Graham Pattison

Dr. Graham Pattison joined the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at Brighton as Lecturer in Organic Chemistry in September 2018. Before this Graham held a Senior Research Fellowship at the University of Warwick from 2012, where he developed a research programme developing useful new synthetic methods for the preparation of functional molecules, particularly focussing on fluorination of drug-like molecules, organoboron building blocks and catalysis. From 2009-2012, he worked as a postdoc in the lab of Prof. Hon Wai Lam at the University of Edinburgh, where he developed interests in asymmetric catalysis, examining new Rh-catalysed addtion of boronic acids to unusual substrates. He was awarded his PhD from Durham University in 2009, working under the supervision of Prof. Graham Sandford, as well as a first-class MChem degree from Durham awarded in 2005.

The Pattison group work on the development of new synthetic methodology which will allow chemists to build useful functional molecules in a way which is simpler, more efficient, safer and more sustainable than currently possible. We work in two main areas:

1) Organofluorine chemistry - Over 25% of all drugs on the market today contain a fluorine atom, yet many fluorination methods are challenging to perform, unpredictable or even dangerous. We seek to develop new methods to introduce fluorine into molecules in a safe, convenient and simple way, and understand reactivity of these systems. We have developed methods for the synthesis of fluorinated ketones, which are useful building-blocks which were difficult to make previously.

2) Organoboron chemistry - Boron provides a useful functional handle to increase the complexity of molecules. Boron can act as a stable building block, which can be readily transformed into new functional groups, or used to construct new C-C bonds in molecular scaffolds. We have developed transition-metal-free couplings of organoboron compounds, including the first examples of homologative coupling of aldehydes and ketones, and a new method for regioselective difunctionalization adjacent to a carbonyl group.

I aim to teach students in a way which is accessible and presents complex key concepts in an easy-to-understand, yet comprehensive way. I try to make lectures as interactive as possible, and to give students opportunties to put new material they have learnt into practice.

I am also keen to give opportunities for undergraduate research, and try to allow students to take maximium ownership of a project, in a supportive environment.