Graham Murphy

Professor, Chemistry

Research interests: synthetic organic chemistry; alternative approaches to metallocarbene and metallonitrene intermediates; organic electrolytes for lithium air batteries

Biography

Professor Graham Murphy’s area of expertise is synthetic organic chemistry, spanning both method development and target-oriented synthesis. The research in his group involves the development of synthetic reactions, and using his synthetic expertise to address issues of broader scientific concern, such as the design and synthesis of organic electrolytes for use in battery technologies.

Murphy received his B.Sc. (Chemistry, Co-op) from the University of Victoria. He then attended the University of Alberta for graduate school, where he held both the AHFMR and NSERC PGS-D awards. His postdoctoral appointments in natural product synthesis consisted of one year as a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at Tohoku University, Japan, and nearly three years as an NSERC postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University. He then spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow with the Biorefining Conversions Network (BCN) at the University of Alberta. Murphy began his independent career at the University of Waterloo in 2011.

Education

Postdoctoral, Biorefining Conversions Network, Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta; Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University; Department of Chemistry, Tohoku University
PhD, Organic Chemistry, University of Alberta
BSc, Chemistry, University of Victoria

Graham Murphy

Awards and Honours

Year	Awards and Honours
2014	Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, Germany
2008-2010	NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship
2006-2007	Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Post-Doctoral Fellowship
2004-2006	NSERC PGS-D2
2004	Novartis Pharmaceuticals Inc. Graduate Scholarship
2002-2007	Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Graduate Studentship (AHFMR)

Research

Halogenation of Organic Materials

Given the prevalence of fluorine in of pharmaceuticals (~20%), agrochemicals (~30%) and industrial chemicals (eg. Teflon®), new method of incorporating fluorine into organic scaffolds is of utmost importance. Dr. Murphy has recently discovered a new approach to incorporating fluorine and chlorine into organic materials, using hypervalent iodine species as transfer agents. This chemistry holds broad appeal to a wide community, and is continuously being expanded to include structural scaffolds of industrial, medicinal and societal importance.

Organic Electrolyte Research

Although lithium-ion batteries are the state-of-the-art rechargeable power source for portable electronics, achieving the same level of efficacy in large-scale systems (eg. hybrid electric vehicles) requires fundamental innovation in materials. Professor Murphy’s experience in target-oriented synthesis and in fluorination methodologies is being applied to devising new, oxidatively stable organic electrolytes for use in large-scale rechargeable batteries.

Publications

Jason Tao, Richard Tran and Graham K. Murphy,* Dihaloiodoarenes: a,a-Dihalogenation of Phenylacetate Derivatives, J. Am. Chem. Soc.2013, 135 (44), 16312–16315.
Phyllis E. Ho, Jason Tao and Graham K. Murphy,* Wittig Reagents as Metallocarbene Precursors: In situ Generated Monocarbonyl Iodonium Ylides, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2013, 6540.
Graham K. Murphy,* Craig Stewart and Frederick G. West,* “Intramolecular generation and rearrangement of oxonium ylides: methodology studies and their application in synthesis,” Tetrahedron,2013, 69, 2667.
Graham K. Murphy, Tatsuya Shirahata, Naoto Hama, Aaron Bedermann, Ping Dong, Travis C. McMahon, Barry M. Twenter, David A. Spiegel, Ivar M. McDonald, Nobuaki Taniguchi, Munenori Inoue, and John L. Wood,* “Towards the Synthesis of Phomoidride D,” J. Org. Chem. 2013, 78 (2), 477.
Graham K. Murphy, Naoto Hama, Aaron Bedermann, Ping Dong, Chris M. Schneider, Travis C. McMahon, Ran N. Tao, Barry M. Twenter, Davis A. Spiegel, John L. Wood, “Wharton Fragmentation-Based Approach to the Carbocyclic Core of the Phomoidrides,” Org. Lett.2012,14, 4544.
Graham K. Murphy, Frederik P. Marmsäter, F.G. West, “Polycyclic Oxonium Ylides: Use of Cyclic Acetals as Convenient Scaffolds in the Construction of Fused Bicyclic Compounds Containing a Medium Ring,”Can. J. Chem. 2006, 84, 1470–1486.
Graham K. Murphy, F.G. West, “[1,2]- or [2,3]-Rearrangement of Onium Ylides of Allyl and Benzyl Ethers and Sulfides via in Situ-Generated Iodonium Ylides,” Org. Lett. 2006, 8, 4359–4361.
Graham K. Murphy, F.G. West, “Hydrazulene Ring Systems via Heteroatom-Assisted [1,2]-Shift of Oxonium and Sulfonium Ylides,”Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 1801–1804.
Fredrik P. Marmsäter, Graham K. Murphy, F.G. West, “Cyclooctanoid Ring Systems from Mixed Acetals via Heteroatom-Assisted [1,2]-Shift of Oxonium Ylides,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 14724–14725.
Yusuke Shibuya, Hiroshi Kusuoku, Graham K. Murphy, and Yoshinori Nishizawa, “Isolation and Structure Determination of New Macrocarpals from a Herbal Medecine, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf,”Natural Medicines, 2001, 55 (1), 28–31.