Varinder Kumar Aggarwal | |
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Born | 1961 (age 62–63) [1] |
Alma mater | |
Awards |
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Scientific career | |
Fields | Organic chemistry Asymmetric synthesis |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Stereocontrolled synthesis with phenylthio migration (1986) |
Doctoral advisor | Stuart Warren |
Varinder Kumar Aggarwal FRS FRSC (born 1961) is a British organic chemist specialising in asymmetric synthesis. He is a Professor of Synthetic Chemistry at the School of Chemistry of the University of Bristol. [4] [5]
Aggarwal was born in 1961 in Kalianpur, a town in Northern India. In 1963 his family emigrated to the United Kingdom. He was one of six sons, and grew up in Scotland, then Nottingham, England. [2]
Aggarwal earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1986 under the supervision of Stuart Warren. His thesis was entitled Stereocontrolled synthesis with phenylthio migration. [3] [6] He carried out postdoctoral work with Gilbert Stork at Columbia University, before taking up appointments first in Bath, then Sheffield and finally at the University of Bristol where he is currently a professor.
Aggarwal developed new methods of using chemical reactions to assemble complex, biologically important molecules. His research includes new ways of speeding up, or catalysing, these processes of synthesis. His work has applications in medicine, such as helping to provide a more effective vaccine against tuberculosis.
Although many organic molecules can occur in "right-handed" and "left-handed" forms, invariably just one of these is seen in living organisms. Normal chemical reactions, however, make both forms in equal amounts. Aggarwal's work on asymmetric synthesis made it possible to selectively synthesise more of the form important to understanding biological processes.
Aggarwal specialises in a type of molecule called ylides, which are important to the Wittig reaction – a standard tool in organic chemistry. [7]
Aggarwal is the winner of multiple awards, including the Corday-Morgan and Organic Stereochemistry awards of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2012. [7] His certificate of election reads:
Aggarwal is distinguished for his outstanding contributions to the field of asymmetric synthesis, particularly applications of ylide chemistry where he is the world leader. The important new methodology he has developed has been complemented by detailed mechanistic studies which have brought about improved understanding of many fundamental reactions. His innovative approach is highlighted by the unusual but highly effective reactions of sulphur ylides with boranes, an area that has much scope for future development. His productivity and breadth make him one of the foremost organic chemists of his generation and one who is very widely recognised internationally. [5]
Robert Burns Woodward was an American organic chemist. He is considered by many to be the preeminent synthetic organic chemist of the twentieth century, having made many key contributions to the subject, especially in the synthesis of complex natural products and the determination of their molecular structure. He worked closely with Roald Hoffmann on theoretical studies of chemical reactions. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1965.
Donald James Cram was an American chemist who shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jean-Marie Lehn and Charles J. Pedersen "for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity." They were the founders of the field of host–guest chemistry.
The Wittig reaction or Wittig olefination is a chemical reaction of an aldehyde or ketone with a triphenyl phosphonium ylide called a Wittig reagent. Wittig reactions are most commonly used to convert aldehydes and ketones to alkenes. Most often, the Wittig reaction is used to introduce a methylene group using methylenetriphenylphosphorane (Ph3P=CH2). Using this reagent, even a sterically hindered ketone such as camphor can be converted to its methylene derivative.
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The Johnson–Corey–Chaykovsky reaction is a chemical reaction used in organic chemistry for the synthesis of epoxides, aziridines, and cyclopropanes. It was discovered in 1961 by A. William Johnson and developed significantly by E. J. Corey and Michael Chaykovsky. The reaction involves addition of a sulfur ylide to a ketone, aldehyde, imine, or enone to produce the corresponding 3-membered ring. The reaction is diastereoselective favoring trans substitution in the product regardless of the initial stereochemistry. The synthesis of epoxides via this method serves as an important retrosynthetic alternative to the traditional epoxidation reactions of olefins.
Gilbert Stork was a Belgian-American organic chemist. For a quarter of a century he was the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Columbia University. He is known for making significant contributions to the total synthesis of natural products, including a lifelong fascination with the synthesis of quinine. In so doing he also made a number of contributions to mechanistic understanding of reactions, and performed pioneering work on enamine chemistry, leading to development of the Stork enamine alkylation. It is believed he was responsible for the first planned stereocontrolled synthesis as well as the first natural product to be synthesised with high stereoselectivity.
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Ian Fleming is an English organic chemist, and an emeritus professor of the University of Cambridge, and an emeritus fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was the first to determine the full structure of chlorophyll and was involved in the development of the synthesis of cyanocobalamin by Robert Burns Woodward. He has made major contributions to the use of organosilicon compounds for stereospecific syntheses; reactions which have found application in the synthesis of natural compounds. He is also a prolific author, and has written a number of textbooks, encyclopedia chapters and influential review articles.
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Stuart Warren was a British organic chemist and author of chemistry textbooks aimed at university students.
Brice Michael Bosnich was an Australian inorganic chemist. He gained recognition for the design of complex ligands useful in homogeneous catalysis.
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Jin-Quan Yu is a Chinese-born American chemist. He is the Frank and Bertha Hupp Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research, where he also holds the Bristol Myers Squibb Endowed Chair in Chemistry. He is a 2016 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Yu is a leader in the development of C–H bond activation reactions in organic chemistry, and has reported many C–H activation reactions that could be applicable towards the synthesis of drug molecules and other biologically active compounds. He also co-founded Vividion Therapeutics in 2016 with fellow Scripps chemists Benjamin Cravatt and Phil Baran, and is a member of the scientific advisory board of Chemveda Life Sciences.