Jonathan Paul Clayden (born 6 February 1968) is a Professor of

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

Education and career

Whilst at secondary school, he represented the UK at the International Chemistry Olympiad in 1986, winning a bronze medal. In 1992 he obtained his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

working with Dr Stuart Warren on asymmetric synthesis using

phosphine oxide Phosphine oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula H3PO. Although stable as a dilute gas, liquid or solid samples are unstable. Unlike many other compounds of the type POxHy, H3PO is rarely discussed and is not even mentioned in major so ...

chemistry. He then carried out a postdoc with Prof Marc Julia and in 1994 became a lecturer in

at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

where he became a reader in 2000 and a Professor of Organic Chemistry in 2001. In 2015 he moved to a chair in chemistry at the

. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 2025.

Research

His research interests encompass various areas of synthesis and stereochemistry, particularly where conformation has a role to play: asymmetric synthesis, atropisomerism, organolithium chemistry, remote stereochemical effects and dynamic foldamer chemistry. He is one of the authors of the organic chemistry textbook - ''Organic Chemistry'' by Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers. He also wrote ''Organolithiums: Selectivity for Synthesis'', which concerns the use of organolithium compounds in organic synthetic reactions. From 2005 to 2011 he was editor-in-chief of the Open Access Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clayden, Jonathan British organic chemists Academics of the University of Bristol 1968 births Living people Alumni of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry