Pd-catalysed enantioselective enyne cyclisations to form quaternary stereocenters via asymmetric counterion directed catalysis;

  •Pauson-Khand reactions (PKR) to form substituted cyclopentenones as found in complex natural products (e.g. (±)-pentalenolactone A methyl ester);

  •Mechanistic studies in Pd-catalysed PKRs initiated by alkynoate chloropalladation rather than the conventional cyclometallation pathway;

  •Control of PKR regioselectivity using lithium halide salts;

  •Enyne cycloisomerisation / Diels-Alder reaction / lactonisation sequences as atom economic routes to fused carbocyclic lactones;

  •Heck cyclisations of haloenamides to indoles;

  •Wagner-Meerwein-type rearrangements to access polycyclic pyrones;

  •Azide-based rearrangements in cascade cycloadditions;

  •Developing new chiral dienes from extracts of Chinese plants for use in rhodium catalysis.