Prof John Walton

Prof John Walton

Emeritus Professor

Researcher profile

Email
jcw@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Biography

John C. WALTON joined the faculty of Dundee University in 1967 and moved to St. Andrews University in 1970, rising to full professor in 1997 and becoming Research Professor in 2007.  He has worked on the application of physical organic methods to organic mechanisms and is known for EPR spectroscopic studies of many kind of radicals.   Recently he has been developing radical-mediated synthetic protocols including those based around: “pro-aromatic” cyclohexadienyl reagents, oxime derivatives, photoredox methods employing titanium dioxide and for research on radical enhancement of heterolysis.  He has published over 300 articles in learned journals as well as 3 books.   He was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry silver medal for Organic Reaction Mechanisms in 1994 and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1995. 

Research areas

My main interest is in free radicals and the development of organic syntheses and novel materials based on these species. Early work was concerned with the addition of free radicals to alkenes. Currently, my research centres in (i) the development of free radical synthetic methods based on derivatives of oximes (ii)  photoredox methods with carboxylic acids (iii) boron-containing radicals (iv) the enhancement of acidity and promotion of heterolytic dissociation by radicals.  These methods show promise for environmentally friendly organic preparations. Studies of radical structures and reactions by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy and computational methods are being successfully applied to aid in understanding radical mechanisms.

Selected publications

 

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