Educational Background

  • MA, DPhil, Oxford University (1974-1980)
  • Postdoctoral: NATO Fellow, Strasbourg, France (1980/81)

Current Research Interests

  • Functional probes for imaging and sensing; coordination complexes and conjugates; chirality and targeting.

Career and Research Profile

David Parker spent over fifty years living in the North-East of England. Born in County Durham, he graduated with a First Class degree in Chemistry from Oxford University in 1978. He gained a D.Phil. in 1980, working with John M Brown FRS in the Dyson Perrins Laboratory on mechanistic studies in asymmetric catalysis. In the autumn of 1980, he took up a NATO Fellowship to study with Jean-Marie Lehn in Strasbourg. He returned to Durham in January 1982 to a Lectureship in Chemistry and was promoted to a Chair in 1992. He enjoyed a 40-year academic career at Durham, serving as the Chairman of Durham Chemistry on two occasions, and was on the UK RAE panel in 2008. Today, 34 of his former PhDs and post-doctoral assistants hold leading academic positions around the world.
His research has ranged widely over the design, synthesis and mode of action of targeted probes and sensors using luminescence and magnetic resonance. In addition he has studied both d and f block metal coordination chemistry, as well as some early contributions to chiral NMR analysis. In particular, he developed families of metal complexes and bioconjugates that bind reversibly or react selectively, examining their behaviour in vitro and in cellulo, often prior to in vivo applications. He holds over 25 licensed patents and has published over 380 articles, (h = 80).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Parker_(chemist)

Selected Publications

  1. P. Stachelek, L. Mackenzie, D. Parker and R. Pal., “Circularly polarised luminescence laser scanning confocal microscopy to study live cell chiral molecular interactions”, Nature Communications, 2022 13, 553-560 DOI : 10.1038/s41467-022-28220-z.
  2. Jack D. Fradgley, Martina Delbianco, Matthieu Starck, James W. Walton, Jurriaan M. Zwier and David Parker, “Comparative analysis of lanthanide excited state quenching by electronic energy and electron transfer processes”, Faraday Discuss, 2022 234, 159-174 DOI: 10.1039/D1FD00059D .
  3. Jack D Fradgley, Ka-Leung Wong and David Parker, “The Design of Luminescent Lanthanide Probes and Sensors”, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2021 50, 8193-8213, DOI: 10.1039/d1cs00310k.
  4. Matthieu Starck, Jack D. Fradgley, Davide F. De Rosa, Andrei S. Batsanov, Maria Papa, Michael J. Taylor, Janet E. Lovett, Jacob C. Lutter, Matthew J. Allen and David Parker, “Versatile para-substituted pyridine lanthanide coordination complexes allow late stage tailoring of complex function”, Chem. Eur. J., 2021 27, 17921-17927. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202103243
  5. E. R. H. Walter, C. Hogg, D. Parker and J. A. G. Williams, “Designing Magnesium Selective Ligands Using Coordination Chemistry Principles”, Coord. Chem. Rev., 2021 428, 213622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2020.213622
  6. E. A. Suturina, I. Kuprov, N. F. Chilton and D. Parker, “How the Ligand Field in Lanthanide Coordination Complexes Determines Magnetic Susceptibility Anisotropy, Paramagnetic NMR Shift and Relaxation”, Acc. Chem. Res., 2020 53(8), 1520-1534, DOI 10.1201/acs/accounts.0c00275.
  7. L. E. MacKenzie, L-O, Palsson, A. Beeby, D. Parker and R. Pal, “Rapid Time-Resolved Circular Polarization Luminescence (CPL) Emission Spectroscopy of Europium Complexes”, Nature Communications, 2020 11, 1676-1685, DOI.ORG/10.1038/s41467-020-15469-5.
  8. M. Starck, J. D. Fradgley, S. Di Vita, J. A. Mosely, R. Pal and D. Parker, “Targeted Luminescent Europium Peptide Conjugates: Comparative Analysis Using Maleimide and para-Nitropyridyl Linkages for Organelle Staining”, Bioconjugate Chem., 2020 31, 229-240. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.9b00735
  9. A. C. Harnden, E. A. Suturina, P. K. Senanayake, A. S. Batsanov, M. A. Fox, K. Mason, M. Vonci, E. J. L. McInnes, N. F. Chilton and D. Parker, “Unravelling the Complexities of Pseudocontact Shift Analysis in Lanthanide Coordination Complexes of Differing Symmetry”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2019 58, 10290-10294, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201906031.
  10. 10. Kevin Mason, Alice C. Harnden, Connor W. Patrick, Adeline W. J. Poh, Andrei S. Batsanov, Elizaveta A. Suturina, Michele Vonci, Eric J. L. McInnes, Nicholas F. Chilton and David Parker, “Exquisite Sensitivity of The Ligand Field to Solvation and Donor Polarisability in Coordinatively Saturated Lanthanide Complexes”, Chem. Commun., 2018 54, 8486-8489, DOI: 10.1039/c8cc04995e.