The Mountford Group: people

The Mountford Group: Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis

Laboratory Facilities | Visitor Information | Oxford Chemistry

Mountford Group 2011-2012

[Previously: 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999]

Matt Blake is a graduate of Bristol University where he carried out his undergraduate research project with Dr Duncan Wass. He is a member of Linacre College and is working on aspects of the metal-catalysed polymerisation of cyclic esters for the sustainable synthesis of biodegradable environmentally friendly polymers.

Lawrence Clark is a graduate of Oxford University and spent his Part II year in the Mountford group working on the development of early transition metal complexes for the polymerisation of olefins in collaboration with an industrial sponsor. He is presently developing new zwitterionic catalysts based on Group 3 and lanthanide metals for the efficient polymerisation of cyclic esters. Part of this work is being carried out in collaboration with Profs Glen Deacon and Peter Junk (Monash University, Australia).

Richard Collins is a new Part II in the group and is a member of St Edmund Hall. Richard is spending his Part II year working on on aspects of the metal-catalysed polymerisation of cyclic esters for the sustainable synthesis of biodegradable environmentally friendly polymers.

Lee Collins is also a new Part II in the group and is a member of Merton College. Lee is spending his Part II year working on the catalytic reactivity of the Ti=N-NR2 group.

Bryony Core graduated from the University of St Andrews. She is a member of Trinity College and is currently working towards her DPhil on ring-opening polymerization catalysis using rare earth and alkaline earth catalysts.

Laura Groom is a graduate of Oxford University and a member of St Hilda's college. Laura spent her Part II year in the Mountford group working ondeveloping new stoichiometric and catalytic chemistry of the Ti=N-R multiple bond, focussing on new C-N bond forming reactions. She is continuing to develoop this area in her DPhil.

Yong Huang is from Lanzhou University, PR China. Dr Huang is a Lecturer in the Research Institute of Coordination Chemistry and Functional Materials. He holds a China Scholarship Council scholarship that will allow him to pursue his interests in ring-opening polymerisation catalysis using Group 3 and lanthanide compounds. To see some of Dr Huang's recent work click here.

Philip Mountford is Professor of Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis and Acting Head of the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory. His research interests centre around studies of the synthesis, structure, bonding and reactivity of organometallic compounds of the transition metals and lanthanides. For further details follow the link at the top of the page. For a recent interview with the Royal Society of Chemistry's "Highlights in Chemical Science" magazine click here.

Chee Onn is a member of Trinity College and carrying out his Part II in the Mountford group. He is working on the N-C and Ti-C coupling chemistry of electron-rich/p-loaded poly(imido) complexes of titanium.

Andrey Protchenko is a post-doc in the group working on a collaborative project (with Dr Simon Aldridge and Prof Cameron Jones, Monash University) which is funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Andrey is exploring the chemistry of the metal-boron bond in a range of new supporting ligand environments. He worked with Prof Mike Lappert at University of Sussex on the chemistry of lanthanide complexes in low (+2 for La) or high (+4 for Ce) oxidation states [not shown in the 2010-2011 picture but click here to see him in last year's!]

Nick Rees is NMR manager for Inorganic Chemistry and an associate member of the group. Without Nick and his repertoire of very clever NMR experiments - not to mention keeping the two 300 MHz and the 500 MHz Inorganic NMR spectrometers going - we wouldn't be able to characterise and study most of the more exotic compounds we make.

Adam Russell is a graduate of Imperial College (MSci) where he worked with Dr David Scheschkewitz in the area of unsaturated molecular silicon species in his final year research project. Adam is a member of Balliol College and is now working towards his DPhil in olefin polymerisation catalysis in association with DSM Research.

Dan Schofield [not shown] is a graduate of Oxford University and spent his Part II year in the Mountford group working on the development of main group metal complexes for the polymerisation of cyclic esters. Dan is now working on the organometallic and related chemistry of titanium hydrazido complexes, and in particular new catalytic C-N bond forming processes. Theoretical aspects of this work is being carried out in collaboration with Dr Eric Clot (University of Montpellier). Dan is a member of Queen's College.

Liban Saleh is a graduate of Liverpool University and is working on the coordination chemistry of anionic Group 13 heterocycles with the early transition and rare earth metals. Liban is a member of New College. This work is being carried out in collaboration with Dr Simon Aldridge and Prof Cameron Jones (Monash University, Australia).

Andrew Schwarz graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with an MChem degree, and joined the group in 2006 as a DPhil student developing the catalytic chemistry of titanium, zirconium and aluminium using novel polydentate ligand systems. This work was targetted towards the living polymerisation of cyclic esters for biodegradable polymers. He is currently an EPSRC-funded post-doc working on the organometallic and related chemistry of titanium hydrazide and related complexes. This work is also being carried out in collaboration with Dr Eric Clot (University of Montpellier).

Richard Scott is a graduate of Oxford University and a member of Balliol College. Having spent his Part II year in the Mountford group working on a project for the development of new transition metal complexes for the polymerisation of alkenes, he is continuing the same area, also in collaboration with DSM Research.

Pei-Jen Tiong graduated from University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Malaysia with a BSc in Resource Chemistry. She obtained her MSc in Environmental Chemistry in the same university with research into phosphorus removal from aqueous solution. Pei Jen is now a DPhil student in the Mountford group working on the synthesis and reactions of Group 4 transition metal hydrazido complexes. Her work is also being carried out in collaboration with Dr Eric Clot (University of Montpellier).

Junjuda Unruangsri is a graduate of Oxford University and a member of St Hilda's college. Having spent her Part II year in the Mountford group working on developing the chemistry of the early transition metal M=N-NR₂ functional group, she is now working on the metal-catalysed polymerisation of cyclic esters for the sustainable synthesis of biodegradable environmentally friendly polymers. Part of this work is being carried out in collaboration with Dr Rob Duchateau (Technical University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands).

Return to: top of this page