Clare Bakewell

Dr Clare Bakewell is a Lecturer in Chemistry at King's College London, affiliated with the Department of Chemistry and the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences. She holds a MChem from the University of Leeds (2010) and a PhD from Imperial College London (2014), followed by a postdoc at Imperial and a Ramsay Memorial Fellowship at UCL. Her research focuses on main-group metals in catalysis, high-energy materials, and environmentally relevant molecule activation (e.g., CO₂, H₂). She leads the Bakewell Group, exploring non-transition metal-based reactions and synthesis of value-added products.

• Education:
  • MChem, University of Leeds (2010)
  • PhD in Chemistry, Imperial College London (2014)
• Affiliations:
  • Lecturer at King's College London (since 2021)
  • Ramsay Memorial Fellow at UCL (2018–2021)

Research interests include low oxidation state aluminum chemistry, functionalization of carbon-fluorine bonds, and main-group metal catalysts for polymerization. Notable awards include the Sir Edward Frankland Prize in Inorganic Chemistry (2025). She advises PhD/MSc students in areas like main-group catalysis and sustainable materials.

Key publications focus on aluminum(I) reactivity, magnesium/metal bond interactions, and functional materials development. Current projects include EPSRC-funded work on multi-metallic low oxidation state compounds and Royal Society-supported studies on aluminum chemistry.

Labs and teams: The Bakewell Group operates in King’s labs, focusing on synthetic inorganic chemistry and collaborative projects with groups like Diez Perez and Musgrave. Recent additions include PhD students Rohil and Gabriel, and MSci students Aaiman and Mickey.