Melen Research Group
Advancing Main Group Chemistry
Nusaybah completed her MSc in King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, 2019. Her master project involved the pyrolytic synthesis of cobalt-carbon nanocomposites from new cobalt complexes of nitrogen-donor ligands and their application in water treatment. Nusaybah joined the Melen group as a PhD student in 2021, investigating the catalytic reactivities of Lewis acidic boranes in organic transformations.
Recent Publication: “B(C6F5)3 catalyzed regiodivergent thioetherifications of alkenes via thiiranium intermediates: experimental and computational insights” Chem. Eur. J., 2024, e202404236.
Sampurna Das (PhD: 2022-)
Sampurna obtained her MSc. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar in 2022. She completed her master's project under the supervision of Prof. Indranil Chatterjee. As a master's project, she explored the property of hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) also enables regioselective hydroamination in a Markovnikov manner in presence of catalytic Brønsted acid. Now as a Ph.D. student in the Melen group she is investigating Metal-free Catalyst Development using Microwaves.
Recent Publication: “The use of microwave dielectric spectroscopy for the in actu assessment of frustrated Lewis pair encounter complexes” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2024, 146, 19809.
Tribani Boruah (2023-)
Tribani joined the group in 2023 for an industrial project with TOK (Japan) and Dr. Alberto Roldan Martinez (Cardiff). During her master's, she interned at the University of Delhi, working on furan-derived heterocycles. She then researched nanofiber synthesis at the National Physical Laboratory and single-atom catalysts for energy conversion at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology. Currently, in the Melen group, she focuses on synthesizing precursors for semiconductor applications with TOK Japan and explores their properties through Density Functional Theory (DFT).
Recent Publication: “Flow electrosynthesis of phosphinamides and phosphoramidates through P–N coupling” Green Chem., 2024, 26, 11722.
Ola Gorecka (2023-)
Ola received her 1st class MChem degree in Medicinal Chemistry with Pharmacology from the University of Liverpool in 2023. She completed her 3rd-year project working on the prediction of gel properties using machine learning under the supervision of Prof. Neil Berry and her master's project on the synthesis of proline-derived N-oxides via N-alkylation of hydroxylamine with Dr. Ian O'Neil. Ola joined Melen group in the summer of 2023 to work on a project funded by GEO specialty chemicals after which she began her Ph.D. studies focusing on the application of main group Lewis acids in organic synthesis.
Taylor Wilde (2023-)
Taylor joined the Melen group in 2023 after completing her MChem Chemistry with Drug Discovery degree at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. In her Masters project, she worked under Dr Catherine Weetman synthesising hemi labile alkoxytethered NHC aluminium complexes and explored their catalytic profile and ability to activate small molecules. As a PhD student, Taylor is investigating sustainable catalysis for clean growth – CO2 activation using FLPs as part of the prosperity partnership funded by BP.
Tanmay Kanji (2023-)
Tanmay obtained his MSc from the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar in 2022. He completed his master's project under the supervision of Dr. Prabal Banerjee. As a master's project, he explored strain carbocycles for several organic transformations. Now as a collaborative PhD student in Morrill group and Melen group, he is investigating “New Opportunities in Enantioselective Catalysis Using Lewis Acidic Boranes”.
Darwin Mak (2024-)
Darwin completed his MSci at UCL under Prof. Sheppard in 2023. The project explored the possibility of oxetane formation from epoxide using organoboron catalysis. Darwin joined Melen group in 2025 to explore the main group catalysis and electrochemistry with Wirth group.
Parth Bhavsar (2025-)
Parth completed his MSc in Chemistry with Distinction at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune in 2024. He completed his master’s project under the supervision of Dr. Shabana Khan. As a part of her organometallic lab, he explored the synthesis and reactivity of low valent main group elements with special focus towards the synthesis of borocations and their applications in transformations including cyanosilylation and CO2 hydroboration. Now as a Ph.D. student in the Melen group he is exploring the reactivity of borane Lewis acids and FLPs in organic transformations.
Johannes Westphaeling (2025-)
Johannes began his bachelor's studies in chemistry at RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany. In his bachelor thesis, he explored atroposelective C—N coupling reactions under the guidance of Prof. Frédéric W. Patureau. He then pursued a master’s degree in chemistry at the same university, with a specialization in bioactive compounds, synthetic methodology, and catalysis. For his master thesis, Johannes joined Prof. Mu-Hyun (Mookie) Baik’s research group at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Institute for Basic Science, Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalizations (IBS-CCHF) in Daejeon, South Korea. He then began his PhD studies in the same institution and group, focusing on computational investigations of reaction mechanisms and exploring both applications and fundamental aspects of electro-inductive effects.He joined Rebecca Melen and Thomas Wirth’s research group at Cardiff University in 2025 for a three-month research stay, working on FLP catalysis and flow-electrochemistry.
Oscar Hulm (2024-)
Oscar is a final year MChem student at Cardiff University. In his Mchem Project, Oscar is investigating the application of hexafluroisopropanol (HFIP) in ring-closing heterocycle synthesis and borane catalysis.
Muhammad Rohman (2025-)
Harry McRae (2025-)
Indium (2014-) and Arian (2022-)
Indium (born 2006) and Arian (Arian is Welsh for "Silver") (born 2022) are Norwegian Fjord horses. Their interests lie in anything food-related (hay, carrots, mints).
A horse walks into a bar. “Hey,” says the barman. “Yes please,” says the horse.
PhD Students:
Melen Research Group members
The Boss:
Professor Rebecca L. Melen
2004-2012 University of Cambridge, UK (PhD, MA, MSci, BA)
2012-2013 University of Toronto, Canada (postdoc)
2013-2014 Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany (Humboldt fellow)
2014-2017 Cardiff University, UK (Lecturer)
2017-2019 Cardiff University, UK (Senior Lecturer)
2019-2021 Cardiff University, UK (Reader)
2021- Cardiff University, UK (Professor)
Honorary Group Members:
Postdocs:
Dr Milan Pramanik (PDF: 2022-)
Dr Milan Pramanik is from West Bengal, India. He obtained his MSc from IIT Madras, India in 2016. In 2022, he completed Ph.D. at NISER Bhubaneswar (HBNI) under the guidance of Prof. Prasenjit Mal, where he worked on the use of Non-Covalent Interactions and Visible Light Photo Catalysis in Organic Synthesis. In December, 2022, he joined as postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Rebecca Melen at Cardiff University where he will be involved in developing Frustrated Lewis Pair as Visible Light Photo Catalysis for Organic Synthesis.
MChem Students:
Visiting Students:
BSc Students:
