Dr Steven Bull
Profile
Synthetic chemistry is the cornerstone of the natural sciences where it serves as a fundamental technology for the preparation of structurally complex materials on a molecular scale. Complexity in molecules is often associated with chirality - the fundamental property of a structure that renders it non-superimposable on its mirror image. The synthesis of chiral molecules is a challenging undertaking and we are interested in developing novel, atom efficient strategies for the asymmetric synthesis of highly desirable chiral fragments. Towards this aim, my research interests can be categorised into four main areas - asymmetric synthesis, biotransformations, combinatorial chemistry and bioorganic chemistry.
Research workers within my group will be exposed to a wide range of 'state of the art' synthetic and analytical techniques which are ideally suited to a career in both academia and industry. For more information visit the Bull Group homepage.
Research Interests
- Asymmetic Synthesis
- Biotransformations
- Combinatorial Chemistry
- Bioorganic Synthesis
Publications
Bull, S.D., Davidson, M.G., Van Den Elsen, J.M.H., Fossey, J.S., Jenkins, A.T.A., Jiang, Y.-B., Kubo, Y., Marken, F., Sakurai, K., Zhao, J. and James, T.D., 2013. Exploiting the reversible covalent bonding of boronic acids : Recognition, sensing, and assembly. Accounts of Chemical Research, 46 (2), pp. 312-326.
Archer, R. M., Royer, S. F., Mahy, W., Winn, C. L., Danson, M. J. and Bull, S. D., 2013. Syntheses of 2-Keto-3-deoxy- D-xylonate and 2-Keto-3-deoxy-L-arabinonate as stereochemical probes for demonstrating the metabolic promiscuity of sulfolobus solfataricus towards D-xylose and L-arabinose. Chemistry - A European Journal, 19 (8), pp. 2895-2902.
Tickell, D.A., Mahon, M. F., Bull, S.D. and James, T.D., 2013. A simple protocol for NMR analysis of the enantiomeric purity of chiral hydroxylamines. Organic Letters, 15 (4), pp. 860-863.
Wakeham, R.J., Taylor, J.E., Bull, S.D., Morris, J.A. and Williams, J. M. J., 2013. Iodide as an activating agent for acid chlorides in acylation reactions. Organic Letters, 15 (3), pp. 702-705.
Fossey, J.S., D'Hooge, F., van den Elsen, J.M.H., Pereira Morais, M.P., Pascu, S.I., Bull, S.D., Marken, F., Jenkins, A.T.A., Jiang, Y.-B. and James, T.D., 2012. The development of boronic acids as sensors and separation tools. Chemical Record, 12 (5), pp. 464-478.
Peed, J., Davies, I. R., Peacock, L. R., Taylor, J. E., Kociok-Kohn, G. and Bull, S. D., 2012. Dihydroxylation-based approach for the asymmetric syntheses of hydroxy-gamma-butyrolactones. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 77 (1), pp. 543-555.
Taylor, J. E., Bull, S. D. and Williams, J. M. J., 2012. Amidines, isothioureas, and guanidines as nucleophilic catalysts. Chemical Society Reviews, 41 (6), pp. 2109-2121.
Metola, P., Anslyn, E. V., James, T. D. and Bull, S. D., 2012. Circular dichroism of multi-component assemblies for chiral amine recognition and rapid ee determination. Chemical Science, 3 (1), pp. 156-161.
Lawrence, K., Watkins, J. D., James, T. D., Taylor, J. E., Bull, S. D., Nelson, G. W., Foord, J. S., Long, Y. T. and Marken, F., 2012. Dioctylamine-sulfonamide-modified carbon nanoparticles as high surface area substrates for coenzyme Q10-lipid electrochemistry. Electroanalysis, 24 (5), pp. 1003-1010.
Taylor, J. E., Jones, M. D., Williams, J. M. J. and Bull, S. D., 2012. N -acyl DBN tetraphenylborate salts as N -acylating agents. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 77 (6), pp. 2808-2818.
Taylor, J. E., Williams, J. M. J. and Bull, S.D., 2012. N-acyl 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene (DBN) tetraphenylborate salts as O-acylating agents. Tetrahedron Letters, 53 (32), pp. 4074-4076.
Evans, C. D., Mahon, M. F., Andrews, P. C., Muir, J. and Bull, S. D., 2011. Intramolecular ester enolate–imine cyclization reactions for the asymmetric synthesis of polycyclic β-lactams and cyclic β-amino acid derivatives. Organic Letters, 13 (23), pp. 6276-6279.
Perez-Fuertes, Y., Taylor, J. E., Tickell, D. A., Mahon, M. F., Bull, S. D. and James, T. D., 2011. Asymmetric Strecker Synthesis of alpha-Arylglycines. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 76 (15), pp. 6038-6047.
Watkins, J. D., Ahn, S. D., Taylor, J. E., Bull, S. D., Bulman-Page, P. C. and Marken, F., 2011. Liquid-liquid electro-organo-synthetic processes in a carbon nanofibre membrane microreactor: Triple phase boundary effects in the absence of intentionally added electrolyte. Electrochimica Acta, 56 (19), pp. 6764-6770.
Peed, J., Dominguez, I. P., Davies, I. R., Cheeseman, M., Taylor, J. E., Kociok-Kohn, G. and Bull, S. D., 2011. Asymmetric synthesis of chiral delta-lactones containing multiple contiguous stereocenters. Organic Letters, 13 (14), pp. 3592-3595.
Watkins, J. D., Lawrence, K., Taylor, J. E., James, T., Bull, S. D. and Marken, F., 2011. Carbon nanoparticle surface electrochemistry: high-density covalent immobilisation and pore-reactivity of 9,10-anthraquinone. Electroanalysis, 23 (6), pp. 1320-1324.
Chen, W., Elfeky, S. A., Nonne, Y., Male, L., Ahmed, K., Amiable, C., Axe, P., Yamada, S., James, T. D., Bull, S. D. and Fossey, J. S., 2011. A pyridinium cation-π interaction sensor for the fluorescent detection of alkyl halides. Chemical Communications, 47 (1), pp. 253-255.
Collins, A. M., Watkins, J. D., Katif, N., Huang, Y. J., Jiang, Y. B., James, T. D., Bull, S. D. and Marken, F., 2011. Liquid | liquid electrochemical bicarbonate and carbonate capture facilitated by boronic acids. Chemical Communications, 47 (43), pp. 12002-12004.
Taylor, J. E., Jones, M., Williams, J. M. J. and Bull, S. D., 2010. Friedel-Crafts acylation of pyrroles and indoles using 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene (DBN) as a nucleophilic catalyst. Organic Letters, 12 (24), pp. 5740-5743.
Huang, Y. J., Jiang, Y. B., Bull, S. D., Fossey, J. S. and James, T. D., 2010. Diols and anions can control the formation of an exciplex between a pyridinium boronic acid with an aryl group connected via a propylene linker. Chemical Communications, 46 (43), pp. 8180-8182.
Aitken, D. J., Bull, S. D., Davies, I. R., Drouin, L., Ollivier, J. and Peed, J., 2010. An expedient asymmetric synthesis of N-protected (S,S)-2-Aminomethyl-1-cyclopropanecarboxylic acid. Synlett, 18, pp. 2729-2732.
Royer, S. F., Haslett, L., Crennell, S. J., Hough, D. W., Danson, M. J. and Bull, S. D., 2010. Structurally informed site-directed mutagenesis of a stereochemically promiscuous aldolase to afford stereochemically complementary biocatalysts. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132 (33), pp. 11753-11758.
Mirri, G., Bull, S. D., Horton, P. N., James, T. D., Male, L. and Tucker, J. H. R., 2010. Electrochemical method for the determination of enantiomeric excess of binol using redox-active boronic acids as chiral sensors. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132 (26), pp. 8903-8905.
Szot, K., Watkins, J. D., Bull, S. D., Marken, F. and Opallo, M., 2010. Three dimensional film electrode prepared from oppositely charged carbon nanoparticles as efficient enzyme host. Electrochemistry Communications, 12 (6), pp. 737-739.
Watkins, J. D., Lawrence, R., Taylor, J. E., Bull, S. D., Nelson, G. W., Foord, J. S., Wolverson, D., Rassaei, L., Evans, N. D. M., Gascon, S. A. and Marken, F., 2010. Carbon nanoparticle surface functionalisation: converting negatively charged sulfonate to positively charged sulfonamide. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 12 (18), pp. 4872-4878.
Bull, S. D., Davidson, M. G., Johnson, A. L., Mahon, M. R. and Robinson, D. E. J. E., 2010. An air stable moisture resistant titanium triflate complex as a Lewis acid catalyst for C-C bond forming reactions. Chemistry - An Asian Journal, 5 (3), pp. 612-620.
Andrews, P. C., Bull, S. and Koutsaplis, M., 2010. Homo- and heteroanionic alkali metal aza-enolate aggregates derived from o-methylvalerolactim ether. New Journal of Chemistry, 34 (8), pp. 1678-1691.
Watkins, J. D., MacDonald, S. M., Fordred, P. S., Bull, S. D., Gu, Y. F., Yunus, K., Fisher, A. C., Bulman-Page, P. C. and Marken, F., 2009. High-yield acetonitrile vertical bar water triple phase boundary electrolysis at platinised Teflon electrodes. Electrochimica Acta, 54 (27), pp. 6908-6912.
Fordred, P. S., Niyadurupola, D. G., Wisedale, R. and Bull, S. D., 2009. Palladium-catalyzed isomerization of exo-methylenic allylic alcohols. Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis, 351 (14-15), pp. 2310-2314.
Zhang, X. H., Paddon, C. A., Chan, Y. H., Bulman-Page, P. C., Fordred, P. S., Bull, S. D., Chang, H. C., Rizvi, N. and Marken, F., 2009. Voltammetric Antioxidant Analysis in Mineral Oil Samples Immobilized into Boron-Doped Diamond Micropore Array Electrodes. Electroanalysis, 21 (12), pp. 1341-1347.
Powell, M. E., Kelly, A. M., Bull, S. D. and James, T. D., 2009. A simple chiral derivatisation protocol for H-1 NMR spectroscopic analysis of the enantiopurity of O-silyl-1,2-amino alcohols. Tetrahedron Letters, 50 (8), pp. 876-879.
Cheeseman, M., Davies, I. R., Axe, P., Johnson, A. L. and Bull, S. D., 2009. A temporary stereocentre approach for the asymmetric synthesis of chiral cyclopropane-carboxaldehydes. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 7 (17), pp. 3537-3548.
Axe, P., Bull, S. D., Davidson, M. G., Jones, M. D., Robinson, D. E. J. E., Mitchell, W. L. and Warren, J. E., 2009. An enantiopure pseudo-C-3-symmetric titanium triflate with propeller-like chirality as a catalyst for asymmetric sulfoxidation reactions. Dalton Transactions, 2009 (46), pp. 10169-10171.
Galbraith, E., Kelly, A. M., Fossey, J. S., Kociok-Kohn, G., Davidson, M. G., Bull, S. D. and James, T. D., 2009. Dynamic covalent self-assembled macrocycles prepared from 2-formyl-aryl-boronic acids and 1,2-amino alcohols. New Journal of Chemistry, 33 (1), pp. 181-185.
Davies, I. R., Cheeseman, M., Green, R., Mahon, M. F., Merritt, A. and Bull, S. D., 2009. Efficient Asymmetric Synthesis of Chiral Hydroxy-γ-butyrolactones. Organic Letters, 11 (13), pp. 2896-2899.
Bull, S. D., Danson, M. J., Hough, D. W. and Royer, S., 2009. Engineering stereocontrol into aldolase catalyzed reactions. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, 238, 23-ORGN.
Yeste, S. L., Powell, M. E., Bull, S. D. and James, T. D., 2009. Simple Chiral Derivatization Protocols for 1H NMR and 19F NMR Spectroscopic Analysis of the Enantiopurity of Chiral Diols. The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 74 (1), pp. 427-430.
Richter, I., Warren, M. R., Minari, J., Elfeky, S. A., Chen, W., Mahon, M. F., Raithby, P., James, T. D., Sakurai, K., Teat, S. J., Bull, S. D. and Fossey, J. S., 2009. Solid-State Structures and Solution Analyses of a Phenylpropylpyridine N-Oxide and an N-Methyl Phenylpropylpyridine. Chemistry - An Asian Journal, 4 (1), pp. 194-198.
MacDonald, S., Watkins, J. D., Bull, S. D., Davies, I. R., Gu, Y., Yunus, K., Fisher, A. C., Bulman Page, P. C., Chan, Y., Elliott, C. and Marken, F., 2009. Two-phase flow electrosynthesis: Comparing N-octyl-2-pyrrolidone-aqueous and acetonitrile-aqueous three-phase boundary reactions. Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry, 22 (1), pp. 52-58.
Watkins, J. D., Bull, S. D. and Marken, F., 2009. Ultrasound mobilization of liquid/liquid/solid triple-phase boundary redox systems. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 113 (35), pp. 15629-15633.
Green, R., Merritt, A. T. and Bull, S. D., 2008. A cleavable linker strategy for optimising enolate alkylation reactions of a polymer-supported Evans' oxazolidin-2-one. Chemical Communications, 4, pp. 508-510.
Richter, I., Minari, J., Axe, P., Lowe, J. P., James, T. D., Sakurai, K., Bull, S. D. and Fossey, J. S., 2008. Intramolecular cation-pi interactions control the conformation of nonrestricted (phenylalkyl)pyridines. Chemical Communications
Kelly, A. M., Bull, S. D. and James, T. D., 2008. Simple chiral derivatisation protocols for NMR analysis of the enantiopurity of 1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diamine and N-Boccyclohexane-1,2-diamine. Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 19 (4), pp. 489-494.
Kelly, A. M., Perez-Fuertes, Y., Fossey, J. S., Yeste, S. L., Bull, S. D. and James, T. D., 2008. Simple protocols for NMR analysis of the enantiomeric purity of chiral diols. Nature Protocols, 3 (2), pp. 215-219.
Perez-Fuertes, Y., Kelly, A. M., Fossey, J. S., Powell, M. E., Bull, S. D. and James, T. D., 2008. Simple protocols for NMR analysis of the enantiomeric purity of chiral primary amines. Nature Protocols, 3 (2), pp. 210-214.
Potter, J. A., Kerou, M., Lamble, H. J., Bull, S. D., Hough, D. W., Danson, M. J. and Taylor, G. L., 2008. The structure of Sulfolobus solfataricus 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate kinase. Acta Crystallographica Section D-Biological Crystallography, 64, pp. 1283-1287.
