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Tel +64 3 479 5460

Nick Green imageEmail nick.green@otago.ac.nz

Google Scholar Nicholas J Green

Website Green Group – Organic and biological chemistry

Research interests

The Nick Green research group is a synthetic and biological chemistry group. We are interested in exploring new chemical reactions and new chemical structures.

We have a particular interest in the chemistry of molecules of life, including nucleosides, peptides, and lipids. We investigate the synthesis of these molecules and derivatives with applications in organic and medicinal chemistry. We also evaluate the chemical and physical properties of these molecules, and potential routes to them that may have occurred on a primordial Earth, or other planets, which may inform our understanding on the origins of life and homochirality.

Professional background

  • 2022–present, Lecturer, University of Otago.
  • 2018–2022, Research Associate, Homerton College, University of Cambridge.
  • 2017–2022, Career Development Fellow, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge.
  • 2016–2017, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Edinburgh.
  • 2015–2016, Postdoctoral Fellow, Australian National University.
  • 2011–2015, PhD (Organic Synthesis), Australian National University.

Publications

Green, N. J., Russell, D. A., Tanner, S. H., & Sutherland, J. D. (2023). Prebiotic synthesis of N-formylaminonitriles and derivatives in formamide. Journal of the American Chemical Society. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c13306

Godfrey, R. C., Jones, H. E., Green, N. J., & Lawrence, A. L. (2022). Unified total synthesis of the brevianamide alkaloids enabled by chemical investigations into their biosynthesis. Chemical Science, 13(5), 1313-1322. doi: 10.1039/d1sc05801k

Rimmer, P. B., Thompson, S. J., Xu, J., Russell, D. A., Green, N. J., Ritson, D. J., … Queloz, D. P. (2021). Timescales for prebiotic photochemistry under realistic surface ultraviolet conditions. Astrobiology, 21(9), 1099-1120. doi: 10.1089/ast.2020.2335

Xu, J., Green, N. J., Russell, D. A., Liu, Z., & Sutherland, J. D. (2021). Prebiotic photochemical coproduction of purine ribo- and deoxyribonucleosides [Communication]. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143, 14482-14486. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c07403

Green, N. J., Xu, J., & Sutherland, J. D. (2021). Illuminating life's origins: UV photochemistry in abiotic synthesis of biomolecules. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143, 7219-7236. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c01839

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