Dr Alex Pulis

I was born in Newport, South Wales. I obtained an MSci with industrial experience from the University of Bristol in 2008, with one year spent in drug discovery at Pfizer (Sandwich). After gaining a University of Bristol Postgraduate Scholarship I undertook a PhD within the group of Prof. Varinder K. Aggarwal. During this time, I developed stereoselective synthesis of boronic esters that was applied to natural product synthesis, including alpha 1 – a hormone of a plant destroying pathogen. In 2014 I joined the group of Prof. Douglas W. Stephan at the University of Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on the development of air stable Frustrated Lewis Pairs and their application to the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide. I moved to the University of Manchester in 2015 to take a position as fixed term Lecturer in Organic Chemistry within the group of Prof. David J. Procter where I developed new catalytic processes targeted at generating building blocks for bioactive molecules and semi-conductor materials. In September 2018 I began my first independent position as a Lecturer of Organic Chemistry at the University of Leicester.

My research aims to push the boundaries of organic chemistry and interface organic chemistry with biological chemistry/chemical biology.

We explore the fundamental reactivity of main group elements and use it to develop unusual transformations that generate bioactive compounds that were previously impossible to obtain. The molecules we generate are among the most common structure types used in drug-discovery, for example amines, and saturated and unsaturated heterocycles. We use a structure-based approach to develop new therapeutics and interrogate biological processes, such as novel non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and serotonergic and dopaminergic activity.

We have also developed methodology that accesses over 20 stable isotopically-labelled drugs used to study adsorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion.

We also explore how fundamental reactivity, such as that displayed in small molecule Frustrated Lewis Pairs, can be utilized in a biomimetic context to understating and probe complex biological processes.

For more information, please visit our group website: https://pulisresearchgroup.weebly.com/.

Recent and active grants:

• 2025, £400K (co-I): Mass Spectrometer and Cryostat to Enable World-leading Research at the University of Leicester, EPSRC Core equipment.
• 2023, £446K (PI): Organoborane-catalysed approaches to biologically active amines, EP/Y00146X/1, EPSRC New Investigator Award.
• 2022, £808K (PI): Stopped-Flow NMR Spectroscopy for the Physical and Life Sciences, EPSRC, EPSRC Strategic Equipment.

I have published 33 peer-reviewed papers in top-flight international journals amassing ca. 2500 citations. My current h-index is 25 (Scholar).

Publications in the last 3 years and selected publications

• B(C₆F₅)₃-Catalyzed Coupling of N-Alkyl Arylamines and Alkenes for the Synthesis of Tetrahydroquinolines, S. M. Gloria, L. Winfrey, Y. Gao, M. Barysevich, J. P. Gillions, L. Yun, H. Patel, A. Shah, A. Alvarez-Montoya, D. Thomas, A. Khan, H. Y. Harb, A. M. Stuart, and A. P. Pulis, Organic Letters 2025, 27, 9993 link
  
  
• B(C₆F₅)₃-Catalyzed Dehydrogenation of Pyrrolidines to Form Pyrroles, A. Alvarez-Montoya, J. P. Gillions, L. Winfrey, R. R. Hawker, K. Singh, F. Ortu, Y. Fu, Y. Li, A. P. Pulis, ACS Catalysis 2024, 14, 4856 link
  
  
• Accessing Highly Substituted Indoles via B(C₆F₅)₃-Catalyzed Secondary Alkyl Group Transfer, S. A. Elsherbeni, R. L. Melen, Alexander P. Pulis, Louis C. Morrill, J. Org. Chem. 2024, 86, 4244 link
  
  
• H₂O·B(C₆F₅)₃-Catalyzed para-Alkylation of Anilines with Alkenes Applied to Late-Stage Functionalization of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, L. Winfrey, L. Yun, G. Passeri, K. Suntharalingam, A. P. Pulis, Chem. Eur. J. 2024, e202303130 link
  
  
• Recent Advances in Catalysis using Organoborane Mediated Hydride Abstraction, J. P Gillions, S. A Elsherbeni, L. Winfrey, L. Yun, R. L. Melen, L. C. Morrill, A. P. Pulis, Synlett 2023, 34, 2117 link
  
  
• Electron deficient borane-mediated hydride abstraction in amines: stoichiometric and catalytic processes, S. Basak, L. Winfrey, B. A. Kustiana, R. L. Melen, L. C. Morrill, A. P. Pulis, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2021, 50, 3720 link
  
  
• B(C₆F₅)₃ Catalyzed Direct C3 Alkylation of Indoles and Oxindoles, S. Basak, A. Alvarez-Montoya, L. Winfrey, R. L. Melen, L. C. Morrill, A. P. Pulis, ACS Catal. 2020, 10, 4835 link
  
  
• Uncovering the Synthetic Potential of Frustrated Lewis Pairs, A. P Pulis, L. Winfrey, A. Alvarez-Montoya, in Reference Module in Chemistry, Molecular Sciences and Chemical Engineering, 2019, p 1. link
  
  
• Regiodivergent copper catalyzed borocyanation of 1,3-dienes, T. Jia, Q. He, R. E. Ruscoe, A. P. Pulis, D. J. Procter, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2018, 57, 11305 link
  
  
• The interrupted Pummerer reaction in a sulfoxide‐catalyzed oxidative coupling of 2‐naphthols, Z. He, A. P. Pulis, D. J. Procter, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2019, 58, 7813 link
  
  
• One-pot borylation/Suzuki-Miyaura sp2-sp3 cross-coupling, L. Whitaker, H. Y. Harb, A. P. Pulis, Chem. Commun. 2017, 53, 9364 link
  
  
• Regioselective synthesis of C3 alkylated and arylated benzothiophenes, H. J. Shrives, J. A. Fernández-Salas, C. Hedtke, A. P. Pulis, David J. Procter, Nature Commun.2017, 8, 14801 link

I supervise projects using organic chemistry to solve real-world problems, including but not limited to methodology, medicinal chemistry/chemical biology, target and total synthesis, and small molecule activation.

PhD and Postdoctoral supervision. I have supervised 4 PhD students to completion, 3 as their primary supervisor and 1 as their secondary supervisor. All previous PhD students are working in research positions in academia and industry. I have also graduated 1 MRes student. I currently supervise 5 PhD students as the primary supervisor and 2 PhD students as the secondary supervisor, and 1 EPSRC funded PDRA.

Undergraduate and PGT supervision. I have successfully supervised >15 final year MChem project students and 3 MS to graduation within my research group. I have also supervised 3 ERASMUS undergraduate students (Hamburg, Rouen) in my research group.

CH2200 Spectroscopy Theory and Practice

CH3201 Advanced Organic Chemistry

CH3204 Biological Chemistry

CH4201 Advanced Structure Determination

Dalian-Leicester Institute Flying Faculty

Phosphorus and Sulfur in Organic Chemistry (External for GlaxoSmithKline PhD training programme)