Stevenson, Phil
Job Title
Natural Product Chemist
Department
Jodrell Laboratory
Section
Sustainable Uses
Science Teams:
Joined Kew:
1994Qualifications & Appointments
BSc, Applied Biology, Brunel University, 1988.
PhD, University of London, 1992.
Professorship. Awarded title Professor of Plant Chemistry University of Greenwich, 2011.
Regional Editor, Biopesticides International.
Editorial Board, Crop Protection, Bulletin of Entomological Research, The Natural Products Journal.
Role
Isolation and analysis of plant compounds and biological activity testing against agricultural pests.
A major emphasis of work is on the isolation and characterization of compounds from plants that have pesticidal properties and/or play a role in plant-insect and plant-fungal interactions. Lead two major projects optimising pesticidal plants by resource poor farmers for protecting stored products, field crops and livestock in sub Saharan Africa funded from the McKnight Foundation and the EU 9th Development fund via African Caribbean and Pacific Science and Technology Program and Southern African Development Cooperation. The taxonomic focus for this research has been Leguminosae, Polygalaceae, Verbenaceae and Meliaceae. Many activities are undertaken in collaboration with the Natural Resource Institute of the University of Greenwich and support the sustainable use of plants by resource-poor farmers in developing countries. Also studying wild crop relatives to identify chemical based resistance mechanisms to pests. This research has also resulted in the elucidation of novel compounds with biological activities that can be used as valuable characters in chemosystematics. Currently am co-PI for a BBSRC project investigating the role of plant secondary metabolites in mediating pollinator behaviour and potential role in pollinator decline in the UK landscape. Responsible for HPLC operation and development in the Jodrell Laboratory as a tool for the analysis of ‘small molecules’ in phytochemical studies with particular emphasis on isolation of novel compounds, but also for chemical authentication of plant extracts or products, and enquiries.
Projects
- African Dryland Alliance for Pesticidal-Plant Technologies (ADAPPT)
- Authentication and Chemical Fingerprinting of Economically Important Species
- Diversity of Biologically Active Plants and Plant-Derived Compound
- Importance of Legumes and Legume-Derived Compounds in Medicine and Agriculture
- Plant-Insect Interactions
- Caesalpinioid woodlands of southern Africa: optimising the indigenous use of pesticidal plants (Southern African Pesticidal Plants project – SAPP)
(project completed 2009) - Systematic Phytochemistry of Legumes
Selected Recent Publications
Sarasan, V., Kite G.C., Sileshi, G.W., Stevenson P.C. (2011). The application of Phytochemistry and in vitro tools to the sustainable utilisation of medicinal and pesticidal plants for income generation and poverty alleviation. Plant Cell Reports 30: 1163–1172.
Stevenson, P. C., D’Cunha, R F. and Grzywacz, D. (2010). Inactivation of baculovirus by isoflavonoids on chickpea (Cicer arietinum) leaf surfaces reduces the efficacy of nucleopolyhedrovirus against Helicoverpa armigera. Journal of Chemical Ecology 36: 227–235.
Stevenson, P.C., Nyirenda, S.P. and Veitch, N.C. (2010). Highly glycosylated flavonoid glycosides from Bobgunnia madagascariensis. Tetrahedron Letters 51: 4727–4730.
Stevenson, P.C. Jayasekera,T.K., Belmain, S.R. and Veitch, N.C. (2009). Bisdesmosidic saponins from Securidaca longepedunculata (Polygalaceae) with deterrent and toxic properties to Coleapteran storage pests. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 57 (19): 8860–8867.
Stevenson, P.C. Muyinza, H., Hall, D.R., Porter, E., Farman, D.I. Talwana, H. and Mwanga, R.O.M. (2009). A Chemical Basis for Resistance in Sweet Potato to the Sweet Potato Weevil Cylas puncticollis. Pure & Applied Chemistry 81: 141-151.
Selected Earlier Publications
Aslam, S.N., Stevenson, P.C. Phythian, S. J., Veitch, N. C. and Hall, D. R. (2006). Synthesis of cicerfuran, an antifungal benzofuran, and some related analogues. Tetrahedron 62 (17): 4214-4226.
Jayasekera, T., Stevenson, P.C., Hall, D.R. and Belmain, S.R., (2005). Effect Of volatile constituents from Securidaca longepedunculata on stored grain insect pests. Journal of Chemical Ecology 31 (2): 303 – 313.
Stevenson, P.C., Simmonds, M.S.J., Yule, M., Veitch, N.C., Kite, G.C. Irwin, D. and Legg, M. (2003). Insect antifeedant furanocoumarins from Tetradium daniellii. Phytochemistry 63: 41-46.
Jayasekera, T., Stevenson, P.C., Belmain, S.R. and Hall, D.R. (2002). Methylsalicylate isomers in the roots of Securidaca longepedunculata. Journal of Mass Spectrometry 37: 577-580.
Simmonds, M.S.J and Stevenson, P.C. (2001). Effects of Cicer-derived isoflavonoids on larvae of Helicoverpa armigera. Journal of Chemical Ecology 27: 965-977.
