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Professor Jim Iley

Emeritus professor

School of Life, Health & Chemical Sciences

jim.iley@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

I retired from the Open University at the end of 2020 following two periods, 1979-2010 and 2014-2020, that were interspersed by a four-year period with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) as Executive Director for Science and Education.

My most recent work for the OU was in supporting the university to expand its higher level apprenticeships offer.

I'm now an emeritus professor in the STEM faculty and spend some of my time mentoring newer members of staff in the School of Life, Health and Chemiscal Sciences. Outside my OU role, I currently one of three external members of the Assessment Panel of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (and the only one from HE).

At the RSC I oversaw the development of the science, education and industry strategies, initiating the development of the award winning site, LearnChemistry www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry. 

I no longer have an active research programme, though my research activity focused on molecules of biological interest, on which I collaborated with colleagues at the Faculdade de Farmacia, Lisboa, Portugal for 30 years. In recognition  of our work I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Universidade de Lisboa in 2005 .

 

Publications

Journal Article

New insights on repellent recognition by Anopheles gambiae odorant-binding protein 1 (2018)

New methodologies for the synthesis of 3-acylpyridone metabolites (2010)

Rational design, synthesis, biophysical and antiproliferative evaluation of fluorenone derivatives with DNA G-quadruplex binding properties (2010)

4-Oxo-β-lactams (Azetidine-2,4-diones) Are Potent and Selective Inhibitors of Human Leukocyte Elastase (2010)

Reaction of Naphthoquinones with Substituted Nitromethanes. Facile Synthesis and antifungal activity of Naphtho[2,3-d]isoxazole-4,9-diones (2010)

A catalytic dipolar cycloaddition route to pyrroloimidazoles (2009)

Structure-activity studies of the binding of the flavonoid scaffold to DNA (2009)

The characterisation of flavone-DNA isoform interactions as a basis for anticancer drug development (2009)

Synthesis of the Pyoverdin Chromophore by a Biomimetic Oxidative Cyclization (2009)

Dopamine- and tyramine-based derivatives of triazenes. Activation by tyrosinase and implications for prodrug design (2009)

Towards an efficient prodrug of the alkylating metabolite monomethyltriazene: Synthesis and stability of N-acylamino acid derivatives of triazenes (2009)

Unanticipated acyloxymethylation of sumatriptan indole nitrogen atom and its implications in prodrug design (2008)

Azetidine-2,4-diones (4-oxo-beta-lactams) as scaffolds for designing elastase inhibitors (2008)

The 1,4-naphthoquinone scaffold in the design of cysteine protease inhibitors (2007)

Tetraplex DNA specific ligands based on the fluorenone-carboxamide scaffold (2007)

The efficiency of C-4 substituents in activating the -lactam scaffold towards serine proteases and hydroxide ion (2007)

Aminocarbonyloxymethyl ester prodrugs of flufenamic acid and diclofenac: suppressing the rearrangement pathway in aqueous media (2007)

Kinetics and mechanism of hydrolysis of benzimidazolylcarbamates (2007)

Crystallization and Preliminary Diffraction Studies of Porcine Pancreatic Elastase in Complex with a Novel Inhibitor (2007)

Intermolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of azomethine imines (2007)

An alkylation route to carbo- and heteroaromatic amino acids (2007)

Reactivity of imidazolidin-4-one derivatives of primaquine: implications for prodrug design (2006)

Mechanism of hydrolysis of substituted N-thiazolylcarbamate esters in OH- solutions (2006)

Dipeptide vinyl sultams: Synthesis via the Wittig–Horner reaction and activity against papain, falcipain-2 and Plasmodium falciparum (2006)

The Bsmoc group as a novel scaffold for the design of irreversible inhibitors of cysteine proteases (2006)

Design of an anti MUC1 DNA aptamer as novel radiopharmaceutical for the diagnostic imaging and targeted radiotherapy of tumours (2006)

Development of anti MUC1 DNA aptamers for the imaging and radiotherapy of breast cancer (2006)

Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of dihydroimidazolium ylides: synthesis of pyrrolo[1,2,3-de]quinoxalines and imidazo[1,2-a]indoles (2006)

Monofluorinated di- and tetrahydropyrans via Prins-type cyclisations (2006)

Design, Synthesis, and Enzymatic Evaluation of N1-Acyloxyalkyl- and N1-Oxazolidin-2,4-dion-5-yl-Substituted beta-lactams as Novel Inhibitors of Human Leukocyte Elastase (2005)

The mechanism of hydrolysis of aryl ether derivatives of 3-hydroxymethyltriazenes (2005)

Imidazolidin-4-one derivatives of primaquine as novel transmission-blocking antimalarials (2005)

Amidomethylation of amodiaquine: antimalarial N-Mannich base derivatives (2004)

Synthesis of imidazolidin-4-one and 1H-imidazo[2,1-a]isoindole-2,5(3H,9bH)-dione derivatives of primaquine: scope and limitations (2004)

Kinetics and mechanism of hydrolysis of N-acyloxymethyl derivatives of azetidin-2-one (2004)

Oxidation of tertiary benzamides by 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrinatoiron (III) chloride – tert-butylhydroperoxide (2004)

Synthesis, stability and in vitro dermal evaluation of Aminocarbonyloxymethyl Esters as prodrugs of Carboxylic Acid Agents (2002)

Synthesis of some new 2-heterosubstituted 4,5-dihydroimidazoles (2002)

Inactivation of rat liver cytochrome P450 (P450) by N,N-dimethylformamide and N,N-dimethylacetamide (2001)

Synthesis by conjugate radical addition of new heterocyclic amino acids with nucleobase side chains (2001)

Pyrrolo[1,2,3-de]quinoxalines: unexpected products from 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of dihydroimidazolium ylides (2001)

Design, synthesis and stability of N-acyloxymethyl- and N-aminocarbonyloxymethyl-2-azetidinones as human leukocyte elastase inhibitors (2001)

Hydrolysis of aryl N-methyl-N-arenesulfonylcarbamates (2001)

Kinetics and mechanism of N-amidomethylsulfonamides (2001)

Chemical and microsomal oxidation of tertiary amides: regio-and stereoselective aspects (2001)

Presentation / Conference

Anti-heparanase aptamers as inhibitors of angiogenesis and tissue remodelling (2009)

Development of anti-MUC1 DNA aptamers for the imaging of breast cancer (2008)

DNA aptamers as novel radiopharmaceuticals for imaging and targeted radiotherapy of epithelial tumours (2006)

Novel DNA-binding chemotherapeutic agents based on flavonoid scaffolds (2005)

Development of novel DNA-binding chemotherapeutic agents based on flavonoid scaffolds of active ingredients isolated from Chinese herbal remedies (2004)

Structure-activity related studies between the flavonoid skeleton and DNA duplex, triplex and tetraplex structures (2004)

Molecular encounters between active ingredients from herbal remedies and DNA (2003)