Professor Paul McGonigal
My training started with undergraduate (MChem, 2007) and postgraduate (PhD, 2011) degrees from The University of Edinburgh, working under the direction of Prof David Leigh. I moved to The Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia, Spain, as a Postdoctoral Researcher (2011) in the laboratory of Prof Antonio Echavarren then went on to conduct research with Prof Fraser Stoddart’s research group at Northwestern University as a US–UK Fulbright Scholarship (2012). I started my independent academic career at Durham University as an Assistant (2015) and Associate Professor (2021), before moving to the University of York as a Reader (2023) and then Professor (2024). In 2025, I took up my current position as Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and as Courtenay Phillips Tutor at Merton College.
Areas of interest: Physical organic chemistry, materials, supramolecular chemistry, organic synthesis, shapeshifting molecules, luminescence
I investigate dynamic process in organic functional materials with emphasis on exploiting stabilised, highly substituted aromatic carbocations, fluxional carbon cages, and supramolecular chemistry. Students in the McGonigal research group are exposed to a wide range of techniques in organic synthesis, advanced spectroscopy, organometallics, electrochemistry, and DFT modelling. Please see our group web page for regular updates and news about the McGonigal Group's research, publications and group members.
I teach undergraduates organic chemistry and synthesis.
'Geometry-Controlled Reactivity and Dynamics in Organic Molecules' Saha, P. K.; Tran Ngoc; T.; McGonigal, P. R.; Teichert, J. F. Nature Synth. 2024, 3, 684–697.
'Control of Dynamic sp3-C Stereochemistry' Bismillah, A. N.; Johnson, T. G.; Hussein, B. A.; Turley, A. T.; Saha, P. K.; Wong, H. C.; Aguilar, J. A.; Yufit, D. S.; McGonigal, P. R. Nature Chem. 2023 15, 615–624.
'Rupturing Aromaticity by Periphery Overcrowding' Saha, P. K.; Mallick, A.; Turley, A. T.; Bismillah, A. N.; Danos, A.; Monkman, A. P.; Avestro, A.-J.; Yufit, D. S.; McGonigal, P. R. Nature Chem. 2023, 15, 516–525.
'Tandem High-Pressure Crystallography–Optical Spectroscopy Unpacks Noncovalent Interactions of Piezochromic Fluorescent Molecular Rotors' Sussardi, A. N.; Turner, G. F.; Richardson, J.; Spackman, M. A.; Turley, A. T.; McGonigal, P. R.; Jones, A. C.; Moggach, S. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 19780–19789.
'Supramolecular Repair of Hydration Lubrication Surfaces' Wang, Y.; Sun, Y.; Avestro, A.-J.; McGonigal, P. R.; Zhang, H. Chem 2022, 8, 480–493.
