Humphrey Moynihan

I did my BSc and PhD (under the supervision of Dr. D. G. McCarthy) degrees in UCC and postdoctoral research at the Universities of Exeter and Bristol, before joining Liverpool John Moores University as Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, returning to UCC in 2002 as Lecturer, now Senior Lecturer, in Organic Chemistry (Medicinal/Pharmaceutical). I was an Investigator in the then SFI Synthesis and Solid-State Pharmaceutical Research Centre. I have been an undergraduate external examiner for Chemistry programmes at universities in Ireland and the UK, and was Head of UCC School of Chemistry from 2019 to 2022.

My research interests lie in the solid-state aspects and phase behaviour of organic and pharmaceutical compounds. Molecular structure controls key properties such as biological activity, but any ‘real-world’ sample of a pharmaceutical or fine chemical substance is a physical material entity, often a crystalline solid. Their solid-state nature affects properties such as solubility, melting point, powder flow, compressibility, regulatory compliance and other key attributes. My research studies key aspects of the phase behaviour of organic and pharmaceutical compounds including crystal polymorphism, crystallisation processes, impurities in crystalline solids, eutectic and solid solution formation, part-whole relationships between crystal forms, carbohydrate-based excipients and other aspects. The work includes synthesis, crystallisations and analyses using PXRD, DSC, HPLC and other methods. My research has been funded by, amongst others, Enterprise Ireland, Marie Curie Fellowships, SFI and IRC, including the IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme co-funded by industry, and has resulted in publications in CrystEngComm, Crystal Growth and Design, Organic Process Research and Development, Carbohydrate Research, RSC Advances and other journals. I have been an Investigator in the then SFI Solid-State Pharmaceutical Centre and have worked extensively with industry. I also have research interests in medicinal chemistry, materials for analytical chemistry, and flow chemistry, resulting in publications in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Tetrahedron and Tetrahedron Letters, the European Journal of Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry and others. Significant achievements include development of very efficient additives for control of polymorphism and developing approaches to mapping the distribution of impurities in crystalline samples.

I have supervised 18 PhD students and 3 research MSc students to successful completion, some graduating from Liverpool John Moores University and some from UCC. I have also supervised 11 Postdoctoral Researchers.

The research work involves synthesis (one of features of my research in the solid-state area is that we work with synthesized compounds, rather than commercially purchased materials), crystallisations and analysis of materials by techniques such as PXRD, DSC and/or HPLC (as well as NMR and Mass Spec used to characterise synthesized compounds.) In collaboration with Dr. Simon Lawrence, we also often obtain single-crystal XRD data. Hence, students acquire a valuable range of skills in synthetic chemistry and the solid-state properties of compounds, with are strongly relevant to pharmaceutical and fine chemical R&D and manufacturing. Most of my postgraduate students transfer directly to employment in the pharmaceutical industry, and a number have pursued careers in academia.

Postgraduate research has been funded by SFI, through the then Synthesis and Solid-State Pharmaceutical Centre, and by the then Irish Research Council, through the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarships and the industry co-funded IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme. In the emerging funding environment, I am also interested in supervising MRes and/or taught MSc students on appropriate programmes.

My teaching is strongly research-influenced, including my course on Drug Substance to Drug Product, delivered as part of the module CM3110 Pharmaceutical Solids & Technology, which is part of the BSc Chemistry of Pharmaceutical Compounds programme; my contribution to the module PF1010 Physicochemical Basis of Pharmaceuticals which is part of first year Pharmacy; CM6010 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Chemistry, part of the MEngSc Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Engineering programme; and my contribution to CM3102 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Chemistry, taken by third year BSc Chemistry, BSc Chemistry of Pharmaceutical Compounds and BSc Chemistry with Forensic Sciences. I teach organic stereochemistry as parts of the modules CM2002, CM3030, CM3004 and PF1009, taken as parts of the BSc Chemistry, BSc Chemistry of Pharmaceutical Compounds, BSc Chemistry with Forensic Science, BEd Science Education, BE Process & Chemical Engineering and the MPharm degrees, and optional (CM2002) for second year Biosciences. I teach core oxygen and nitrogen functional group chemistry as part of CM3004 and a short course on kinetics as part of PF1009. Final year research projects are an important part of both my teaching and my research, especially on the BSc Chemistry of Pharmaceutical Compounds and MPharm programmes. I am very involved in the delivery of substantive laboratory practical classes in the modules CM3004 Structure & Reactivity of Organic Compounds, CM3102 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Chemistry and CM3110 Pharmaceutical Solids & Technology. I am Module Coordinator for CM3004, CM3102 and CM6010, mentioned above.