Martin Banwell | |
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Born | Lower Hutt, New Zealand | 24 November 1954
Citizenship | Australian, New Zealander |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Organic Chemist |
Institutions | ANU Research School of Chemistry |
Thesis | Studies of Some Strained-Ring Systems: Tricyclo-Octanes (1979) |
Martin Gerhardt Banwell (born 24 November 1954) is an organic chemist specialising in biotransformations and natural product synthesis. [1]
His research interests involve the enzymatic preparation of organic molecules as synthons or building blocks for complex natural products. This technology/methodology is then applied to the synthesis of complex marine natural products from the Great Barrier Reef.[ citation needed ]
Martin was raised in a family friendly to China. His father, who worked for the United Nations as a consulting geophysicist, was most enthusiastic about Chinese culture and taught himself Mandarin. As a consequence, Martin has admired Chinese culture since early childhood. [2] He received a BSc at Victoria University of Wellington in 1976, and an Honours, 1st Class from the same institution in 1977; his doctorate in 1979 is also from Victoria University, under the direction of Brian Halton. [1] [3]
Banwell relocated to Ohio State University between 1979–1980 to undertake a post-doctoral fellowship before taking on the role of Senior teaching Fellow at the Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Adelaide until 1981.
Banwell then returned to New Zealand taking the role of Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Auckland until 1986, when he returned to Australia to take a similar role at the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Melbourne. In 1995, as an Associate Professor he moved to the Australian National University as a Senior Fellow. He was promoted to full professor in 1999.
Banwell has also previously been a guest at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland. Currently Prof. Banwell is a Foreign Visiting Researcher at Hiroshima University, an Asia-Pacific Representative, Advisory Board to the International Society for Heterocyclic Chemistry, a Chemistry Consultant for CSIRO Molecular Science and Member, Australian Research Council College of Experts.
Banwell currently serves on the editorial boards for several journals such as Tetrahedron. [4]
To date Prof. Banwell has published 206 peer reviewed articles, 6 patents, 1 review and 1 non-refereed publication.[ citation needed ]
Banwell has been awarded numerous Fellowships and Awards including; [1]
A heterocyclic compound or ring structure is a cyclic compound that has atoms of at least two different elements as members of its ring(s). Heterocyclic organic chemistry is the branch of organic chemistry dealing with the synthesis, properties, and applications of organic heterocycles.
Pyridine is a basic heterocyclic organic compound with the chemical formula C5H5N. It is structurally related to benzene, with one methine group (=CH−) replaced by a nitrogen atom (=N−). It is a highly flammable, weakly alkaline, water-miscible liquid with a distinctive, unpleasant fish-like smell. Pyridine is colorless, but older or impure samples can appear yellow, due to the formation of extended, unsaturated polymeric chains, which show significant electrical conductivity. The pyridine ring occurs in many important compounds, including agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and vitamins. Historically, pyridine was produced from coal tar. As of 2016, it is synthesized on the scale of about 20,000 tons per year worldwide.
Quinoline is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound with the chemical formula C9H7N. It is a colorless hygroscopic liquid with a strong odor. Aged samples, especially if exposed to light, become yellow and later brown. Quinoline is only slightly soluble in cold water but dissolves readily in hot water and most organic solvents. Quinoline itself has few applications, but many of its derivatives are useful in diverse applications. A prominent example is quinine, an alkaloid found in plants. Over 200 biologically active quinoline and quinazoline alkaloids are identified. 4-Hydroxy-2-alkylquinolines (HAQs) are involved in antibiotic resistance.
Isoquinoline is an individual chemical specimen - a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound - as well as the name of a family of many thousands of natural plant alkaloids, any one of which might be referred to as "an isoquinoline". It is a structural isomer of quinoline. Isoquinoline and quinoline are benzopyridines, which are composed of a benzene ring fused to a pyridine ring. In a broader sense, the term isoquinoline is used to make reference to isoquinoline derivatives. 1-Benzylisoquinoline is the structural backbone in many naturally occurring alkaloids such as papaverine. The isoquinoline ring in these natural compound derives from the aromatic amino acid tyrosine.
Indazole, also called isoindazole, is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound. This bicyclic compound consists of the fusion of benzene and pyrazole.
The Friedländer synthesis is a chemical reaction of 2-aminobenzaldehydes with ketones to form quinoline derivatives. It is named after German chemist Paul Friedländer (1857–1923).
Charles Wayne Rees CBE FRS FRSC was a British organic chemist.
In organic chemistry and heterocyclic chemistry, isoindole consists of a benzene ring fused with pyrrole. The compound is an isomer of indole. Its reduced form is isoindoline. The parent isoindole is a rarely encountered in the technical literature, but substituted derivatives are useful commercially and occur naturally. Isoindoles units occur in phthalocyanines, an important family of dyes. Some alkaloids containing isoindole have been isolated and characterized.
Lewis Norman Mander,, FAA, FRS was a New Zealand-born Australian organic chemist. He has widely explored the synthesis and chemistry of the gibberellin class of diterpenes over a 20-year period at the Australian National University (ANU). In particular, he studied the effect of these hormones on stem growth and on the reasons why plant undergo bolting during plant development. The July 2004 edition of the Australian Journal of Chemistry was dedicated to Mander on the occasion of his 65th birthday. He retired in 2002 but remained active at the ANU until 2014. In 2018 Mander was made a Companion in the General Division in the Order of Australia which "...is awarded for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large". In an interview he gave after winning his award, Mander said that his goal was to improve the efficiency of extracting food from plants with the possibility of reducing food shortages in the future.
Dale Lester Boger is an American medicinal and organic chemist and former chair of the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.
Sir Alan Rushton Battersby (4 March 1925 – 10 February 2018) was an English organic chemist best known for his work to define the chemical intermediates in the biosynthetic pathway to vitamin B12 and the reaction mechanisms of the enzymes involved. His research group was also notable for its synthesis of radiolabelled precursors to study alkaloid biosynthesis and the stereochemistry of enzymic reactions. He won numerous awards including the Royal Medal in 1984 and the Copley Medal in 2000. He was knighted in the 1992 New Year Honours. Battersby died in February 2018 at the age of 92.
Pancratistatin (PST) is a natural compound initially extracted from spider lily, a Hawaiian native plant of the family Amaryllidaceae (AMD).
Biomimetic synthesis is an area of organic chemical synthesis that is specifically biologically inspired. The term encompasses both the testing of a "biogenetic hypothesis" through execution of a series of reactions designed to parallel the proposed biosynthesis, as well as programs of study where a synthetic reaction or reactions aimed at a desired synthetic goal are designed to mimic one or more known enzymic transformations of an established biosynthetic pathway. The earliest generally cited example of a biomimetic synthesis is Sir Robert Robinson's organic synthesis of the alkaloid tropinone.
Lamellarins are a group of pyrrole alkaloids first isolated in 1985 from the marine mollusk Lamellaria in the waters of Palau. Over 70 lamellarins and similar compounds were subsequently isolated. Other similar compounds include ningalins, lukianols, polycitones, and storniamides.
Alfred Hassner was an Israeli organic chemist.
Satinder Vir Kessar is an Indian synthetic organic chemist, academic and an Emeritus professor of Panjab University. He is known for his researches in steroidal and heterocyclic chemistry. He is an elected fellow of The World Academy of Sciences and all the three major Indian science academies, viz. The Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1972, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
Usha Ranjan Ghatak was an Indian synthetic organic chemist, stereochemist and the director of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS). He was known for his contributions in developing novel protocols of stereoselective synthesis of diterpenoids. He was an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1974, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
Michal Hocek is a Czech chemist. He is a group leader at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a professor of organic chemistry at Charles University in Prague. He specializes in the chemistry and chemical biology of nucleosides, nucleotides, and nucleic acids.
Rick L. Danheiser is an American organic chemist and is the Arthur C. Cope Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and chair of the MIT faculty. His research involves the invention of new methods for the synthesis of complex organic compounds. Danheiser is known for the Danheiser annulation and Danheiser benzannulation reactions.
James McCue Bobbitt was an American chemist and academic who taught chemistry at the University of Connecticut from 1956 to 1991 and developed the Bobbitt reaction.