Dr Allan Knight

Room: PhSc/3.016

Research

Chemistry and Biological Activity of Natural Compounds

I am interested in the synthesis of bioactive agents based on natural compounds, particularly the terpenes.  Specifically, recent work has focussed on

• Preparation of derivatives of 1,8-cineole, the main component of eucalyptus oil,  using approaches that include both synthetic organic chemistry techniques and transformations using biological agents (eg. bacteria and fungi), and
• Assaying the herbicidal activity of the synthesised compounds.

There are further projects involving investigations into possible transformations of cineole for students with interests in organic chemistry and the development of more environmentally acceptable pesticides based on natural compounds.

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