Role
Dr Garner teaches undergraduate Organic Chemistry at all levels and is Year Three Tutor for Chemistry.
Career overview
Dr Garner obtained his BSc (Hons) and PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Queensland (1995). He then moved to take up a post-doc post with Professor SG Davies at Oxford. From 1999 to 2005, he held the post of College Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Worcester College. In 2005, he moved to Nottingham Trent University as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry.
Research areas
Areas of research interest include asymmetric and synthetic organic chemistry.
- Asymmetric Synthesis of P-Chirogenic Phosphines: Transition metals in conjunction with asymmetric ligand components have delivered exceptional selectivity and asymmetric induction across an enormous range of chemical processes. Phosphine ligands are pre-eminent as chiral inductors in transition metal catalysis and P-chirogenic phosphine ligands have proved exceptional in delivering high levels of selectivity. Technology for the asymmetric synthesis of tetrahedral chiral centres at phosphorus is poorly developed which limits the chiral space accessible in phosphine ligand design. Current projects seek to explore novel asymmetric approaches to P-chiral phosphines exploiting the unique chemistry of phosphine-borane complexes. In conjunction with the development of P-chirogenic substrates Dr Garner also has an interest in the application of these materials to asymmetric synthesis.
- Small Molecule Approaches to the Elucidation of Protein Function: The application of modern genetic techniques in determining the function of novel genes and proteins has revolutionised biology, however these strategies suffer disadvantages and are severely time and labour intensive and not always available for many targets. A complimentary approach to the interrogation of biological processes is to use small molecule modulators of gene and protein function. Dr Garner and his team are currently exploring collaborative projects which seek to identify potent and selective small molecules which modulate protein function, via the biological screening of highly diverse chemical libraries and high-speed parallel synthesis, with an aim to identifying the physiological role of particular genes and proteins.
Opportunities to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil/PhD exist in all the areas identified above. Further information may be obtained from the NTU Graduate School.
Sponsors and collaborators
Research funding has included:
- P-chiral phosphenes: resolutions with acyl phosphines, AC Garner, The Leverhulme Trust (2009-2011), £92,687.
Publications
Selected publications
- Activation and regioselectivity of five-membered cyclic thionocarbamates to nucleophilic attack. Awheda I, Saygili N, Garner AC, Wallis JD, RSC Advances, 2013, 3, 24997-25009
- Menthyloxycarbonyl phosphonium chlorides: new derivatives for determining the enantiomeric excess of chiral tertiary phosphines. Garner AC, Hodgkinson RC, Wallis JD, Tetrahedron Letters, 2013, 54, 5583-5585
- Piperidinols that show anti-tubercular activity as inhibitors of arylamine N- acetyltransferase: an essential enzyme for Mycobacterial survival inside macrophages. Abuhammad A, Fullam E, Lowe ED, Staunton D, Kawamura A, Westwood IM, Bhakta S, Garner AC, Wilson DL, Seden PT et al, PLoS One, 2012, 7, e52790
- Doubly diastereoselective [3,3]-sigmatropic aza-Claisen rearrangements. Davies SG, Garner AC, Nicholson RL, Osborne J, Roberts PM, Savory ED, Smith AD, Thomson JE, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 2009, 7 (12), 2604-2611
- Stereoselective functionalisation of SuperQuat enamides: asymmetric synthesis of homochiral 1,2-diols and a-benzyloxy carbonyl compounds. Aciro C, Davies SG, Garner AC, Ishii Y, Key MS, Ling KB, Prasad RS, Roberts PM, Rodriguez-Solla H, O’Leary-Steele C, Russell AJ, Sanganee HJ, Savory ED, Smith AD, Thomson JE, Tetrahedron, 2008, 64 (39), 9320-9344
- Parallel kinetic resolution of tert-butyl (RS)-3-oxy-substituted cyclopent-1-ene-carboxylates for the asymmetric synthesis of 3-oxy-substituted cispentacin and transpentacin derivatives. Aye Y, Davies SG, Garner AC, Roberts PM, Smith AD, Thomson JE, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry 2008, 6 (12), 2195-2203