Dr. Morris obtained a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Bristol in 1981. After his PhD, obtained from the same institution in 1984, he became a Royal Society European Programme Fellow at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg. In 1986 he became a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Cambridge, which was followed by an appointment as temporary lecturer at the University of Manchester in 1987. In 1988, he became a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, where he was promoted to senior lecturer in 2005.

My group is presently conducting research in several areas of synthetic organometallic and inorganic chemistry. Our main interest at present lies in the chemistry of complexes containing dithiolene (1,2-enedithiolate) ligands. These are important in biological inorganic chemistry where they are involved in the active sites of molybdenum and tungsten enzymes, and are also of interest because of the redox activity of the ligand. We have recently started a research program aimed at introducing additional redox-active substituents into dithiolene ligands in order to establish whether communication between them is possible in complexes containing two or more such ligands. We have already shown that this is the case in dinuclear bis(dithiolene) complexes and we are now expanding our research into mononuclear complexes. We are also interested in reactions involving the transfer of dithiolene ligands from one complex to another as a route to new and otherwise inaccessible dithiolene complexes.

In addition to this work, we are also interested in new routes to organosulfur heterocycles and their incorporation into metal complexes, as well as the more traditional areas associated with my group, namely the behaviour of organic ligands (alkynes, vinylidenes, carbenes, carbynes) coordinated to dinuclear compounds and larger clusters; the chemistry of dinuclear complexes and mixed-metal clusters with thiolate and other sulfur-based ligands and their relevance to the industrial hydrodesulfurisation reaction; and alkyne scission and alkyne metathesis induced by metal complexes.

Adams H, Hodson H, Morris MJ & Venting GA (2016) Cyclisation of aryl acetylides with isothiocyanates: new insight into an old reaction. Tetrahedron Letters, 57(12), 1328-1330. Adams H, Hughes AJ, Morris MJ & Quenby SIA (2014) Convenient one-pot syntheses of 1,2-dithiole-3-thiones and 3-imino-1,2-dithioles from terminal alkynes. Tetrahedron Letters, 55(38), 5283-5285. Shongwe MS, Al-Barhi KS, Mikuriya M, Adams H, Morris MJ, Bill E & Molloy KC (2014) Tuning a single ligand system to stabilize multiple spin states of manganese: A first example of a hydrazone-based manganese(III) spin-crossover complex. Chemistry - A European Journal. Adams H, Brown P, Cook ES, Hanson RJ & Morris MJ (2012) Oligomerization of phenylacetylene to coordinated 2,3,6-triphenylfulvene in molybdenum tetracyclone complexes. Organometallics, 31(21), 7622-7624. Shongwe MS, Al-Zaabi UA, Al-Mjeni F, Eribal CS, Sinn E, Al-Omari IA, Hamdeh HH, Matoga D, Adams H, Morris MJ, Rheingold AL, Bill E & Sellmyer DJ (2012) Accessibility and selective stabilization of the principal spin states of iron by pyridyl versus phenolic ketimines: Modulation of the 6 A 1 ↔ 2 T 2 ground-state transformation of the [FeN4O2]+ chromophore. Inorganic Chemistry, 51(15), 8241-8253. Shongwe MS, Al-Rahbi SH, Al-Azani MA, Al-Muharbi AA, Al-Mjeni F, Matoga D, Gismelseed A, Al-Omari IA, Yousif A, Adams H, Morris MJ & Mikuriya M (2012) Coordination versatility of tridentate pyridyl aroylhydrazones towards iron: Tracking down the elusive aroylhydrazono-based ferric spin-crossover molecular materials. Dalton Transactions, 41(8), 2500-2514.