School of Chemistry

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Ranked 8th in the UK for research quality

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise the School of Chemistry had a Grade Point Average of 2.9 and 70% of its work rated world leading or internationally excellent.

The School has 38 research-active staff, including two Fellows of the Royal Society, and one Commander of the British Empire, supervising 120 postgraduate and over 40 postdoctoral workers.

Our areas of research are wide ranging and focus on some of the most important aspects of modern life including climate change, health, manufacturing efficiency and lifestyle. The total live grant portfolio in Chemistry is £15.6M, with an annual research spend of £4.5M.

Research sections


Research in the School is highly collaborative, and some of the major interdisciplinary centres with which we are closely involved are shown below.

Interdisciplinary groups

Staff profile

John Blacker

Professor of Process Chemistry

John Blacker
"I am interested in the development of chemical and process technologies to improve manufacturing efficiency. Examples include pharmaceutical route design, asymmetric transfer hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, asymmetric cyanation, biocatalysis, continuous flow processing."
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Facilities

Research is conducted in newly refurbished laboratories (£17M spent since 2000) which are amongst the best-equipped for research in the UK.

Our facilities (many funded through JIF and SRIF initiatives) include a suite of four 500 MHz NMR machines, a state-of-the-art CCD-based X-ray diffractometer, femtosecond laser systems, a category 2 microbiological suite and an automated robotic synthesis and purification laboratory.

  • Facilities in the School of Chemistry