September 2022 - New Members
The new academic year has begun and we are now joined by two new PhD students: Ffion Platt and Shubham Agrawal; as well as three MChem project students: Martha Prindl, Conal Aitken and George White. Welcome!
September 2022 - New Papers
A very productive summer has yielded three new publications: “Isothiourea-Catalyzed [2+2] Cycloaddition of C(1)-Ammonium Enolates and N-Alkyl Isatins”, '“A Desilylative Approach to Alkyl Substituted C(1)-Ammonium Enolates: Application In Enantioselective [2+2] Cycloadditions” and “Arylboronic Acid-Catalyzed Racemization of Secondary and Tertiary Alcohols”. Well done and congratulations to all involved!
May 2022 - New Member
Camille Robichon joins us for two months as a visiting summer student.
May 2022 - New Papers
Congratulations to all involved in our latest publications: “Isothiourea-Catalyzed Formal Enantioselective Conjugate Addition of Benzophenone Imines to β-Fluorinated α,β-Unsaturated Esters”, “Isothiourea-catalyzed enantioselective Michael addition of malonates to α,β-unsaturated aryl esters” and “Isothiourea-Catalysed Enantioselective Radical Conjugate Addition under Batch and Flow Conditions”!
March 2022 - New Members
Pankaj Mahji and Ding Yuan join the group as postdoctoral scholars - welcome!
January 2022 - New Members
With a new year comes new faces - Olaf Tjabben joins us as a visiting Masters student from Münster for three months, while Zhanyu Zhou begins his PhD studies with the group
October 2021 - New Members
October sees the arrival of a few new faces to the Smith group: Justin O’Yang, Maryn Brown and Haoxiang Zhu all join us to undertake their PhD studies.
September 2021 - New Members
We welcome Órla and Aífe Conboy, who have joined the group as Masters students for the academic year ahead.
August 2021 - New Papers
A busy few months in the group has saw the publication of three new papers since April, congratulations to all those involved. In vitro and in cellulo anti-diabetic activity of Au(I)-and Au(III)-isothiourea complexes; Kinetic and Structure-Activity Studies of the Triazolium Ion-catalyzed Stetter Reaction and Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of 1,4- dihydropyridines via the addition of C(1)-ammonium enolates to pyridinium salts
April 2021 - New Papers
Congratulations to all involved in our latest publications; ‘Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Aryl-β2-Amino-esters via Cooperative Isothiourea and Brønsted Acid Catalysis’ in angewandte and ‘Horeau Amplification in the Sequential Acylative Kinetic Resolution of (±)-1,2-Diols and (±)-1,3-Diols in Flow’ in organic and biomolecular chemistry.
March 2021 - New Paper
Congratulations to Jacqueline Bitai and Matthew Westwood for publishing their review on α,β-Unsaturated acyl ammonium species as reactive intermediates in organocatalysis in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry.
February 2021 - Updates
Check out some of our latest work in collaboration with AnnMarie O'Donoghue, ‘Kinetic and structure–activity studies of the triazolium ion-catalysed benzoin condensation’
Have a look at our latest book chapter titled ‘Kinetic Resolution and Desymmetrization of Alcohols and Amines by Nonenzymatic, Enantioselective Acylation’
January 2021 - New Paper
Congratulations to Paul Ewing and former group member Ryan Kerr for publishing their work on the use of ‘Ultrarapid Cerium(III)–NHC Catalysts for High Molar Mass Cyclic Polylactide’ in ACS catalysis.
July - December 2020 - New Faces
We are delighted to welcome some new faces to the group over the past few months. Joanne Dunne, Kevin Kasten, Martin Juhl and Tengfei Kang, who all join us as new postdoctoral researchers. Alastair Nimmo also joins us as a PhD student after continuing on in the group from his Masters project.
July - December 2020 - New Papers
Congratulations to Callum Prentice for publishing his review on the ‘recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis’ in Beilstein J. Org. Chem.
Congratulations to Alyn and Mark for publishing their paper on the ‘NHC-catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl-β-hydroxyamides’ in Beilstein J. Org. Chem.
June 2020 - Mini Review
Calum’s mini review ‘Generation and Reactivity of C(1)‐Ammonium Enolates Using Isothiourea Catalysis’ has been accepted in Chem. Eur. J. Happy reading everyone.
June 2020 - New Paper
It’s been a busy month for the ADS group. Congratulations to Jason and everyone involved in the paper just accepted in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
June 2020 - New Papers
Double whammy for Peter, with papers accepted in ChemCatChem and Asian J. Org. Chem. Congratulations to everyone involved in these projects.
June 2020 - New Paper
Congratulations to Jaci who’s work on tandem palladium/isothiourea catalysis has been accepted in Molecules.
June 2020 - Mini Review
Calum’s mini review ‘Generation and Reactivity of C(1)‐Ammonium Enolates Using Isothiourea Catalysis’ has been accepted in Chem. Eur. J. Happy reading everyone.
June 2020 - New Paper
It’s been a busy month for the ADS group. Congratulations to Jason and everyone involved in their paper on kinetic resolutions, just accepted in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
June 2020 - New Papers
Double whammy for Peter, with papers accepted in ChemCatChem and Asian J. Org. Chem. Congratulations to everyone involved in these projects.
June 2020 - New Paper
Congratulations to Jaci who’s work on tandem palladium/isothiourea catalysis has been accepted in Molecules.
March 2020 - New Paper
Congratulations to Peter and Mark who’s work on the synthesis of tetrahydroindolizine derivatives has been accepted in Chem. Sci.
January 2020 - Welcome to Arianna
We welcome Arianna who will be with us for 6 months visiting from the University of Ferrara
January 2020 - New Website
Happy new year and welcome to the new look Smith group website!
December 2019 - Paper Accepted
Congratulations to Anastassia and Mark for having their silyl transfer work published in Organic Letters!
April 2019 - New Papers!
The mechanism and scope of a concerted asynchronous [2+2] cycloaddition, Bench stable aryl esters as C1-ammonium enolate precursors, and novel heterocyclic scaffolds... Congrats Mark, Claire and Rifa!
April 2019 - Visiting students
We welcome Almire and Lucas as visiting undergraduates from France, and Victor who joins us from the Aleman Group in Madrid.
March 2019
Liz presents her kinetic resolution research at the SCI event in Glasgow.
February 2019
Team outing to the SCI Advances in Organocatalyis conference in London. Well done to Will for winning a poster prize!
12/12/2018 - The 100-Club!
10/3/2017 - Dysfunctional Group come second in the RSC/SCI Retrosynthesis Competition
Congratulations to the members of the team involved in the RSC/SCI Retrosynthesis Competition..
2/3/2017 - JACS paper published
29/11/2016 - Congratulations!
A big congratulations to Dr Tom West on passing his viva!
18/11/2016 - Ross passes his viva!
Dr Ross Chisholm has succesfully passed his viva. Congratulations!
7/11/2016 - Angewandte paper published
25/10/2016 - Synfacts Feature
19/07/2016 - Front-page news
Congratulations to Stefania whose artwork has appeared on the front cover of Org. Biomol. Chem.
19/07/2016 - Congratulations!
A big congratulations to Dr Dan Stark on passing his viva! Protein shakes all round!
11/03/2016 - Totally Disconnected with Base win the RSC/SCI Retrosynthesis Competition
Congratulations to the members of the team involved in the RSC/SCI Retrosynthesis Competition.
20/01/2016 - Alyn passes his viva
A big congratulations to Alyn on successfully passing his viva!
18/01/2016 - Totally Disconnected with Base make it though the first round of the National Retrosynthesis Competition
Congratulations to the members of the team involved in the National Retrosynthesis Competition.
04/12/2015 - Tom and Diego win prizes at St Andrews Postgraduate Symposium
Congratulations to Tom and Diego who won 2nd prize in the presentation competition and 1st place in the poster competition respectively.
04/09/2015 - Dan wins 1st prize at the Syngenta CASE Collaborative Research Conference
Congratulations to Dan who won 1st prize for his presentation
01/06/2015 - Congratulations!
A big congratulations to Dr Emily Robinson on successfully passing her viva!
01/05/2015 - New post-docs!
Welcome to Aileen and Mark who have just joined the Smith group as post-docs from Oxford and Edinburgh respectively.
08/12/2014 - Andy's 150th paper published!
Andy has reached 150 papers published in peer reviewed journals thanks to Dan's work mentioned below, congratulations Andy!
08/12/2014 - Dan's paper published in Org. Lett.!
Congratulations to Dan, whose latest paper on the synthesis of pyridines has just been published in Org. Lett.!
11/11/2014 - Alyn wins Syngenta Scholarship!
Alyn has become the 3rd person in the last 4 years from the Smith group to be awarded the prestigious Syngenta Scholarship, congratulations!
11/11/2014 - Siobhan passes her viva!
A big congratulations to Dr Siobhan Smith on successfully passing her viva!
29/09/2014 - New group members!
A big welcome to all of the new members of the Smith group, 1st year PhD students Jude, Anastassia and Sam, and project students Philipp, Patrick and Zamira!
04/09/2014 - Emily wins 3rd place prize at Organic Section Symposium!
Congratulations to Emily who was awarded the 3rd place prize for her talk at the Organic Section Symposium!
03/07/2014 - Dorine and Alix's paper published in Chem Eur J!
Dorine and Alix's paper on there stereodivergent synthesis of tetrahydrofurans and benzofurans has been accepted into Chem Eur J, congratulations!
01/07/2014 - Kevin/Eoin's paper accepted in Chem Sci!
Congratulations to Kevin and Eoin, whose paper, in collaboration with the Cheong group at Oregon State University, has just been accepted for publication in Chem Sci!
25/06/2014 - Graduations!
Congratulations to former PhD students Dr Ed Richmond and Dr Dorine Belmessieri, as well as former undergraduate students Alison Fugard and Ross McLennan on their graduation today, as well as Alsion for winning the prize for best organic research project!
28/05/2014 - Louis' Chem Soc Rev online
Louis' Chem Soc Rev entitled "Organocatalytic Lewis base functionalisation of carboxylic acids, esters and anhydrides via C1-ammonium or azolium enolates" has just appeared online, congratulations!
07/05/2014 - ADS announced as the Merck Award winner for 2014
Andy has been awarded the 2014 Merck Award from the RSC "for his outstanding contributions to the creative assembly of enantiopure building blocks by organocatalysis", so congratulations to the ADS group past and present, and of course to Andy!
15/04/2014 - Siobhan's paper accepted in Org Lett
Congratulations to Siobhan, whose paper has been accepted into Org Lett!
09/04/2014 - Emily claims runner-up prize at SCI symposium
Emily recently was award the second place prize for her oral presentation at the "25th Regional Postgraduate Symposia on Novel Organic Chemistry - Scotland", congratulations!
05/03/2014 - Louis passes his viva
Louis has successfully passed his viva, congratulations Dr Morrill!
03/03/2014 - Tom and Dave's paper accepted into JACS
Tom and Dave's paper has just been accepted into JACS, congratulations!
16/01/2014 - Back to back JOC articles accepted
Congratulations to Siobhan, Louis and Sam, whose back to back JOC articles have just been accepted!
16/01/2014 - Pei-Pei and Dave's paper published in Org. Lett
Congratulations to Pei-Pei and Dave, whose paper on pyrone synthesis has been published in Org. Lett.!
18/12/2013 - Dave wins poster prize at 1st Winter Process Chemistry Conference
Dave managed to pick up the poster prize at the 1st Winter Process Chemistry Conference in Leeds, congratulations!
11/12/2013 - Alyn wins poster prize at SCI 20th Annual Review Symposium
Congratulations to Alyn, who picked up the poster prize at the SCI 20th Annual Review Symposium in Cambridge!
29/11/2013 - Louis' paper accepted into OBC
The work of Louis and his previous project students (Lyndsay, JP, Jasmine and Andrew) has been accepted into OBC, congratulations!
26/11/2013 - Ed passes his viva!
Congratulations to Dr Ed Richmond, who passed his viva today!
19/11/2013 - Dorine passes her viva!
Congratulations to Dr Dorine Belmessieri, who passed her viva today!
11/11/2013 - James and Dave's paper accepted into Org. Lett.
James and Dave's recent paper has been accepted for publication in Org. Lett, congratulations guys!
18/09/2013 - Dan, Louis and Pei-Pei's paper published in Angewandte
Congratulations to Dan, Louis and Pei-Pei whose paper on the synthesis of pyridines has just been accepted into Angewandte Chemie!
15/08/2013 - Alyn and James' paper accepted in J. Org. Chem.
Congratulations to Alyn, James, Chris, Louis and Charlene, whose combined efforts have resulted in a publication in JOC, well done!
15/08/2013 - Louis' paper accepted in Chem. Sci.
Louis' paper has been accepted in Chem. Sci. and published online, congratulations Louis!
01/06/2013 - Dorine's paper published in Org. Lett.
Dorine's latest has been accepted in Org. Lett., congratulations Dorine!
01/06/2013 - Stuart's paper published in Synlett
Stuart's recent paper has been accepted for publication in Synlett, congratulations Stuart!
17/04/2013 - Louis' wins 1st place at SCI regional conference
Congratulations to Louis, who picked up the 1st place prize at the 24th SCI Regional Postgraduate Symposium on Novel Organic Chemistry (Scotland).
15/04/2013 - Stuart's paper accepted in OBC
Stuart has managed to successfully publish his latest work in OBC, well done Stuart!
12/03/2013 - James and James' paper accepted in JOC
James D and James T have had their paper accepted into JOC, congratulations!
01/03/2013 - Charlene and Emily's paper accepted in Chem. Sci.
Congratulations to Charlene and Emily, who have just had their latest paper accepted into Chem. Sci.!
04/01/2013 - Chris' paper accepted in Chem. Sci.
Chris' latest paper, in collaboration with the O'Donoghue Group in Durham, has made it into Chem. Sci., congratulations!
12/12/2012 - Louis wins poster prize at Perkin
Congratulations to Louis who won the 1st place poster prize at the RSC Scottish Regional Organic Division Meeting (Perkin Meeting).
26/11/2012 - Stuart passes his viva
Stuart has successfully passed his viva, congratulations Dr Leckie!
22/11/2012 - Chris' paper accepted in JACS
Chris' paper, in collaboration with the O'Donoghue Group in Durham, has been acceped into JACS, congratulations!
19/11/2012 - Stuart's paper accepted in J. Mol. Biol.
Stuart's latest paper, in collaboration with the Naismith Group, has been accepted into J. Mol. Biol., congratulations!
12/11/2012 - Louis wins Syngenta scholarship
Congratulations to Louis for winning a prestigious Syngenta scholarship!
27/09/2012 - Welcome to the new PhD students and post doc
Welcome to our new PhD students Ross Chisholm, Dan Stark, Tom West, Kevin Kasten and Nassilia Attaba, and new post doc, David Daniels.
06/09/2012 - Ed wins final year presentation prize
Congratulations to Ed for winning the school final year presentation prize.