New frontiers in synthetic chemistry 2022

Tom obtained his Master’s degree from the University of Liverpool in 2018 which included a one-year industrial placement at GSK, Montrose where he worked on the optimisation of commercial API processes. He joined AstraZeneca after graduating where he continues to work on a range of projects including route and process design.

Giulia Bergonzini is currently an Associate Principal Scientist at Early CVRM Medicinal Chemistry R&D BioPharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca (Sweden) where she focuses on medicinal chemistry and synthetic organic chemistry with a special interest in visible-light photocatalysis and its application to medicinal chemistry projects.
 
Giulia obtained her BSc and MSc in chemistry from the University of Bologna (Italy) and her PhD in organic chemistry and catalysis at ICIQ-Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (Spain) in 2013 under the supervision of Prof. Paolo Melchiorre. She did a sabbatical at Boston University (USA) under the supervision of Prof. Corey Stephenson and carried out her postdoctoral research at Gothenburg University (Sweden) before joining GSK (UK) as a Process Development Chemist. In 2017 she begun her career at AstraZeneca (Sweden) as a Senior Research Scientist. Current academic collaborations include Prof. Burkhard König (University of Regensburg) and Prof. Belén Martín-Matute (Stockholm University).1,2
 
1 M. Schmalzbauer et al., Redox-neutral Photocatalytic C–H Carboxylation of Arenes and Styrenes with CO2. Chem 2020, 6, 2658-2672.
2 T. D. Svejstrup et al., Effects of Light Intensity and Reaction Temperature on Photoreactions in Commercial Photoreactors. ChemPhotoChem 2021, 5, 808-814.

Jordi gained his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of Barcelona in 2003. He then pursued his studies for a MRes and PhD with a FPU studentship in the group of Prof. Jaume Vilarrasa. In 2010, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship to join the group of Prof. Donna Blackmond at The Scripps Research Institute, in California. In 2013, he returned to Europe to join the Chemistry Department at Imperial College London as an IC Junior Research Fellow. In 2016, he was appointed Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at The University of Manchester and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2020 and to Reader in 2022. In 2018, Jordi was awarded the Thieme Chemistry Journals Award; in 2019, the Young Researcher Award from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry; and in 2020, the Hickinbottom Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Deborah received an MSci degree and a PhD in 2015 from Queen’s University Belfast under the supervision of Dr Cristina Lagunas. Deborah was then seconded into the start-up company MOF Technologies, founded by Prof. Stuart James focusing on MOF synthesis using Twin Screw Extrusion. Since then, Deborah has focused her research on the development of TSE for the synthesis and processing of fine chemicals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and supramolecular structures. She currently hold a lectureship at the University of Bradford, continuing her work on mechanochemical manufacture. 

Alexander James Cresswell was born in Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, in 1985. He obtained his M.Chem. from the University of Oxford in 2008 and his D.Phil. in 2012 working in the group of Professor Stephen G. Davies. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral research associate with Professor Scott E. Denmark at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. On returning to the UK, he took up a second postdoctoral appointment with Professor Guy C. Lloyd-Jones at the University of Edinburgh. In late 2016, he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to commence his independent research career at the University of Bath. His research interests lie in the development of new catalytic strategies for the synthesis of pharmaceutically-relevant amines and azacycles.

Andrew achieved his Master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde in 2019 with First Class Honors. During his degree, he completed an Industrial Placement year at AstraZeneca working on the Process Chemistry of Ceralasertib. He then went on to complete his final year of study, which included a research project under the supervision of Prof. Nicholas Tomkinson developing organocatalysed oxidation of thiols. Andrew then continued his education at Strathclyde and began a PhD within Prof. William J. Kerr’s group in collaboration with AstraZeneca, where he is currently developing iridium-catalysed hydrogen isotope exchange reactions of N-heterocycles and nucleotides.

Véronique Gouverneur secured a PhD in chemistry at the Université Catholique de Louvain (LLN, Belgium), under the supervision of Professor L Ghosez. In 1992, she moved to a postdoctoral position with Professor R Lerner at the Scripps Research Institute (California, USA). She accepted a position of Maître de Conférence at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg (France). She worked with Dr C Mioskowski and was Associate Member of the Institut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires directed by Professor J-M Lehn during this period. She started her independent research career at the University of Oxford in 1998 in the Chemistry Faculty and was promoted to Professor of Chemistry in 2008. Since her appointment in Oxford, she holds a tutorial fellowship at Merton College Oxford where she teaches organic chemistry. 
Her research develops new approaches to address long-standing problems in the synthesis of fluorinated molecules including pharmaceutical drugs and probes for imaging (Positron Emission Tomography).  This body of work was rewarded by numerous prizes and distinctions, e.g. ACS Award for Creative work in Fluorine Chemistry 2015, RSC Tilden Prize 2016, Tetrahedron Chair 2016, RSC Organic Stereochemistry Award 2019, Prelog Medal 2019, Henri Moissan Prize in 2021, Arthur C. Cope Award 2022 and EuChemS female organic chemist of 2022.  She was elected Elected Member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC) in 2017,  Fellow of the Royal Society in 2019, and International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2022.

Scott is currently an Associate Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca. He obtained his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde in 1998 and has worked for AstraZeneca ever since. He has worked in numerous therapy areas through the years including respiratory and inflammation but has spent the last 14 years working in early oncology projects. Throughout this time, Scott has gained a wealth of experience in different areas of synthetic organic chemistry including multi parallel synthesis and more recently scale-up chemistry which included a year long secondment within early scale-up team at AstraZeneca’s Gothenburg site in 2019. Scott is currently heavily involved in projects at the interface between discovery chemistry and early process development.

Sarah received an MChem degree from the University of Leeds and a PhD from the University of Manchester, where she worked under the supervision of Prof. Nicholas Turner. Following her PhD, she moved to industry and took a position as a Senior Scientist at GSK, where her primary focus was engineering enzymes for use in manufacturing processes. In 2017, she moved back to academia as a BBSRC/MRC Innovation Fellow working in the lab of Prof Anthony Green and then in 2020 was awarded a Presidential Fellowship and UKRI Future Leader Fellowship, allowing her to start her own independent research group. Her research focusses on the development of versatile biocatalytic strategies for sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing.

•    MSci Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 1999–2004
•    PhD (with Prof W. J. Kerr), University of Strathclyde, 2004–2008
•    Lindemann Postdoctoral Fellow (with Prof. D. W. C. MacMillan), Princeton University, 2008–2010
•    Industrial postdoc at GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, 2010–2011
•    Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, October 2011–November 2015
•    Senior Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, November 2015–December 2017
•    Reader in Homogeneous Catalysis at the University of St. Andrews, January 2018–July 2021
•    Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of St. Andrews, August 2021–present
•    Interests in catalysis, mechanism, and making things with specific purpose in Med Chem and Agrochem
•    Allan was born in Glasgow, now lives in Fife, and hangs out with Ava, Dawn, and Finn.