Department of Chemistry, The University of West Indies at Mona

paul.reese@uwimona.edu.jm

B.Sc.(General), U.W.I., D.Phil., Sussex.
Professor (Organic)

Research Interests

Medicinal Plants. Plants, mainly from the family Labiatae, Scrophulariaceae and Capparaceae families, are being examined to isolate and characterise the major natural products. Identification of metabolites with biological activity is an integral part of this project.
Microbial transformations. Natural products of agricultural and pharmaceutical interest are structurally modified by selected strains of fungi in an effort to produce a range of new analogues with enhanced bioactivity.
Steroids. Partial synthesis of steroid hormones is studied with the aim of identifying cheaper routes to the production of these costly biochemicals.

Selected Publications

R.J. Lancashire and P.B. Reese, "Microwave Oven Reaction Enhanced (MORE) preparation of stilbenediamines." Electronic Conference on Trends in Organic Chemistry (ECTOC-1), Eds. H.S. Rzepa and J. G. Goodman (CD-ROM), Royal Society of Chemistry publications, 1995. See a copy here or the other ECTOC papers held at Imperial College.

P.L.D. Ruddock, D.J. Williams and P.B. Reese, "The scope and limitations of the reaction of D⁵-steroids with mercury(II) trifluoroacetate," Steroids, 1998, 63, 650-664.

R.B.R. Porter, W.A. Gallimore and P.B. Reese, "Steroid transformations with Exophiala jeanselmei var. lecaniicorni and Ceratocystis paradoxa," Steroids, 1999, 64, 770-779.

P.L.D. Ruddock and P.B. Reese, "The effect of 4b and 19 ester functionalities on some electrophilic addition reactions of D⁵-steroids," Steroids, 1999, 64, 812-819.

M.R. Wilson, W.A. Gallimore and P.B. Reese, "Steroid transformations with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense and Colletotrichum musae," Steroids, 1999, 64, 834-843.

G.O. Buchanan, L.A.D. Williams and P.B. Reese, "Biotransformation of cadinane sesquiterpenes by Beauveria bassiana ATCC 7159," Phytochemistry, 2000, 54, 39-45.

D. Burns, W.F. Reynolds, G. Buchanan, P.B. Reese and R.G. Enriquez, "Assignment of ¹H and ¹³C spectra and investigation of hindered side chain rotation in Lupeol derivatives," Magn. Reson. Chem., 2000, 38, 488-493.

D.O. Collins, W.A. Gallimore, W.F. Reynolds, L.A.D. Williams and P.B. Reese, "New skeletal sesquiterpenoids, Caprariolides A - D, from Capraria biflora and their insecticidal activity," J. Nat. Prod., 2000, 63, 1515-1518.

P.B. Reese, "Remote functionalization reactions in steroids," Steroids, 2001, 66, 481-497.

D.O. Collins, G.O. Buchanan, W.F. Reynolds and P.B. Reese, "Biotransformation of Squamulosone by Curvularia lunata ATCC 12017," Phytochemistry, 2001, 57, 377-383.