Dr Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith, born in Middlesbrough, left school to enjoy two years playing football with Aston Villa F.C. before studying for his 'A' levels at St. Mary's VI Form College, Middlesbrough. In 1992 he came up to Jesus College to study Chemistry at the University of Oxford, completing his undergraduate Part II project in 1996 with Professor Steve Davies.
Staying at Oxford, he gained a D. Phil under the direction of Professor Steve Davies entitled "Asymmetric Oligomerisation Strategies". His doctoral research focused upon the development of methodology for asymmetric intra- and intermolecular consecutive conjugate addition reactions, the preparation of polyfunctional and differentially protected β-amino scaffolds and the discovery of a novel oxidative deprotection strategy.
Awarded the cross-disciplinary Weston Junior Research Fellowship (by open competition) at New College, University of Oxford in 2000 for post-doctoral studies, a successful research collaboration with Professor Steve Davies was established. During this association he participated in a variety of research topics within the realm of asymmetric synthesis, including the total synthesis of natural products, the development of stereoselective [2,3] sigmatropic rearrangements, the asymmetric synthesis of β-amino acids, ammonium directed oxidative transformations and the use of chiral auxiliaries.
In 2005, he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews and began his independent research career. Research within the Smith group is currently directed towards the development of novel catalytic methods for the promotion of a range of synthetic transformations with varying applications in asymmetric synthesis. The ADS group have a particular interest in the development of efficient nucleophilic organocatalysts and probing their utility for the synthesis of chiral building blocks. Current research interests include the use of N-heterocyclic carbenes and amidines as organocatalysts, and the application of these strategies to natural product synthesis.