Staff Profile

Introduction

Our phosphorus research group has been awarded over £1M in external research funding, including Lee's EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship, to better understand some highly exciting and somewhat controversial findings we have made in phosphorus chemistry. Our team is split into four sections:

1. Stable primary phosphines as gateway compopunds
2. Fluorescent phosphorus compounds as biological cell imaging agents
3. Highly unusual phosphorus ligands for asymmetric catalysis
4. Phosphorus compounds in materials chemistry

Moving outside the confines of traditional and proven phosphine chemistry, we seek to use experimental and computational methodology to aid the design and synthesis of phosphorus compounds with high impact applications or which test false assumptions.

The LJH group is multidisciplinary in attitude and works with excellent international academic and industrial partners. We are previous winners of the Science, Engineering and Technology Silver Prize for UK chemistry, awarded at the Houses of Parliament.

Please go here to find out much more and get involved: http://leejohnhighamresearch.com and www.linkedin.com/in/lee-john-higham

Roles and Responsibilities

• National AdvanceHE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) winner as SNES Employability Team Leader 2023: Blog on the award and project New tab (advance-he.ac.uk) "Embedding Employability and Enterprise at University"
• A Best Practice Case Study: EU Project on Employability in Programme Development: "Avoiding a Bolt-on Approach: Linking Employability and Sustainability in the Curriculum" SNES LJH (gla.ac.uk)
• AdvanceHE Leadership Training certification 2023.
• Member of BioNow Skills Interest Group Bionow | Enabling the potential of business
• Royal Society of Chemistry member and Degree Programme Accreditor as a member of their Committee for Accreditation and Validation: Royal Society of Chemistry accreditation (rsc.org)
• SNES Associate DELT for Employability 2020-.
• SNES Academic Lead for Employability and Enterprise 2017-.
• Previous Year in Industry Programme Coordinator
• Previous Erasmus and North America Exchange Programme Coordinator.
• EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow 2009-2014.
• Inorganic, Organic and Physical Chemistry Lecturer.
• Director of Outreach programme 2008-2009 at the School of Chemistry and creator of the School Outreach Lab.
• PhD, MChem and MSc Supervisor (ongoing).

Qualifications

PhD (UEA): 2000

Previous Positions

2005-2006

Researcher in Catalyst Discovery & Development, Celtic Catalysts, Dublin, Ireland.

2003-2005

Marie Curie 'Development Host' Research Fellowship on Combinatorial Asymmetric Catalysis, School of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, UCD

2000-2003

Postdoctoral Research Fellow sponsored by BP Chemicals & Rhodia, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol with Prof. Paul Pringle

Memberships

• Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)
• Committee member of the Applied Catalysis Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Honours and Awards

• EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow, 2009-2014.
• Marie Curie Research Fellow, 2003-2005.
• RSC bursary awarded to present at the 1st EuCheMS in Budapest, 2006 and the SET for Britain Roadshow, 2007.
• Royal Society 'Science in Society' Fellow 2002.
• Best Lecture Glaxo Wellcome Symposium, UEA 1998.

Area of Expertise: Phosphorus Chemistry; Chemistry Degree Accreditation; STEM Employability; Internationalisation

Languages: Bad Italian (Erasmus year spent at the University of Naples).

Research Interests

By clicking on our dedicated website you can read a lot more about our research into Organophosphorus Chemistry and its many wonders!

Other Expertise

Organometallic Chemistry; Homogeneous Catalysis; Asymmetric Catalysis; Primary Phosphines; Fluorescent Phosphines; Phosphino Amino Acids.

Current Work

The main objective of my research group is to understand organophosphorus chemistry, with its multitude of applications in biology and catalysis always at the forefront of our minds. These compounds are often readily studied by NMR, IR and X-ray crystallography and are forever throwing-up surprises. Phosphorus sits at the boundary between Inorganic, Organic and Biological chemistry and allows us to probe the best of all worlds.

Our team is currently investigating the stability and applications of primary phosphines in asymmetric catalysis and biomedicine. A project within the LJH group will allow a researcher to become experienced in air-sensitive techniques, multinuclear nmr analysis, Infra Red Spectroscopy, High Resolution Mass Spectrometry and X-ray crystallographic data interpretation. We have also invested ca. £15k on an electrochemical analyser for cyclic voltammetry and our own internal molecular modelling capability.

Hard working and friendly undergraduate students in their second and third years are welcome to apply for Nuffield/RSC and University-sponsored Summer Studentships, and Erasmus and International students are regular members of the group - we collaborate widely with research groups in France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.

Future Research

See a lot more information on our own website here.

We aim to establish the routine use of primary phosphines, a class of compound generally thought to be extremely hazardous. These are in fact ideal precursors for the development of novel chiral ligands to be used in radiopharmaceuticals and asymmetric catalysis.

A second goal is to develop synthetic methodology in order to investigate novel organophosphorus compounds as pharmaceuticals.

A third project aims to prepare phosphorus-containing nanoparticles for asymmetric catalysis.

Finally the application of organophosphorus compounds to materials science is also currently being investigated.

Postgraduate Supervision

The group regularly hosts summer undergraduates (Stage 2 and 3 undergrads sponsored by the University, Nuffield Foundation and the URCCIP), MChem and MSc research students, Erasmus and Non-EU students and a number of PhD workers.

Esteem Indicators

EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow 2009-2014.
Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College.
Proposal Referee for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Invited speaker at the RSC General Assembly 2007.
Symposium Organiser 2008: 'Catalysis Enabled Synthetic Methodology for Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals'.
Director of Outreach at the SoC; Responsible for creating the concept and securing £0.25M funding to build the School's flagship project 'The Outreach Laboratory' which allows regional schoolchildren access to practical chemistry facilities & support, 2008-2009.
Oral presentations: The International Conference on Phosphorus Chemistry, China 2007; Scottish Dalton, St. Andrews 2009; Homogeneous Catalysis and Bioinorganic Chemistry for Medicine and Nanomaterials Symposium, Newcastle 2009; Strathclyde University 2010; UEA 2011; Nottingham University 2011; American Chemical Society Conferences: Anaheim 2011, Atlanta 2006 & San Diego 2005; Set for Britain Research Day, House of Commons, 2007; RSC bursary awarded to speak at the 1st EuCheMS conference in Budapest, 2006.
Invited to write "Comment" section of Chemistry World, May 2006.
Invited Delegate at Voice of the Future 2006 at The House of Commons, organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry; a 'Question-Time' quizzing of the Select Committee on Science and Technology.
Invited delegate to the Council for Science and Technology (a Government Think Tank), Young Researchers Symposium, 2006.
Royal Society MP-Scientist Pairing Scheme Fellow, 2002; this established a collaboration between myself and Andrew Murrison MP to network and discuss science issues; time was spent at the RSC and with the International Media.

Funding

EPSRC CASE Award 2017-2021

EPSRC New Directions for Research Leaders Award in 2012

Awarded an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship in 2009

EPSRC EngD Award 2013-2017

Multiple Vacation Scholarships awarded from Newcastle University, Nuffield Foundation, RSC and the URCCIP

£0.25M brought in to create the School's flagship engagement project: The Outreach Laboratory

Industrial Relevance

We have been kindly supported in our research by Rhodia, Evonik, Fluorochem and Johnson Matthey. And, of course, the EPSRC!

The stabilisation of highly reactive functionality such as the -PH2 group should allow the safer synthesis of chiral phosphines for asymmetric catalysis which are employed by the pharmaceutical industry. Other larger scale processes we are looking at, such as hydroformylation/carbonylation, are of interest to BP and Shell. We also have links to Strem Chemicals Inc. and Celtic Catalysts.

Patents

In talks with the Business Development Directorate and an International Chemical Supplier about the possibility of patenting certain ligands.

Undergraduate Teaching

2008-2012
Stage 1.
CHY1201 Elements of Physical Chemistry: Spectroscopy - 12 lectures

2006-2009
Stage 1.
CHY1201 Elements of Physical Chemistry: Spectroscopy - 12 lectures. Inorganic tutorials, lab demonstrating & script marking.
Stage 2.
CHY2301 Metal-Ligand Bonding: Organometallics, Comparative Transition Metal Chemistry - 25 lectures.
CHY2401 Structural Chemistry: Multinuclear NMR Spectroscopy - 6 lectures.
Lab demonstrating & script marking.
Stage 3.
Lab demonstrating & script marking.
Stage 4.
CHY8425 Further Inorganic Chemistry: Inorganic Materials - 8 lectures.

Postgraduate Teaching

2006-2009
CHY8301 Catalyst Application & Design: Alkene Polymerisation & Metathesis - 5 lectures.
CHY8105 Methods and Techniques for Drug Discovery: Retrosynthesis, Spectroscopy - 20 lectures.
MSc Lab demonstrating & script marking.

• Articles

  • Waddell PG, Wallis JF, Mattern A, Higham LJ. Two New Polymorphs of Meso-Chlorinated BODIPY Dyes. Journal of Chemical Crystallography 2024, 54, 305–312.
  • Alshamrani AF, Prior TJ, Burke BP, Roberts DP, Archibald SJ, Higham LJ, Stasiuk G, Redshaw C. Water-Soluble Rhenium Phosphine Complexes Incorporating the Ph₂C(X) Motif (X = O^-, NH^-): Structural and Cytotoxicity Studies. Inorganic Chemistry 2020, 59(4), 2367-2378.
  • Linert S, Wagner S, Schmidt P, Higham L, Hepples C, Waddell P, Karaghiosoff K. Novel Cu(I) complexes of functionalized phosphines. Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements 2019, 194(4-6), 565-568.
  • Wang G, Gibbons SK, Glueck DS, Sibbald C, Fleming JT, Higham LJ, Rheingold AL. Copper-Phosphido Intermediates in Cu(IPr)-Catalyzed Synthesis of 1-Phosphapyracenes via Tandem Alkylation/Arylation of Primary Phosphines. Organometallics 2018, 37(11), 1760-1772.
  • Abdel-Magied AF, Majeed MH, Abelairas-Edesa MF, Ficks A, Ashour RM, Rahaman A, Clegg W, Haukka M, Higham LJ, Nordlander E. Synthesis and characterization of chiral phosphirane derivatives of [(μ-H)₄Ru₄(CO)₁₂] and their application in the hydrogenation of an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid. Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 2017, 849-850, 71-79.
  • Fleming JT, Waddell PG, Probert MR, Clegg W, Higham LJ. Coinage Metal Complexes of Phosphonite Analogues of 2-Diphenylphosphino-1,1′-binaphthyl (H-MOP) and 2-Diphenylphosphino-2′-methoxy-1,1′-binaphthyl (MeO-MOP). European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry 2017, 2017(21), 2837-2844.
  • Bange CA, Ghebreab MB, Ficks A, Mucha NT, Higham LJ, Waterman R. Zirconium-catalyzed intermolecular hydrophosphination using a chiral, air-stable primary phosphine. Dalton Transactions 2016, 45(5), 1863-1867.
  • Fleming JT, Ficks A, Waddell PG, Harrington RW, Higham LJ. The design of second generation MOP-phosphonites: efficient chiral hydrosilylation of functionalised styrenes. Dalton Transactions 2016, 45(5), 1886-1890.
  • Nigam S, Burke BP, Davies LH, Domarkas J, Wallis JF, Waddell PG, Waby JS, Benoit DM, Seymour AM, Cawthorne C, Higham LJ, Archibald SJ. Structurally optimised BODIPY derivatives for imaging of mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer and heart cells. Chemical Communications 2016, 52(44), 7114-7117.
  • Walsh JPS, Bowling G, Ariciu A-M, Jailani NFM, Chilton NF, Waddell PG, Collison D, Tuna F, Higham LJ. Evidence of Slow Magnetic Relaxation in Co(AcO)₂(py)₂(H₂O)₂. Magnetochemistry 2016, 2(2), 23.
  • Davies LH, Wallis JF, Harrington RW, Waddell PG, Higham LJ. Air-stable fluorescent primary phosphine complexes of molybdenum and tungsten. Journal of Coordination Chemistry 2016, 69(11-13), 2069-2080.
  • Fleming JT, Wills C, Waddell PG, Harrington RW, Higham LJ. A comparison of MOP-phosphonite ligands and their applications in Rh(I)- and Pd(II)-catalysed asymmetric transformations. Dalton Transactions 2016, 45(39), 15660-15670.
  • Fey N, Papadouli S, Pringle PG, Ficks A, Fleming JT, Higham LJ, Wallis JF, Carmichael D, Mézailles N, Müller C. Setting P-Donor Ligands into Context: An Application of the Ligand Knowledge Base (LKB) Approach. Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements 2015, 190(5-6), 706-714.
  • Davies LH, Kasten BB, Benny PD, Arrowsmith RL, Ge H, Pascu SI, Botchway SW, Clegg W, Harrington RW, Higham LJ. Re and ^99mTc complexes of BodP₃ – multi-modality imaging probes. Chemical Communications 2014, 50(98), 15503-15505.
  • Davies LH, Wallis JF, Probert MR, Higham LJ. Efficient Multigram Syntheses of Air-Stable, Fluorescent Primary Phosphines via Palladium-Catalyzed Phosphonylation of Aryl Bromides. Synthesis 2014, 46(19), 2622-2626.
  • Ficks A, Clegg W, Harrington RW, Higham LJ. Air-Stable Chiral Primary Phosphines: A Gateway to MOP Ligands with Previously Inaccessible Stereoelectronic Profiles. Organometallics 2014, 33(22), 6319-6329.
  • Davies LH, Harrington RW, Clegg W, Higham LJ. ^BR₂BodPR₂: highly fluorescent alternatives to PPh₃ and PhPCy₂. Dalton Transactions 2014, 43(36), 13485-13499.
  • Ficks A, Sibbald C, Ojo S, Harrington RW, Clegg W, Higham LJ. Efficient Multigram Syntheses of Air-Stable, Chiral Primary Phosphine Ligand Precursors via Palladium-Catalyzed Phosphonylation of Aryltriflates. Synthesis 2013, 45(2), 265-271.
  • Ficks A, Harrington RW, Higham LJ. Chiral MOP-phosphonite ligands: synthesis, characterisation and interconversion of η¹,η⁶-(σ-P, π-arene) chelated rhodium(I) complexes. Dalton Transactions 2013, 42(18), 6302-6305.
  • Laughlin FL, Rheingold AL, Deligonul N, Laughlin BJ, Smith RC, Higham LJ, Protasiewicz JD. Naphthoxaphospholes as examples of fluorescent phospha-acenes. Dalton Transactions 2012, 41(39), 12016-12022.
  • Ficks A, Hiney RM, Harrington RW, Gilheany DG, Higham LJ. MOP-phosphonites: A novel ligand class for asymmetric catalysis. Dalton Transactions 2012, 41(12), 3515-3522.
  • Byrne PA, Higham LJ, McGovern P, Gilheany DG. Anomalous Z-isomer content in Wittig reaction products from keto-stabilised ylides with ortho-heteroatom substituted benzaldehydes. Tetrahedron Letters 2012, 53(49), 6701-6704.
  • Davies LH, Stewart B, Harrington RW, Clegg W, Higham LJ. Air-Stable, Highly Fluorescent Primary Phosphanes. Angewandte Chemie: International Edition 2012, 51(20), 4921-4924.
  • Clarke EF, Rafter E, Müller-Bunz H, Higham LJ, Gilheany DG. The Synthesis of P-Stereogenic MOP Analogues and their use in Rhodium Catalysed Asymmetric Addition. Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 2011, 696(23), 3608-3615.
  • Ficks A, Martinez-Botella I, Stewart B, Harrington RW, Clegg W, Higham LJ. Taming functionality: easy-to-handle chiral phosphiranes. Chemical Communications 2011, 47(29), 8274-8276.
  • Stewart B, Harriman A, Higham LJ. Predicting the Air Stability of Phosphines. Organometallics 2011, 30(20), 5338-5343.
  • Higham LJ, Muldoon J, Kelly PG, Corr DM, Muller-Bunz H, Gilheany DG. A re-evaluation of the electrophilic substitution reactions of the Ramirez ylide. Journal of Organic Chemistry 2007, 72(23), 8780-8785.
  • Hiney RM, Higham LJ, Muller-Bunz H, Gilheany DG. Taming a functional group: Creating air-stable, chiral primary phosphanes. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2006, 45(43), 7248-7251.
  • Higham LJ, Clarke EF, Muller-Bunz H, Gilheany DG. P-chirogenic phosphines. MOP/diPAMP hybrids, their oxide crystal structures, reduction studies and alternative syntheses. Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 2005, 690(1), 211-219.
  • Higham LJ, Whittlesey MK, Wood PT. Water-soluble hydroxyalkylated phosphines: examples of their differing behaviour toward ruthenium and rhodium. Dalton Transactions 2004, 2004(24), 4204-4208.
  • Higham LJ, Middleton AJ, Heslop K, Pringle PG, Barber A, Orpen AG. Chelates formed by a constrained bis(diphenylphosphino)xylene; the crystal structures of [FeCl2(anphos)] and [RhCl(CO)(anphos-monoxide)]. Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 2004, 689(19), 2963-2968.
  • Higham LJ, Kelly PG, Corr DM, Müller-Bunz H, Walker BJ, Gilheany DG. A novel azulene synthesis from the Ramirez ylide involving two different modes of its reaction with activated alkynes. Chemical Communications 2004, (6), 684-685.
  • Higham LJ, Heslop K, Pringle PG, Orpen AG. 2,2'-Bis((di-tert-butylphosphino)methyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (ditbi): a bulky analogue of bisbi. The crystal structure of [Rh2Cl2(1,5-cod)2(ditbi)]. Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 2004, 689(19), 2975-2978.
  • Higham LJ, Kelly PG, Muller-Bunz H, Gilheany DG. (E)- and {(Z)-2-[a,b-bis(methoxycarbonyl)vinyl]cyclopentadien-1-ylidene} triphenylphosphorane. Acta Crystallographica. Section C: Crystal Structure Communications 2004, C60(5), o308-o311.
  • Lee Higham, Mark Thornton-Pett and Manfred Bochmann. Synthesis and Structure of bis[2,2'-methylenebis(2,4-di-t-butylphenoxo)]niobium chloride. Polyhedron 1998, 17(18), 3047-3051.
  • Lee Higham, Annie K. Powell, Michael K. Whittlesey,* Sigrid Wocadlo and Paul T. Wood*. Formation and X-ray structure of a novel water-soluble tertiary–secondary phosphine complex of ruthenium(II): [Ru{P(CH2OH)3}2{P(CH2OH)2H}2Cl2]. Chem. Commun 1998, 1107-1108.

• Book Chapters

  • Bowling GW, Fleming JT, Ficks A, Higham LJ. Taddol and Binol-derived chiral phosphonites in asymmetric catalysis. In: Fairlamb I; Lynam JM; J Patmore NJ; Elliott P, ed. Organometallic Chemistry. Croyden, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2017, pp.93-109.
  • Davies LH, Higham LJ. Air-Stable, Fluorescent Primary Phosphines. In: Fairlamb,I.J.S;Lynam,J.M, ed. Organometallic Chemistry. Royal Sociey of Chemistry, 2014, pp.51-71.
  • Stewart B, Harriman A, Higham LJ. Air-stable chiral primary phosphines part (ii) predicting the air-stability of phosphines. In: Fairlamb, I.J.S., Lynam, J.M, ed. Specialist Periodical Reports: Organometallic Chemistry. London, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2012, pp.36-47.
  • Higham LJ. The Primary Phosphine Renaissance. In: Peruzzini, M., Gonsalvi, L, ed. Phosphorus Compounds: Advanced Tools in Catalysis and Material Sciences. Germany: Springer, 2011.
  • Hiney RM, Ficks A, Müller-Bunz H, Gilheany DG, Higham LJ. Air-stable Chiral Primary Phosphines: Part (i) Synthesis, Stability and Reactivity. In: Fairlamb, I.J.S., Lynam, J.M, ed. Specialist Periodical Reports: Organometallic Chemistry. London, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2011, pp.27-45.

• Review

  • Fleming JT, Higham LJ. Primary Phosphine Chemistry. Coordination Chemistry Reviews 2015, 297-298, 127-145.