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Liam Donnelly

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Liam Donnelly

, Doctor

 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3342-4902

  • Riccarton, David Brewster Building

    EH14 4AS Edinburgh

    United Kingdom

  • Riccarton

    EH14 4AS Edinburgh

    United Kingdom

Accepting PhD Students

20162025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Research Group Contact Details

See our research group website for information about publications, news, and opportunities: https://www.donnellyresearchgroup.com/

Research interests

In the Donnelly Research Group, we develop innovative catalytic methodologies to convert renewable feedstock chemicals into valuable materials. Our groundbreaking research is driven by expertise in catalysis, organic synthesis, and polymer chemistry.

Homogeneous Catalysis

We seek to harness the power of homogeneous catalysis to unlock robust processes for the chemo-, regio-, and enantioselective transformation of sustainable feedstock chemicals to useful and diverse building blocks for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and fine chemical industries. We design new ligands to tune the stability and reactivity of these catalysts as well as repurposing commercially available complexes that have not yet been widely utilised in catalytic organic synthesis. When developing these processes, we are guided by green chemistry tools, such as solvent selection guides, and benchmark our processes using sustainability metrics (PMI, E-Factor, etc.), in the pursuit of environmentally benign syntheses.

Mechanistic Studies

We integrate classical physical organic chemistry with state-of-the-art online spectroscopic techniques to inform the design of superior-performing catalysts. By employing non-destructive online spectroscopy approaches, such as FlowNMR and FlowIR, we can rapidly generate kinetics datasets for a given process. These kinetic datasets, in combination with DFT computational studies, enable us to build structure activity relationships for a suite of catalysts for any given transformation. This data-driven approach allows for the expedited optimisation of catalyst structure and reaction conditions, limiting the amount of waste produced through unnecessary catalyst synthesis and superfluous reaction condition screening.

Polymer Backbone Editing

The advances in catalytic methodology development described above will drive and complement our efforts in developing new processes for polymer backbone editing. Post-polymerisation modification has traditionally focused on modifications of the polymer periphery (side chains and end groups) while the polymer backbone remains unaltered. We are developing novel synthetic methods to modify the polymer backbone precisely and selectively thereby significantly altering the polymer’s functionality and lifecycle.

Biography

Dr Liam J. Donnelly is originally from a small town in the south-east of England. In 2012, he graduated from the University of Nottingham with an MSc in Chemistry. He was trained in transition metal catalysis for the synthesis of pharmaceutically-relevant compounds in the research groups of Prof. Ross Denton and Prof. Hon Wai Lam.​ Liam then moved to Edinburgh in 2016 to undertake doctoral studies as part of the CRITICAT (Doctoral Training in Critical Resource Catalysis) programme. During that time, he worked under the supervision of Prof. Jason Love and Prof. Stephen Thomas on the synthesis of novel rhenium complexes and their applications in catalysis. This included a 3-month placement at GSK (Stevenage) to learn about machine-learning accelerated drug discovery​.

After graduating in 2021, Liam moved to Paris to begin a 1-year postdoctoral position with Dr Thibault Cantat at CEA Saclay, engaging with projects aligned with the chemical circular economy. Liam then joined the groups of Prof. William Kerr and Dr David Lindsay at the University of Strathclyde, working on data-driven sustainable solvent design.

​In December 2024, Liam declined a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship to move to Heriot-Watt University as an Assistant Professor in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. His group will seek to address contemporary scientific and societal challenges by developing environmentally benign catalytic methodologies to transform sustainable feedstock substrates into high-value chemicals and functional materials.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
  2. SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
    SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  3. SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
    SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

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