matlock and Phillip Unsworth, and a visiting student - Irantzu Couto.
May 2011
Graeme Coulthard (3rd year Ph.D.) wins first prize for best final year Ph.D. talk in the Organic and Biological section in the department. Well done Graeme!
Mar 2011
We report the stereospecific construction of quaternary centers from tertiary boronic esters with >99:1 e.r. in Angewandte. (pdf, 317kb) Article selected by the referees as a VIP
Paper also selected for front issue cover! Many congratulations to Ravi, Vishal, Kostas, Robin and Helen for this great team effort!
Jan 2011
The prepartion of C-tertiary amines with >98% ee is reported in Angewandte Chemie through the sequence involving lithiation-borylation-amination. (pdf, 296kb) Well done Viktor and Tim.
Dec 2010
Graeme Coulthard (3rd year Ph.D.) wins the "People's Prize" and Helen Scott (2nd year Ph.D.) wins first prize at the Bristol Pfizer Poster Symposium!
Nov 2010
We reported the stereoselective protodeboronation of tertiary boronic esters to give tertiary arylalkanes in >96% ee in JACS (pdf, 568kb). Good work Stefan, Ravi and Tim!
Oct 2010
The new Aggarwal Group web site is online!
Aug 2010
The group reports the total synthesis of solandelactone E via lithiation-borylation-allylation sequence as the key step in Angewandte (pdf, 341kb). Well done Anna! Paper highlighted on Totally Synthetic.
June 2010
The group reports new reaction conditions allowing for full chirality transfer in conversion of secondary alcohols into tertiary boronic esters and alcohols using lithiation–borylation reactions in Angewandte (pdf, 362kb). Well done Ros and Viktor!
May 2010
The group reports in JACS subtle issues related to the selectivity in S-ylide cyclopropanation reactions and their implications towards other related cyclopropanations (pdf, 745kb). Congratulations to Samantha, Chandreyee, Noelia, Emma and Eoghan.
May 2010
Anna Robinson receives the 2nd prize in 3rd year departmental post-graduate research talks. Well done Anna!
May 2010
A paper on the asymmetric synthesis of allylsilane appears in Angewandte (pdf, 347kb). Good work Michael and Fang! Paper highlighted in Totally Synthetic.
April 2010
Muhammad Arshad wins the Best Poster Award at the RSC South West Regional Meeting in Bath. Congrats!
April 2010
March 2010
A lithiation-borylation/aldehyde allylboration paper is published in JACS (pdf, 303kb). Congratulations to Martin, Adeem, José and Stephen!
Jan 2010
A paper describing Sulfur ylide-mediated epoxidation/aziridination including the synthesis of quinine and quinidine was published in JACS (pdf, 332kb). Congrats to Ona, Muhammad, Abel and Eoghan! Paper highlighted in C&E News and Chemistry World.
Jan 2010
Matt Webster joins Prof. A. Fürstner for a post doctoral position.
Dec 2009
Oct 2009
Varinder receives a European Research Council Advanced Grant.
Sep 2009
Varinder receives the 2009 SCI Process Chemistry Award sponsored by GSK, Pfizer, and AZ.
Jun 2009
Ros French receives Best Poster Award in departmental Pfizer poster competition. Well done Ros.
May 2010
Mike Shaw is awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Fellowship to join Prof. K. C Nicolaou at Scripps. Well done!
May 2009
Jonathan Killen is awarded best Ph.D. talk in the organic chemistry section. Congratulations.
May 2009
May 2009
Highlights
Sven Fritz secures the Best Postgraduate Oral Presentation at the 27th Postgraduate Symposium of the RSC Heterocyclic and Synthesis Symposium in Stevenage.- 18-th Sep 2012
Group reports in Nature: stereocontrolled organocatalytic synthesis of prostaglandin PGF2α in just seven steps...more -Aug 2012
Varinder has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society! see the citation 
Cath Fletcher secures the best poster prize on her synthesis of giganin at Dublin.-December 2011
Muhammad Arshad wins the Best Poster Award at the RSC South West Regional Meeting in Bath.-April 2010
Varinder appears on TV! Have a look.-April 2010
Mike Shaw is awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Fellowship to join Prof. K. C Nicolaou at Scripps.-May 2010
Varinder receives the RSC Stereochemistry Award 2009.-May 2009
Group reports in Nature: Highly Enantioselective Conversion of Secondary Alcohols into Tertiary Alcohols with Broad Scope...more-November 2008