Academic Excellence: Graduate Symposia 2008
Event review: Prizes for final-year doctoral students
Earlier in spring 2008, for the 19th
consecutive year, the SCI Fine
Chemicals Group held its annual
Graduate Symposia for Organic
Chemistry, where students in the
final year of doctoral studies
present their research. Chemistry
departments at Strathclyde,
Durham and Southampton
Universities, under the local guidance
of Dr Debbie Willison, Dr
AnnMarie O’Donoghue and Dr A
Ganesan respectively, hosted this
year’s three regional meetings.
Students representing 23 universities
were selected from a
larger group of academic nominees
to compete for prizes and the
opportunity to attend an SCI professional
meeting. This year’s
meetings showed that research
within British academic labs is as
vibrant as ever. The quality of the
talks was excellent and covered a
diverse range of chemistry, from
natural product synthesis and
new methodology to polymers
and medicinal chemistry.
The Scottish meeting saw almost
100 delegates from academic
and industrial labs turn
out to enjoy a day of stimulating
science. First prize at this meeting
was won by Jennifer Thomson
(St Andrews, supervisor Dr
Andrew Smith) who presented
novel methods to prepare carbon–
carbon bonds at quaternary
centres using new heterocyclic
carbene catalysts.1
The northern meeting winner
was Adam Burrell (Sheffield,
supervisor Dr Iain Coldham) who
described the efficient preparation
of natural tricyclic amines
using ‘one pot’ reactions.2 At the southern meeting,
Haniti Hamid (Bath, supervisor
Prof Jonathan Williams) took first
prize with a new, widely applicable
methodology for the synthesis
of amines from alcohols.3
Runner-up prizes went to
Sebastien Meiries (Glasgow, supervisor
Dr Rudi Marquez) Dane
Cockfield (Manchester, supervisor
Dr Darren Dixon) and Ian Spurr
(Southampton, suervisor Dr
Richard Brown).
All three meetings provided a
unique opportunity to see some
of the excellent chemistry currently
under way in British universities,
and to meet those who
both present and undertake the
lab work. Thanks are due to SCI
Fine Chemicals Group members
James Nairne and Graham
McDougald, who helped to organise
the regional 2008 meetings.
Details for the 2009 Symposia will
be out later this year.
References
1. Thomson JE, Smith AD et al. Probing the Efficiency
of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Promoted O- to C-Carboxyl
Transfer of Oxazolyl Carbonates. J. Org. Chem, 2008, 73(7), 2784-91.
2. Burrell AJ, Coldham I et al. Highly Efficient Synthesis
of Tricyclic Amines by Cyclization/Cycloaddition
Cascade: Total Syntheses of Aspidospermine,
Aspidospermidine and Quebrachamine. Angew. Chem.
Int. Ed; 2007, 46: 6159-62.
3. Hamid H, Williams JMJ. Ruthenium-catalysed
synthesis of tertiary amines from alcohols. Tet. Lett,
2007, 48(47), 8263-65.
Steven Howard, National Organiser, SCI FCG Organic
Chemistry Graduate Symposia 2008.
SCI Fine Chemicals Technical
Group |
