Dr Oliver R Maguire MChem, PhD

Dr Oliver R Maguire

School of Chemistry
Assistant Professor in Systems Chemistry

Contact details

Address
School of Chemistry
Molecular Sciences Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Oliver is both a systems chemist and physical organic chemist and joined the School of Chemistry in 2024.

Research in his group aims to enrich artificial systems and materials with new life-like behaviour such as decision-making. His group develops novel out-of-equilibrium chemical reaction networks out of organic and biochemical components (e.g. enzymes and nucleic acids) which process electrochemical signals and adapt their behaviour in response. The ultimate goal of his research is to understand how to construct life from the bottom-up.

Oliver is also passionate about developing people into outstanding scientists and aims for members of his group to develop into creative, determined and self-confident problem solvers.

Oliver’s research is currently funded by the European Research Council. In 2023 Oliver was nominated as an emerging Systems Chemistry talent by ChemSystemsChem.

Please visit the Maguire Research Group’s website for further information.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Chemistry, Durham University, 2017
  • MChem (Hons), Durham University, 2012

Postgraduate supervision

Systems Chemistry
Physical Organic Chemistry
Soft Matter

Oliver welcomes applications from those interested in pursuing an MSci, PhD or Postdoc in the areas of:

  • Systems Chemistry
  • Physical Organic Chemistry
  • Enzymatic Reaction Networks
  • Hydrogels
  • Organocatalysis
  • Prebiotic Chemistry and the Origins of Life

Potential applicants interested in joining the group are encouraged to contact Oliver by email to discuss potential research projects. Specific funded opportunities will be advertised on the group website and on job websites when available.

Other activities

Membership of Learned or Professional Societies:

  • Associate Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (AMRSC), UK
  • Member of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging (KNCV) (Dutch Chemical Society), Netherlands
  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK
  • Alumnus Member of Origin of Life Early-career Network (OoLEN)

Honours and Awards:

  • 2023 - Systems Chemistry Talent, nominated as an emerging talent in systems chemistry in ChemSystemsChem
  • 2019 - KNCV (Dutch Chemical Society) Pub Quiz, 2nd best chemist in the Netherlands

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Maguire, O & O'Donoghue, AMC 2015, Chapter 3: Homogeneous Acid Catalysis in Nonasymmetric Synthesis. Sustainable Catalysis, vol. 2, RSC Publishing.

Article

Maguire, OR, Smokers, IBA, Oosterom, BG, Zheliezniak, A & Huck, WTS 2024, 'A Prebiotic Precursor to Life’s Phosphate Transfer System with an ATP Analog and Histidyl Peptide Organocatalysts', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 146, no. 11, pp. 7839-7849. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c01156

Maguire, OR 2024, 'The Many-Chemicals Problem of Systems Chemistry', ChemSystemsChem, vol. 6, no. 5, e202400027. https://doi.org/10.1002/syst.202400027

ter Harmsel, M, Maguire, OR, Runikhina, SA, Wong, ASY, Huck, WTS & Harutyunyan, SR 2023, 'A catalytically active oscillator made from small organic molecules', Nature, vol. 621, pp. 87-93. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06310-2

Maguire, OR, Smokers, IBA & Huck, WTS 2021, 'A physicochemical orthophosphate cycle via a kinetically stable thermodynamically activated intermediate enables mild prebiotic phosphorylations', Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, 5517. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25555-x

Maguire, OR, Wong, ASY, Baltussen, MG, van Duppen, P, Pogodaev, AA & Huck, WTS 2020, 'Dynamic Environments as a Tool to Preserve Desired Output in a Chemical Reaction Network', Chemistry - A European Journal, vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 1676-1682. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201904725

Maguire, OR, Wong, ASY, Westerdiep, JH & Huck, WTS 2020, 'Early warning signals in chemical reaction networks', Chemical Communications, vol. 56, no. 26, pp. 3725-3728. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0cc01010c

Maguire, OR, Zhu, J, Brittain, WDG, Hudson, AS, Cobb, SL & O’Donoghue, AMC 2020, 'N-Terminal speciation for native chemical ligation', Chemical Communications, vol. 56, no. 45, pp. 6114-6117. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0cc01604g

Maguire, OR, Taylor, B, Higgins, EM, Rees, M, Cobb, SL, Simpkins, NS, Hayes, CJ & O'Donoghue, AMC 2020, 'Unusually high α-proton acidity of prolyl residues in cyclic peptides', Chemical Science, vol. 11, no. 29, pp. 7722-7729. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0sc02508a

Collett, CJ, Massey, RS, Taylor, JE, Maguire, OR, O'Donoghue, AMC & Smith, AD 2015, 'Rate and equilibrium constants for the addition of N-heterocyclic carbenes into benzaldehydes: A remarkable 2-substituent effect', Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, vol. 54, no. 23, pp. 6887-6892. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201501840

Collett, CJ, Massey, RS, Maguire, OR, Batsanov, AS, O’donoghue, AMC & Smith, AD 2013, 'Mechanistic insights into the triazolylidene-catalysed Stetter and benzoin reactions: Role of the N-aryl substituent', Chemical Science, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 1514-1522. https://doi.org/10.1039/c2sc22137c

Lindsay, S, Lo, SK, Maguire, OR, Bill, E, Probert, MR, Sproules, S & Hess, CR 2013, 'Syntheses and electronic structure of bimetallic complexes containing a flexible redox-active bridging ligand', Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 898-909. https://doi.org/10.1021/ic302087f

Review article

Maguire, OR & Huck, WTS 2019, 'On the importance of reaction networks for synthetic living systems', Emerging topics in life sciences, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 517-527. https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20190016

View all publications in research portal