Professor Matthew Gaunt

Professor Matthew Gaunt is interested in the development of new catalytic chemical reactivity that allows us to make new bonds in organic molecules and open new areas of synthesis-driven chemical biology. His group’s current research focuses on C–H activation and visible-light photocatalysis for alkylamine synthesis, which are common features of pharmaceutical agents. They are also interested in developing new chemical methods to chemically modify proteins and RNA, and often utilize high-throughput experimentation to accelerate reaction discovery and development.

1702 Yusuf Hamied Professor of Chemistry

Matthew Gaunt is the 1702 Yusuf Hamied Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He began independent research in 2003, was promoted to Lecturer in 2006, Reader in 2010, Full Professor in 2012, and was Elected to the 1702 Chair in 2019. He graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1995 and was awarded a PhD from the University of Cambridge after studies with Dr Jonathan Spencer. He moved to the University of Pennsylvania on a GlaxoWellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship where he worked with Professor Amos B Smith III before returning to Cambridge as a Ramsay Memorial Fellow and Junior Research Fellow of Magdalene College when he worked with Professor Steven Ley.

Nature, 2021, 598, 597. Multicomponent alkene azido-arylation by anion-mediated dual catalysis.

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 21484. Selective Chemical Functionalization at N6-Methyladenosine Residues in DNA

Nature, 2020, 581, 415 A general carbonyl alkylative amination for tertiary amine synthesis 

Nat. Chem. 2020, 12, 76. Catalytic C(sp3)–H bond activation in tertiary alkylamines 

Nature, 2018, 562, 568. A protein functionalization platform based on selective reactions at methionine residues.

Nature, 2018, 561, 522.Multicomponent synthesis of tertiary alkylamines by photocatalytic olefin-hydroaminoalkylation.

Science, 2016, 354, 851-857, A General Catalytic β-C−H Carbonylation of Aliphatic Amines to β-Lactams 

Nat. Chem. 2015, 9, 1009-1016 A Steric tethering approach enables the palladium catalysed C–H activation of primary amino alcohols.

Nature, 2014, 510, 129-133, Palladium-catalysed C-H activation of aliphatic amines to give strained nitrogen heterocycles.

Science, 2009, 323, 1593-1597. A Meta-Selective Copper-Catalyzed C–H Bond Arylation.

1995

2023