Professor Michael Ingleson - 2024 Dalton mid-career Prize: Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Prize winner

Professor Michael Ingleson MRSC

Winner: 2024 Dalton mid-career prize: Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Prize

University of Edinburgh

For new approaches to C–H borylation using zinc catalysts and bis-borane electrophiles.

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It is a rare job where you can spend time thinking of new reactions/compounds, and for me, it is even more exciting if these reactions/compounds have the potential to be useful.

The Ingleson Group focuses mainly on making molecules called organoboranes using chemical reactions that are generally termed borylations which form boron-carbon bonds. By adding boron to molecules instead of a carbon atom, the group has achieved useful changes in multiple properties.

When these 'borylated' molecules have boron in the 'right place', along with other elements like nitrogen or oxygen, their new properties can be harnessed to create compounds with diverse applications. For example, organoboranes are already used as safe, 'green' reagents in the production of agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. They have also been extensively explored as emissive materials in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs, so they may end up in your phone or TV in the near future) and as active molecules in drugs (including those being used to tackle antibiotic resistance). Therefore, there is an increasing need to make new organoboranes in a sustainable way.

To avoid using rare or toxic metals, the Ingleson Group develops new borylation reactions that use reactive compounds based only on Earth-abundant elements.

Read winner biography

Professor Mike Ingleson was born and bred in Newport, South Wales and went to university to study chemistry just over the border in Bath. His training included a PhD with Professor Andy Weller and PDRA positions with Professor Ken Caulton and Professor Matthew Rosseinsky.

Mike started his independent career in 2008 at the University of Manchester with the award of a Royal Society University Research Fellowship focused on borocations and electrophilic C-H borylation. He was promoted to Reader at the University of Manchester in 2012 and Professor in 2018. In 2019, the Ingleson Group moved to the University of Edinburgh, where Mike is currently Professor of Inorganic 91AV.

Notable awards and prizes include the RSC Harrison-Meldola Prize, an ERC Starter Grant and an ERC Consolidator Grant. Mike is also part of the team that was awarded an EPSRC Program Grant titled Boron: Beyond the Reagent, which started in 2023.

He enjoys living in the beautiful city of Edinburgh with his wife Laura and their dog Marty.

Q&A

What motivates you?

Two key things that have kept me in research chemistry over the past 20 years are the opportunities it offers for creative thinking and a love of logic puzzles.

It is a rare job where you can spend time thinking of new reactions/compounds, and for me, it is even more exciting if these reactions/compounds have the potential to be useful. This has driven my independent career; while we do a lot of fundamental reaction development, my hope always is if the idea works perfectly, then it could lead to something useful for others in the field. It’s also always a massive buzz when an idea drawn out on the whiteboard actually works in the flask! That feeling is addictive.

The second thing stems from my childhood when I loved doing grid logic puzzles (way before Sudokus were everywhere). A lot of research chemistry is essentially a logic puzzle, where we use various techniques/reactions, etc., to try and generate sufficient data points to understand what is happening in a reaction flask! This is the second massive buzz I get: when you have enough data to identify an unexpected product or to understand how to improve a reaction – it’s the joy of the Eureka moment.

Can you tell us about a scientific development on the horizon that you are excited about?

The group are doing lots of stuff that is exciting me at the moment, from selective deoxyfluorination to transition metal free transfer zincation. But one goal that we’ve been chasing for quite a few years now (it was in the ERC consolidator grant I wrote back in 2017) that we’re now getting good results on is the para/meta double C-H borylation of aromatics using ditopic boron electrophiles. I’m really excited about this, and I think it could be a really useful route to selectively access meta functionalised aromatics without using precious metals or having to install directing groups! Hopefully, it will appear in a journal in the not-too-distant future (there’s still some work to do though)!

What does good research culture look like/mean to you?

I prefer a group culture that is informal and open, where I can chat to everyone regularly (and everyone is able to speak their mind to me and to everyone else in the group). I believe that this leads to an environment that facilitates effective vertical and horizontal communication and is, therefore, great for fruitful scientific discussions. I’ve always wanted all the PhD students/PDRAs I’ve worked with to be able to feel like they can knock on my door (or catch me when I’m wandering in the lab) and ask/tell me anything, including when they think I’m wrong or have a stupid idea! To do this well as a group leader, it is important to listen properly, let others speak first and not always just talk about their latest chemistry results (everyone is a lot more than what they do in the lab)! To do this to the level I like to takes time (which sometimes is challenging due to other time pressures as a UK academic), but I’ve found that it does lead to a group atmosphere that is both pleasant and productive. Hopefully, my co-workers over the years agree.