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Staff Profile

Emeritus Professor William McFarlane

Emeritus Professor

Background



Research

Research Interests

An initial attraction to organometallic chemistry was fostered by my Ph.D. supervisor, Professor Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson, and this led to an enduring interest in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and its applications throughout the periodic table. Early research was on the dependence of coupling constants and chemical shifts for many different nuclei on structural and electronic molecular features.

Current work embraces the use of ROESY and other n.O.e - based two-dimensional NMR experiments to determine the solution structures, absolute configurations, and conformations of (catalytically important) organometallic and coordination compounds; the synthesis, structural characterisation and molecular dynamics of novel polyhosphines and their complexes; and the study of structure/reactivity relationships of metallo-proteins.

STUDIES OF ORGANOMETALLIC AND COORDINATION COMPOUNDS BY HIGH RESOLUTION NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY
Organometallic and coordination compounds play vital roles in modern chemistry as catalysts and sources of new materials with important electrical, optical or other special properties. They are also of considerable relevance to biological chemistry. Sophisticated n.m.r. methods are being used to investigate the behaviour in solution of such substances with a view to elucidating their modes of action and and as an aid to the synthesis of new materials.

At present work is underway on the conformations of chiral ligands and their complexes, using the technique of two-dimensional rotating frame nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (ROESY). This permits the measurement of the relative distances through space between the hydrogen atoms in a molecule and hence leads to a determination of its detailed molecular structure in solution. The attainable precision is comparable with that obtained in X-ray diffraction studies, although this latter technique is restricted to studies of solids and depends upon the availability of suitable crystals. Recently we have developed a ROESY-based method for the unambiguous assignment of the absolute configurations of chiral ligands and have applied it to complexes such as 1 and 2 below. It has considerable potential in many areas of chemistry.

Many of the molecules studied contain polydentate amine or phosphine ligands coordinated to transition metals and multinuclear studies are undertaken of such nuclei as P-31, Se-77, Mo-95, Rh-103, Sn -119, W-183 and Pt-195, together with the proton and C-13 on a routine basis. Allied to special 2D n.m.r. techniques such as COSY, NOESY, ROESY, and EXSY and the use of multiple quantum experiments these provide remarkable detail on the structures, solution dynamics and electron exchange behaviour of species as diverse as crown ether analogues for the sequestration of heavy metals, catalysts for asymmetric synthesis, and metallo-proteins with important electron transfer functions.

Selected references
[1] J.L.Bookham and W.McFarlane, J.Chem.Soc.Chem.Commun.,1993, 1352.

[2] C.Dennison, T.Kohzuma, W.McFarlane S. Suzuki and A.G.Sykes, Inorg.Chem. 1994, 33, 3299 1959.

[3] J.L.Bookham, F.Conti, H.C.E.McFarlane, W.McFarlane and M.Thornton-Pett, J.Chem.Soc. (Dalton), 1994, 1791

Publications
  • Tyler A, Mosaei H, Morton S, Waddell PG, Wills C, McFarlane W, Gray J, Goodfellow M, Errington J, Allenby N, Zenkin N, Hall MJ. . Journal of Natural Products 2017, 80(5), 1558-1562.
  • Doherty S, Knight JG, Perry DO, Ward NAB, Bittner DM, McFarlane W, Wills C, Probert MR. . Organometallics 2016, 35(9), 1265-1278.
  • Doherty S, Knight JG, Ward NAB, Bittner DM, Wills C, McFarlane W, Clegg W, Harrington RW. . Organometallics 2013, 32(6), 1773-1788.
  • Kandasamy B, Wills C, McFarlane W, Clegg W, Harrington RW, Rodriguez-Fortea A, Poblet JM, Bruce PG, Errington RJ. . Chemistry: A European Journal 2012, 18(1), 59-62.
  • Friedrich P, Baisch U, Harrington RW, Lyatuu F, Zhou K, Zelder F, McFarlane W, Buckel W, Golding BT. . Chemistry: A European Journal 2012, 18(50), 16114-16122.
  • Izod K, Stewart J, Clark ER, McFarlane W, Allen B, Clegg W, Harrington RW. . Organometallics 2009, 28(12), 3327-3337.
  • Galindo MA, Amantia D, Clegg W, Harrington RW, Eyre RJ, Goss JP, Briddon PR, McFarlane W, Houlton A. . Chemical Communications 2009, 2009(20), 2833-2835.
  • Izod K, McFarlane W, Wills C, Clegg W, Harrington RW. . Organometallics 2008, 27(17), 4386-4394.
  • Yanagisawa S, Crowley PB, Firbank SJ, Lawler AT, Hunter DM, McFarlane W, Li C, Kohzuma T, Banfield MJ, Dennison C. . Journal of the American Chemical Society 2008, 130(46), 15420-15428.
  • Errington RJ, Petkar SS, Middleton PS, McFarlane W, Clegg W, Coxall RA, Harrington RW. . Dalton Transactions 2007, (44), 5211-5222.
  • Lydon DP, Li P, Benniston AC, McFarlane W, Harrington RW, Clegg W. . European Journal of Organic Chemistry 2007, (10), 1653-1658.
  • Errington RJ, Petkar SS, Middleton PS, McFarlane W, Clegg W, Coxall RA, Harrington RW. . Journal of the American Chemical Society 2007, 129(40), 12181-12196.
  • Doherty S, Knight JG, Smyth CH, Sore NT, Rath RK, McFarlane W, Harrington RW, Clegg W. . Organometallics 2006, 25(18), 4341-4350.
  • Izod K, McFarlane W, Tyson BV, Carr I, Clegg W, Harrington RW. . Organometallics 2006, 25(5), 1135-1143.
  • Izod K, McFarlane W, Allen B, Clegg W, Harrington RW. . Organometallics 2005, 24(9), 2157-2167.
  • Izod K, McFarlane W, Tyson BV, Clegg W, Harrington RW. . Dalton Transactions 2004, (23), 4074-4078.
  • Izod K, McFarlane W, Tyson BV. . European Journal of Organic Chemistry 2004, (5), 1043-1048.
  • Izod K, Liddle ST, McFarlane W, Clegg W. . Organometallics 2004, 23(11), 2734-2743.
  • Izod K, Liddle ST, McFarlane W, Clegg W. . Organometallics 2004, 23(11), 2734-2743.
  • Izod K, McFarlane W, Tyson BV, Clegg W, Harrington RW. . Chemical Communications 2004, 10(5), 570-571.
  • Crowley PB, Hunter DM, Sato K, McFarlane W, Dennison C. . Biochemical Journal 2004, 378(1), 45-51.
  • Izod K, McFarlane W, Tyson BV, Clegg W, Harrington RW, Liddle ST. . Organometallics 2003, 22(18), 3684-3690.
  • Harewood GR, Dasgupta TP, Holders AA, Tang XP, McFarlane W, Maragh PT, Dixon DA. . In: Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society: 226th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. 2003, New York, USA: American Chemical Society.
  • Izod K, McFarlane W, Clegg W. . Chemical Communications 2002, (21), 2532-2533.
  • Pierik AJ, Ciceri D, Broker G, Edwards CH, McFarlane W, Winter J, Buckel W, Golding BT. . Journal of the American Chemical Society 2002, 124(47), 14039-14048.
  • Hunter DM, McFarlane W, Sykes AG, Dennison C. . Inorganic Chemistry 2001, 40(2), 354-360.
  • Fujihara T, Rees NH, Umakoshi K, Tachibana J, Sasaki Y, McFarlane W, Imamura T. . Chemistry Letters 2000, 29(2), 102-103.
  • McFarlane W, Rees NH, Constanza L, Patel M, Colquhoun LJ. . Journal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions 2000, (23), 4453-4458.
  • Clegg W, Izod K, McFarlane W, O'Shaughnessy P. . Organometallics 1999, 18(20), 3950-3952.
  • Lang H, Leung P-H, Rees NH, McFarlane W. . Inorganica Chimica Acta 1999, 284(1), 99-102.
  • McFarlane HCE, McFarlane W. . Polyhedron 1999, 18(16), 2117-2127.
  • McFarlane W, Swarbrick JD, Bookham JL. An NMR study of the solution conformations of di(tertiary phosphine) complexes of orthopalladated 1-phenyl-1-(N,N- dimethylamino)ethane. Journal of the Chemical Society-Dalton Transactions, 19, 3233-3238 1998.
  • Clegg W, Edwards AJ, McFarlane HCE, McFarlane W. 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(diphenylthiophosphino)benzene: nmr and x-ray diffraction studies of a markedly distorted aromatic molecule. POLYHEDRON 1998, 17(20), 3515-3518.
  • McFarlane W, Sykes AG, Kyritsis P, Zhuang-Jackson HY. Electron self-exchange and cross-reaction studies on wild-type Clostridium pasteurianum rubredoxin and its Val-8->Glu variant. Journal of the Chemical Society-Dalton Transactions, 22, 4287-4294 1996.
  • McFarlane W, Leung PH, Rees NH, Selvaratnam S. NMR assignment of absolute configuration of a P-chiral diphosphine and mechanics of its stereoselective formation. Tetrahedron-Asymmetry, 7, 1753-1762 1996.
  • BOOKHAM JL, CONTI F, CHRISTINA H, MCFARLANE E, MCFARLANE W, THORNTONPETT M. STERICALLY HINDERED DIPHOSPHINES (PH2P)2C=CHR (R=ME OR PH) AND THEIR DERIVATIVES. JOURNAL OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY-DALTON TRANSACTIONS 1994, (12), 1791-1797.