As a new PhD, Raphael was allocated to the wartime effort on the
antibiotic penicillin, working from 1943 to 1946 at the
May & Baker laboratories. After the war, he obtained an
ICI fellowship (for 1946–1949) that allowed him to return to Imperial College to pursue independent research: an early highlight was his synthesises of
penicillic acid, the major product of acid degradation of penicillin (although not containing its characteristic β-lactam substructure). Another was his collaboration with
Franz Sondheimer on
natural products including an
insecticide extracted from
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (a
diene then called herculin, now systematically named as (2E,8E)-N-isobutyl-2,8-dodecadienamide); work which led to Raphael's award of the
Meldola Medal in 1948. In 1954, Raphael moved to
Queen's University, Belfast as its first Professor of Organic Chemistry. There he published an important book on acetylene chemistry, building on his broad experience of these compounds. In 1957, Raphael returned to the
University of Glasgow as the
Regius Professor of Chemistry,. In 1960 he finished work on a text-book for undergraduates, which was updated and re-issued several times. In 1972 Raphael became head of the Department of Organic,
Inorganic and
Theoretical Chemistry at
Cambridge University. This post had been made vacant by the retirement, on ill-health grounds, of
Lord Todd, the previous holder of the
1702 Chair in Organic Chemistry. Raphael also became a
Fellow of
Christ's College. On retirement in 1988 he was granted
emeritus status within his college and department, reflecting his distinguished service. ==Teaching and research==