Dr Danny Allwood PhD, MChem, MRSC, FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry
Summary
My research interests span synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry as well as brewing science and chemical analysis of brewing ingredients and beer. My teaching covers all aspects of organic chemistry, NMR spectroscopy and brewing science.
About
I completed my undergraduate education at the University of Warwick (MChem Chemistry) in 2008. I then moved to the University of Cambridge to undertake PhD studies, funded by Cancer Research UK and supervised by Prof Steven V. Ley. I completed my doctorate in 2012 and stayed in the Ley group to conduct three years of postdoctoral research funded by Pfizer Global Research and Development. In 2015, I moved to Sheffield Hallam University as a Lecturer in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry before being promoted to Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry in 2018. Since 2022, I have been course leader for the BSc/MChem Chemistry degree streams.
Synthetic chemistry
Organic methodology
Catalysis
Medicinal chemistry
Teaching
Biosciences and Chemistry
Courses taught:
BSc/MChem Chemistry, BSc/MSci Biochemistry, MSc Analytical Chemistry, MSc Pharmaceutical Analysis, MSc Pharmacology and Biotechnology.
Modules taught:
Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry, Organic and Biological Chemistry, Advanced Organic Synthesis and Spectroscopy, Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery, Advanced Organic Spectroscopy, Fundamentals of Microbial Biotechnology, Frontiers of Chemical Research, Professional and Scientific Practice, Advanced Laboratory and Research Practice, Level 6 Research Project, MSc Research Project, MChem Research Project.
Research
Development of new synthetic methodologies. Synthesis of medicinally relevant compounds. In silico guided drug discovery. Brewing analysis.
T.M. Beale, D.M. Allwood, A. Bender, P.J. Bond, J.D. Brenton, D.S. Charnock-Jones, S.V. Ley, R.M. Myers*, J.W. Shearman, J. Temple, J. Unger, C.A. Watts and J. Xian, ACS Med. Chem. Lett., 2012, 3, 177-181.
D.M. Allwood*, D.C. Blakemore, A.D. Brown and S.V. Ley, J. Org. Chem., 2014, 79, 328-338.
D.M. Allwood, D.L. Browne and S.V. Ley*, Org. Synth., 2014, 91, 162-174.
D.M. Allwood*, D.C. Blakemore and S.V. Ley, Org. Lett., 2014, 16, 3064-3067.
R.R. Merchant, D.M. Allwood*, D.C. Blakemore and S.V. Ley, J. Org. Chem., 2014, 79, 8800-8811.
G. Rouquet, D.E. Moore, M. Spain, D.M. Allwood, C. Battilocchio, D.C. Blakemore, P.V. Fish, S. Jenkinson, A.S. Jessiman, S.V. Ley, G. McMurray and R.I. Storer*, ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2015, 6, 329-333.
C. Battilocchio*, F. Feist, A. Hafner, M. Simon, D.N. Tran, D.M. Allwood, D.C. Blakemore and S.V. Ley*, Nature Chem. 2016, 8, 360-367.
A.J. Chappell*, D.M. Allwood, R. Johns, S. Brown, K. Sultana, A. Anand and T. Simper, J. Int. Soc. Sports Nutr. 2018, 15, 42.
T. Simper*, M. Gilmartin, D.M. Allwood, L. Taylor and A.J. Chappell, Nutrition and Health, 2019, 25, 265 274.
A.J. Chappell*, D.M. Allwood and T.N. Simper, J. Diet. Suppl., 2020, 17, 249 260.
T.L. Wootton and D.M. Allwood*, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2022, 20, 2255-2260.
Publications
Key Publications
Wootton, T., & Allwood, D. (2022). Synthesis of spirocyclic dihydropyrazoles from tosylhydrazones and electron-deficient alkenes. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry. http://doi.org/10.1039/d2ob00093h
Battilocchio, C., Feist, F., Hafner, A., Simon, M., Tran, D., Allwood, D., ... Ley, S. (2016). Iterative reactions of transient boronic acids enable sequential C–C bond formation. Nature Chemistry, 8 (4), 360-363. http://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2439
Merchant, R.R., Allwood, D.M., Blakemore, D.C., & Ley, S.V. (2014). Regioselective preparation of saturated spirocyclic and ring-expanded fused pyrazoles. The Journal of organic chemistry, 79 (18), 8800-8811. http://doi.org/10.1021/jo501624t
Allwood, D., Blakemore, D.C., & Ley, S.V. (2014). Preparation of unsymmetrical ketones from tosylhydrazones and aromatic aldehydes via formyl C–H bond insertion. Organic Letters, 16 (11), 3064-3067. http://doi.org/10.1021/ol5011714
Allwood, D., Blakemore, D.C., Brown, A.D., & Ley, S.V. (2014). Metal-free coupling of saturated heterocyclic sulfonylhydrazones with boronic acids. The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 79 (1), 328-338. http://doi.org/10.1021/jo402526z
Journal articles
O’Brien, A., Zhang, H., Allwood, D.M., & Rawsthorne, A. (2024). From data to draught: Modelling and predicting mixed-culture beer fermentation dynamics using autoregressive recurrent neural networks. Modelling, 5 (1), 201-222. http://doi.org/10.3390/modelling5010011
Simper, T., Gilmartin, M., Allwood, D., Taylor, L., & Chappell, A. (2019). The effects of a sleep/recovery supplement: 'Night Time Recharge' on sleep parameters in young adults. Nutrition and Health. http://doi.org/10.1177/0260106019875911
Chappell, A., Allwood, D., & Simper, T. (2018). Citrulline Malate fails to improve German volume training performance in healthy young men and women. The Journal of Dietary Supplements. http://doi.org/10.1080/19390211.2018.1513433
Chappell, A., Allwood, D., & Simper, T. (2018). Citrulline malate supplementation does not improve German Volume Training performance or reduce muscle soreness in moderately trained males and females. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 15 (1), 42. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-018-0245-8
Rouquet, G., Moore, D.E., Spain, M., Allwood, D., Battilocchio, C., Blakemore, D.C., ... Storer, R.I. (2015). Design, synthesis, and evaluation of tetrasubstituted pyridines as potent 5-HT2CReceptor agonists. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 6 (3), 329-333. http://doi.org/10.1021/ml500507v
Merchant, R.R., Allwood, D.M., Blakemore, D.C., & Ley, S.V. (2015). ChemInform Abstract: Regioselective Preparation of Saturated Spirocyclic and Ring‐Expanded Fused Pyrazoles. ChemInform, 46 (12). http://doi.org/10.1002/chin.201512182
Allwood, D.M., Blakemore, D.C., & Ley, S.V. (2014). ChemInform Abstract: Preparation of Unsymmetrical Ketones from Tosylhydrazones and Aromatic Aldehydes via Formyl C—H Bond Insertion. ChemInform, 45 (48). http://doi.org/10.1002/chin.201448073
Allwood, D.M., Blakemore, D.C., Brown, A.D., & Ley, S.V. (2014). ChemInform Abstract: Metal‐Free Coupling of Saturated Heterocyclic Sulfonylhydrazones with Boronic Acids. ChemInform, 45 (23). http://doi.org/10.1002/chin.201423160
Allwood, D., Browne, D.L., & Ley, S.V. (2014). Synthesis and Use of a Trifluoromethylated Azomethine Ylide Precursor: Ethyl 1-Benzyl-trans-5-(trifluoromethyl)pyrrolidine-3-carboxylate. Organic Syntheses, 91, 162-174. http://doi.org/10.15227/orgsyn.091.0162
Allwood, D.M., Browne, D.L., & Ley*, S.V. (2014). Synthesis and Use of a Trifluoromethylated Azomethine Ylide Precursor: Ethyl 1‐Benzyl‐ trans ‐5‐(trifluoromethyl)pyrrolidine‐3‐carboxylate. . http://doi.org/10.1002/0471264229.os091.15
Beale, T.M., Allwood, D.M., Bender, A., Bond, P.J., Brenton, J.D., Charnock-Jones, D.S., ... Xian, J. (2012). A-ring dihalogenation increases the cellular activity of combretastatin-templated tetrazoles. ACS medicinal chemistry letters, 3 (3), 177-181. http://doi.org/10.1021/ml200149g
Theses / Dissertations
Wootton, T.L. (2024). Synthesis and drug development ofsmall molecule inhibitors of PTP1B. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Allwood, D., Aberdein, N., & Princivalle, A. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00609
Slater, J.E. (2024). Design and Synthesis of Potential Novel Antibiotic Compounds Utilising Photoredox Catalysis. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Allwood, D., Hamilton, A., & Miller, K. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00583
Presentations
Campbell, S. (2017). Brewing – Art, Science or Magic? Presented at: Sheffield Festival of Science and Engineering, Sentinel Brewhouse
Postgraduate supervision
Currently supervising doctoral students in BMRC and NCEFE on projects based in medicinal chemistry and brewing analysis.