Meet Our Team

Warren Thompson     PhD Student

School of Engineering & Physical Sciences, Institute of Mechanical, Process & Energy Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, UK

    Office: JN G-08

    Email: wat1@hw.ac.uk

Biography

Warren Thompson obtained a BSc (Hons) degree in chemistry in 2005 and a master’s degree in 2009 entitled ‘Synthesis of open chain pancratistatin analogues’, both at the University of Witwatersrand. Subsequently, he worked for Fine Chemicals Corporation (2011-2014) in multi-disciplinary teams towards the development and optimisation of processes for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. In 2015, Warren joined Prof. Paul Watts’ flow chemistry group at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University as a research associate. He worked on developing telescopic flow chemistry processes towards ARVs. Warren has recently joined the CCS research group to start his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Mercedes Maroto-Valer. He will work on photo-reductive CO₂ processes.

Awards and Honours: 

•  Merit award (Wits University) 2001
•  Best speaker award (Wit's Postgraduate Day) 2007
•  Technical contributor of the year (Fine Chemicals Corporation) 2013
• James Watt scholarship (Heriot-Watt University) 2016

Contract funding successfully secured:

• Safety study – calorimetry, heat of reaction - Bill and Melinda Gates project (Virginia Commonwealth University)
• Flow chemistry process development towards reduced folates (Cerbios)

Recent Publications: 

1. Intramolecular Hydroaminations Mediated by Reductive Mercuration or n‐Butyllithium To Afford 3‐Methyl‐ and 3,4‐Dimethyl‐1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroisoquinolines. European Journal of Organic Chemistry (32), 5337 – 5345, 2007
2. Synthesis routes to anti-HIV drugs. Tetrahedron (72), 3389–3420, 2016.