Yonek B Hleba
PhD Chemistry, MRSC Lecturer
Natural Products Synthesis Chemist
Agriculture, Health and Environment Department
Yonek joined the Chemical Ecology research group within the Natural Resources Institute in February 2026. Yonek is involved in the synthesis and structural determination of insect pheromones as well as the isolation and identification of plant volatiles.
Yonek’s previous experience in the agri-tech sector involved the isolation of whole plant extracts and novel cannabinoids at the medical cannabis company Grow Group (https://growgroup.org) and in the crop protection and nutrient utilization spaces at Sound Agriculture (https://www.sound.ag) using small molecules.
Yonek’s academic experience includes a post-doc at Imperial College London’s Centre for Synthetic Biology and PhD in catalysis and organometallic chemistry from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada under Dr Cathleen Crudden.
Yonek has membership in the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Royal Entomological Society (RES).
Yonek is part of the Chemical Ecology and Entomology Working groups focusing on insect pheromones or host attractants for pest insects.
My research interests involve the synthesis of small molecules for modifying target organism behaviour with particular interest in parasitic weeds, pest insects and invasive species.
Total synthesis of complex molecules for structural confirmation and structure-activity relationships using photochemistry, asymmetric synthesis and catalysis are routine.
Lecturer
- Member of the American Chemical Society
- MRSC (Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry)
- MRES (Member of the Royal Entomological Society)
- Greenlon, A.; Moore ,I.V.; Hleba, Y.B.; Reyes, G.J.; Llewellyn, W.S.; Caudron, Q.; Santos, B.M.; Divan, J.A.; Davidson, E.A.: Meragelman, T.L.; Bayer, T.S. ‘Nitrogen fixation in maize through application of a synthetic strigolactone’ Manuscript submitted to Science
- Moore, S.J.; Hleba, Y.B.; Bischoff, S.; Bell, D.; Polizzi, K.; Freemont, P. ‘Refactoring of a Synthetic Raspberry Ketone Pathway with EcoFlex’ Microbial Cell Factories, 20, 116 (2021).
- Miari, V.F.; Solanki, P.; Hleba, Y.; Stabler, R.A.; Heap, J.T. ‘In Vitro Susceptibility to Closthioamide among Clinical and Reference Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae’ Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2017, 61(10), e00929-17
- Crudden, C. M.; Hleba, Y. B.; Chen, A. C. ‘Regio- and Enantiocontrol in the Room-Temperature Hydroboration of Vinyl Arenes with Pinacol Borane’ J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 9200-9201
Yonek joined the Chemical Ecology research group within the Natural Resources Institute in February 2026. Yonek is involved in the synthesis and structural determination of insect pheromones as well as the isolation and identification of plant volatiles.
Yonek’s previous experience in the agri-tech sector involved the isolation of whole plant extracts and novel cannabinoids at the medical cannabis company Grow Group (https://growgroup.org) and in the crop protection and nutrient utilization spaces at Sound Agriculture (https://www.sound.ag) using small molecules.
Yonek’s academic experience includes a post-doc at Imperial College London’s Centre for Synthetic Biology and PhD in catalysis and organometallic chemistry from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada under Dr Cathleen Crudden.
Yonek has membership in the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Royal Entomological Society (RES).
Yonek is part of the Chemical Ecology and Entomology Working groups focusing on insect pheromones or host attractants for pest insects.
My research interests involve the synthesis of small molecules for modifying target organism behaviour with particular interest in parasitic weeds, pest insects and invasive species.
Total synthesis of complex molecules for structural confirmation and structure-activity relationships using photochemistry, asymmetric synthesis and catalysis are routine.
Lecturer
- Member of the American Chemical Society
- MRSC (Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry)
- MRES (Member of the Royal Entomological Society)
- Greenlon, A.; Moore ,I.V.; Hleba, Y.B.; Reyes, G.J.; Llewellyn, W.S.; Caudron, Q.; Santos, B.M.; Divan, J.A.; Davidson, E.A.: Meragelman, T.L.; Bayer, T.S. ‘Nitrogen fixation in maize through application of a synthetic strigolactone’ Manuscript submitted to Science
- Moore, S.J.; Hleba, Y.B.; Bischoff, S.; Bell, D.; Polizzi, K.; Freemont, P. ‘Refactoring of a Synthetic Raspberry Ketone Pathway with EcoFlex’ Microbial Cell Factories, 20, 116 (2021).
- Miari, V.F.; Solanki, P.; Hleba, Y.; Stabler, R.A.; Heap, J.T. ‘In Vitro Susceptibility to Closthioamide among Clinical and Reference Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae’ Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2017, 61(10), e00929-17
- Crudden, C. M.; Hleba, Y. B.; Chen, A. C. ‘Regio- and Enantiocontrol in the Room-Temperature Hydroboration of Vinyl Arenes with Pinacol Borane’ J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 9200-9201