Jonathan Clayden

Jonathan Paul Clayden FRS CChem FRSC (born 6 February 1968) is a Professor of organic chemistry at the University of Bristol.

Jonathan Paul Clayden
Born	(1968-02-06) 6 February 1968 (age 57) Kampala, Uganda
Nationality	British
Awards	Royal Society of Chemistry's Merck Prize Royal Society of Chemistry's Stereochemistry Prize Royal Society of Chemistry's Corday-Morgan Medal
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Bristol University of Manchester University of Cambridge
Thesis	The asymmetric epoxidation of allylic phosphine oxides: a stereocontrolled synthesis of allylic systems (1993)
Doctoral advisor	Stuart Warren
Website	www.claydenchemistry.net

Education and career

Whilst at secondary school, he represented the UK at the International Chemistry Olympiad in 1986, winning a bronze medal. In 1992 he obtained his PhD^[1] at the University of Cambridge working with Dr Stuart Warren on asymmetric synthesis using phosphine oxide chemistry. He then carried out a postdoc with Prof Marc Julia and in 1994 became a lecturer in organic chemistry at the University of Manchester where he became a reader in 2000 and a Professor of Organic Chemistry in 2001. In 2015 he moved to a chair in chemistry at the University of Bristol. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2025.^[2]

Research

His research interests encompass various areas of synthesis and stereochemistry, particularly where conformation has a role to play: asymmetric synthesis, atropisomerism,^[3] organolithium chemistry, remote stereochemical effects^[4] and dynamic foldamer chemistry.^[5] He is one of the authors of the organic chemistry textbook - Organic Chemistry by Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers.^[6] He also wrote Organolithiums: Selectivity for Synthesis,^[7] which concerns the use of organolithium compounds in organic synthetic reactions.

From 2005 to 2011 he was editor-in-chief of the Open Access Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry.