Personal statement
John Parkinson is a career-track academic applications specialist in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with a wealth of interdisciplinary research experience. He is head of NMR spectroscopy at Strathclyde having joined the University in November 2001 from positions as NMR spectroscopist with the Metals-in-Medicine group and the EPSRC National Ultra High Field NMR Facility at the University of Edinburgh (1990-2001).
Expertise
Has expertise in:
John is an expert in the solution-phase aspects of NMR spectroscopy and has wide knowledge of practical experimental NMR methods, NMR instrumentation, NMR data handling and interpretation, NMR laboratory management as well as skills in writing, teaching, molecular modelling, research project supervision, examining at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and disemination of research findings through conference oral and poster presentations. John is also involved in shaping future national UK-wide and local area policy on NMR equipment provision and is a serving member (honourary treasurer) of the Royal Society of Chemistry NMR Discussion Group.
Prizes and awards
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
- Recipient
- 2010
More prizes and awards
Qualifications
John qualified with a PhD from the University of Leeds (1989) and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).
Teaching
John teaches NMR spectroscopy to third year undergraduate Chemistry students and Biomolecular, Structure, Dynamics and Mechanism to final year Chemistry with Drug Discovery and postgraduate diploma in Medicinal Chemistry. He also delivers a course in NMR spectroscopy to postgraduate researchers.
Research interests
Research interests include understanding the factors that drive molecular recognition and assembly in biomolecular systems, exploring enzyme reactivity and substrate demand in the context of complex natural product mixtures, defining applications for new experimental developments in the field of NMR spectroscopy, monitoring chemical and biochemical reaction processes and in understanding molecular structure, dynamics and mechanism in the broadest sense.
Professional activities
- EUROMAR 2023
- Chair
- 9/7/2023
- In Cell NMR – Developing Cellular Characterization Tools for Oligonucleotide Therapeutics
- Speaker
- 17/5/2023
- New NMR Methods and their Applications in Mechanistic Study
- Examiner
- 20/9/2022
- Scottish NMR Users Group (SNUG) 2022 Meeting
- Organiser
- 31/8/2022
- EUROMAR (External organisation)
- Member
- 1/7/2022
- STEM Tutoring Pilot Study for Care Experienced and Vulnerable Children
- Advisor
- 25/4/2022
More professional activities
Projects
- Doctoral Training Partnership 2018-19 University of Strathclyde | Mullen, Declan
- Moreira, Vania (Principal Investigator) Parkinson, John (Co-investigator) Mullen, Declan (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2018 - 01-Jan-2021
- A National Network for Applications of High-Field NMR in the Life and Physical Sciences
- Parkinson, John (Principal Investigator)
- A National Network for Applications of High-Field NMR in the Life and Physical Sciences
- 01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2021
- MGB Formulations
- Suckling, Colin (Principal Investigator) Graham, Duncan (Co-investigator) Parkinson, John (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2012 - 30-Jan-2012
- Photocatalysis for Organic Synthesis
- Mills, Andrew (Principal Investigator) Parkinson, John (Co-investigator)
- Inorganic semiconductors such as TiO2 are known to generate free radicals when irradiated with UV-visible light in the presence of suitable substrates. This project will explore the chemistry of such radicals with the particular objective of identifying and optimising free radical addition reactions which will be beneficial in organic synthesis. Organic synthesis driven by heterogeneous photocatalysis is environmentally and economically attractive, and has the potential to achieve higher selectivity to desired products than conventional routes. We propose to explore a wide range of free radical addition reactions initiated by the known photo-Kolbe reaction of carboxylic acids over titania surfaces. Reactions showing the most promise will be examined in more detail, using in particular in-situ EPR spectroscopy (to observe the initially generated free radicals), in-situ NMR spectroscopy (to identify intermediates and products), and time resolved optical spectroscopy (to observe short lived species) to determine the reaction pathways. Initial studies will be made with TiO2, but we will also explore improvements in performance by adding metals to enhance hole:electron separation, or nitrogen dopants to achieve visible light activation. Visible light activation will also be attempted with other semiconductors. A crucial component of the project is the design and construction of reactors for scaling up promising reactions to a scale attractive to the pharmaceutical industry. The project team has wide experience in photocatalysis, free radical chemistry, in-situ spectroscopic methods and photocatalytic reactor design and construction. Advice and assistance in selection of target reactions relevant to the pharmaceutical industry is provided by GlaxoSmithKline. A successful outcome of the project could bring about a paradigm shift in technologies for high value organic synthesis.
- 01-Jan-2010 - 01-Jan-2011
More projects
Address
Pure and Applied Chemistry
Thomas Graham
Thomas Graham
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