Dr Peter Wyatt

Profile

Peter Wyatt is a synthetic chemist with interests in heterocyclic compounds, amino acids and compounds containing the elements fluorine, nitrogen and phosphorus. He collaborates with materials scientists within the Department of Physics at QMUL and with life scientists at the Brain Chemistry Laboratories in Jackson, Wyoming, USA, where he is an honorary research associate.

Teaching

• CHE100 Essential Skills for Chemists
• CHE102A Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry
• CHE202A Structure and Reactivity in Organic Chemistry (Semester A)
• CHE210 Essential Skills for Chemists II
• CHE302U Organic Synthesis
• CHE308U Advanced Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy
• CHE600 Chemistry Research Project
• CHE601 Chemistry Investigative Project
• CHE700 Chemistry MSci Research Project
• CHE700P Chemical Research Project

Research

Research Interests:

Peter Wyatt has over 40 years experience of research in organic synthesis, including the chemical synthesis of analogues of biologically important molecules, especially heterocyclic compounds, organofluorine compounds and unusual amino acids.

Current areas of work are as follows:

• Preparation of authentic samples of polymers of the cyanobacterial amino acid beta-N-(methylamino)-L-alanine (BMAA) to support the search for covalently bound sources of BMAA in the natural environment.
• Use of organic electrochemistry to generate pharmaceutically privileged structures from indoles and phenols.
• Preparation of lanthanide complexes with fluorine-containing organic ligands to improve the efficiency of solar cells

Publications

• Bladon CM  and Wyatt PB,  Chemistry: A Cultural Perspective, Taylor and Francis 2026.
• Motevalli M, Abrahams I, Blakskjær P, Wyatt CE, Wyatt PB (2024) . (R)-2-Amino-1-hydroxyethylphosphonic Acid . Molbank vol. 2024, M1888 10.3390/m1888 https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/105394
• Dey AL, Motevalli M, Abrahams I, Wyatt PB (2024) . (S)-1-Methyl-2-oxoimidazolidine-4-carboxylic Acid . Molbank vol. 2024, M1835. 10.3390/m1835 https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/97863
• Liu J, Du J, Wyatt PB, Keen DA, Phillips AE, Dove MT ( 2024 ) . Orientational order/disorder and network flexibility in deuterated methylammonium lead iodide perovskite by neutron total scattering . Journal of Materials Chemistry A vol. 12 , 2771 - 2785. 10.1039/d3ta04586b https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/111197
• Metcalf JS, Banack SA, Wyatt PB, Nunn PB, Cox PA (2023). A Direct Analysis of β-N-methylamino-l-alanine Enantiomers and Isomers and Its Application to Cyanobacteria and Marine Mollusks . Toxins vol. 15, 15110639 10.3390/toxins15110639 https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/111195
• Chawishli L, Ibrahim A, Karamshuk S, Khan H, Motevalli M, Toiganbayeva S, Abrahams I, Gillin WP, Wyatt PB. (2023). Luminescent, highly halogenated 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole derivatives and their zinc complexes . Journal of Fluorine Chemistry vol. 270, 110165. 10.1016/j.jfluchem.2023.110165 https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/92317

Supervision

Ao Chen (MSc in Chemical Research 2025-2026)

Jeevan Kaur Juttla (MSc in Chemical Research 2025-2026)