Chris Braddock read Chemistry at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated with first class honours in 1992. He remained in Oxford to work with John Brown, FRS, for his doctorate which he obtained in January 1996. He was immediately appointed as a Fixed-Term Lecturer at Imperial College where he worked in Professor Tony Barrett's laboratories. In October 1998 he was appointed as a Lecturer in the newly created Synthesis section in the Department of Chemistry and initiated independent research. He was appointed to Senior Lecturer in 2005, and to Reader in 2008.

Synthesis

Braddock group research can be broadly defined as stereoselective organic synthesis, and encompasses work in the area of natural product synthesis, novel methodology and asymmetric organocatalysis. A brief summary of some of our published work to date is given below.

The Braddock group has developed the chemistry of symmetrically 4,12-disubstituted[2.2]paracyclophanes, exemplified by planar chiral PHANOL 1,1 which acts as an asymmetric activator of carbonyl groups by double hydrogen bonding e.g. as 2,2,3 and by the application of microwave irradiation for the isomerisation of 4,16-dibromo[2.2]paracyclophane 3 into 4,12-dibromo[2.2]paracyclophane 4 via diradical 5.4

Vinyl silylcyclopropyl reagent 6 has been developed for the "cyclopropylmethylsilyl terminated Prins reaction" with activated acetals or aldehydes to give skipped diene ethers 75 and alcohols 86 with exclusive control of the E-olefin geometry. The usefulness of tetrafunctionalised vinyl silane 9 was demonstrated for the preparation of marine natural product lygnbic acid 10, where the Prins reaction simultaneously installed the long-chain fatty acid, the methoxy group and the olefin with exclusive E-geometry.7

The first asymmetric synthesis of a pair of trans-cyclooctene isomers, locked either in a chair 11 or a twist 12 has recently been accomplished.8 A convenient gram-scale preparation of the valuable asymmetric diamine ligands 13 and 14 has been reported via the separation of N-acetylmandelates of isoamarine 15.9 Unprecedented anionic ligand exchange between Hoveyda-Grubbs ruthenium benzylidenes of the type 16 and 17 to give mixed species 18 has recently been uncovered,10 and this has led to a novel method for the immobilisation of catalysts through the 'anionic' position.11

Other work includes the in-situ use of palladium (0) ruthenium benzylidene combinations to catalyse tandem allylic isomerisation and ring closing metathesis,12,13 the synthesis of silasultones 19 via double dehydrative cyclisation of siloxanes 20,14 and the preparation of a highly-loaded palladium (II) ROMP polymer 21.15

Braddock DC, Gao AX, White AJP, et al., 2014, Studies towards the synthesis of halomon: asymmetric hexafunctionalisation of myrcene, Chemical Communications, Vol:50, ISSN:1359-7345, Pages:13725-13728 Braddock DC, Sbircea D-T, 2014, Proof-of-principle direct double cyclisation of a linear C-15-precursor to a dibrominated bicyclic medium-ring ether relevant to Laurencia species, Chemical Communications, Vol:50, ISSN:1359-7345, Pages:12691-12693 Braddock DC, Clarke J, Rzepa HS, 2013, Epoxidation of bromoallenes connects red algae metabolites by an intersecting bromoallene oxide - Favorskii manifold, Chemical Communications, Vol:49, ISSN:1359-7345, Pages:11176-11178 Braddock DC, Marklew JS, Foote KM, et al., 2013, An Enantiospecific Polyene Cyclization Initiated by an Enantiomerically Pure Bromonium Ion, Chirality, Vol:25, ISSN:0899-0042, Pages:692-700 Bonney KJ, Braddock DC, 2012, A Unifying Stereochemical Analysis for the Formation of Halogenated C-15-Acetogenin Medium-Ring Ethers From Laurencia Species via Intramolecular Bromonium Ion Assisted Epoxide Ring-Opening and Experimental Corroboration with a Model Epoxide, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol:77, ISSN:0022-3263, Pages:9574-9584 DOIAuthor Web LinkOpen Access Link Braddock DC, Roy D, Lenoir D, et al., 2012, Verification of stereospecific dyotropic racemisation of enantiopure D and L-1,2-dibromo-1,2-diphenylethane in non-polar media, Chemical Communications, Vol:48, ISSN:1359-7345, Pages:8943-8945 DOIAuthor Web LinkOpen Access Link Braddock DC, Marklew JS, Thomas AJF, 2011, Enantiospecific bromonium ion generation and intramolecular capture: a model system for asymmetric bromonium ion-induced polyene cyclisations, Chemical Communications, Vol:47, ISSN:1359-7345, Pages:9051-9053 Braddock DC, Marklew JS, Thomas AJ, 2011, Enantiospecific bromonium ion generation and intramolecular capture: a model system for asymmetric bromonium ion-induced polyene cyclisations., Chem Commun (camb), Vol:47, Pages:9051-9053 Bonney KJ, Braddock DC, White AJP, et al., 2011, Intramolecular Bromonium Ion Assisted Epoxide Ring-Opening: Capture of the Oxonium Ion with an Added External Nucleophile, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol:76, ISSN:0022-3263, Pages:97-104 Braddock DC, Pouwer RH, Burton JW, et al., 2009, Clarification of the Stereochemical Course of Nucleophilic Substitution of Arylsulfonate-Based Nucleophile Assisting Leaving Groups, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol:74, ISSN:0022-3263, Pages:6042-6049 Braddock DC, Millan DS, Perez-Fuertes Y, et al., 2009, Bromonium Ion Induced Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation-Fragmentation in Model Obtusallene Systems and Structural Reassignment of Obtusallenes V-VII, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol:74, ISSN:0022-3263, Pages:1835-1841 DOIAuthor Web LinkOpen Access Link Braddock DC, Hermitage SA, Kwok L, et al., 2009, The generation and trapping of enantiopure bromonium ions, Chemical Communications, ISSN:1359-7345, Pages:1082-1084 DOIAuthor Web LinkOpen Access Link Braddock DC, Rzepa HS, 2008, Structural reassignment of obtusallenes V, VI, and VII by GIAO-based density functional prediction, Journal of Natural Products, Vol:71, ISSN:0163-3864, Pages:728-730 Braddock DC, Bhuva R, Perez-Fuertes Y, et al., 2008, The stereochemical course of bromoetherification of enynes, Chemical Communications, ISSN:1359-7345, Pages:1419-1421 Braddock DC, Bhuva R, Millan DS, et al., 2007, A biosynthetically-inspired synthesis of the tetrahydrofuran core of obtusallenes II and IV, Organic Letters, Vol:9, ISSN:1523-7060, Pages:445-448 Braddock DC, 2006, A hypothesis concerning the biosynthesis of the obtusallene family of marine natural products via electrophilic bromination, Organic Letters, Vol:8, ISSN:1523-7060, Pages:6055-6058 Braddock DC, Cansell G, Hermitage SA, et al., 2006, Bromoiodinanes with an I(III)-Br bond: preparation, X-ray crystallography and reactivity as electrophilic brominating agents, Chemical Communications, ISSN:1359-7345, Pages:1442-1444 Braddock DC, Cansell G, Hermitage SA, et al., 2004, An asymmetric synthesis of enantiopure chair and twist trans-cyclooetene isomers, Tetrahedron-Asymmetry, Vol:15, ISSN:0957-4166, Pages:3123-3129

Braddock DC, MacGilp LD, Perry BG, 2002, Improved synthesis of (+/-)-4,12-dihydroxy[2.2]paracyclophane and its enantiomeric resolution by enzymatic methods: Planar chiral (R)- and (S)-phanol, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol:67, ISSN:0022-3263, Pages:8679-8681