Sue Gibson (chemist)

Sue Gibson
Born
Susan Elizabeth Thomas

(1960-03-11) 11 March 1960 (age 64)
EducationDarwen Vale High School
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (BA)
University of Oxford (DPhil)
Spouse
(m. 1994)
AwardsRosalind Franklin Award (2003)
Meldola Medal and Prize (1989)
Scientific career
InstitutionsETH Zürich
Imperial College London
University of Warwick
King's College London
ThesisTransition metal promoted oxidation and reduction reactions
Doctoral advisorStephen G. Davies[1]
Websiteimperial.ac.uk/people/s.gibson

Susan Elizabeth Gibson OBE FRSC (née Thomas, 11 March 1960)[2] is a British research chemist, Professor and Chair in Chemistry and Director of the Graduate School at Imperial College London.[3] Gibson is an expert in chemical synthesis and catalysis.

Education

Gibson was educated at Darwen Vale High School[citation needed] and the University of Cambridge as an undergraduate student of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge,[4] where she studied the Natural Sciences Tripos. She completed postgraduate study at the University of Oxford as a student of New College, Oxford where she obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry in 1984 for research supervised by Stephen G. Davies.[1]

Career and research

After her PhD, Gibson spent a year at the ETH Zürich as a post-doctoral researcher.[3] Her early research focused on using transition metal chemistry and its applications in organic synthesis.[citation needed]

The Gibson Group's work contributed to areas such as, carbonylation, enzymatic resolution, ligand design, amino acid and peptide synthesis, medicinal chemistry, macrocycle synthesis, asymmetric induction, dendrimer construction, linker technology and multi-component catalysis.

She began her research career at the University of Warwick in 1985 and moved to Imperial College London in 1990. Between 1998 and 2003 she held the Daniell Chair of Chemistry at King's College London, before returning to Imperial College London where she has been the Chair in Chemistry and Director of the Graduate School since November 2013. She was President of the Organic Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry between 2007 and 2010 and chaired the organisation's awards committee from 2011 to 2014.

Publications

Sue is the main author on over 140 publications, including a text book that has been translated into French and German.[5][6]

  • Synthesis of (+)- and (-)-Gossonorol and Cyclisation to Boivinianin B[7]
  • Synthesis of enantioenriched secondary and tertiary alcohols via tricarbonylchromium(0) complexes of benzyl allyl ethers[8]
  • Cyclisation of bisphosphonate substituted enynes[9]
  • Substitution of a benzylic hydrogen by nucleophiles on a chromium tricarbonyl complex of a benzyl ether[10]

Honours and awards

References

  1. ^ a b Gibson, Susan Elizabeth (1984). Transition metal promoted oxidation and reduction reactions. ora.ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC 499841275. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.351488. Free access icon
  2. ^ Anon (2017). "Gibson, Prof. Susan Elizabeth". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.4000527. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b "Professor Sue Gibson". Imperial College London. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  4. ^ "40 years of women at Sidney". Sidney Sussex College. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  5. ^ "Scopus preview - Scopus - Author details (Thomas, Susan Elizabeth)". www.scopus.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  6. ^ "Scopus preview - Scopus - Author details (Gibson, Susan E.)". www.scopus.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  7. ^ Abecassis, Keren; Gibson, Susan E. (2010). "Synthesis of (+)- and (-)-Gossonorol and Cyclisation to Boivinianin B". European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2010 (15): 2938–2944. doi:10.1002/ejoc.201000391. ISSN 1434-193X.
  8. ^ Abecassis, Keren; Gibson, Susan E.; Martin-Fontecha, Mar (2009). "Synthesis of Enantioenriched Secondary and Tertiary Alcohols via Tricarbonylchromium(0) Complexes of Benzyl Allyl Ethers". European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2009 (10): 1606–1611. doi:10.1002/ejoc.200900007. ISSN 1434-193X.
  9. ^ Gibson, Susan E.; Haycock, Peter R.; Miyazaki, Ayako (2009). "Cyclisation of bisphosphonate substituted enynes". Tetrahedron. 65 (36): 7498–7503. doi:10.1016/j.tet.2009.07.007. ISSN 0040-4020.
  10. ^ Martin-Fontecha, Mar; Abecassis, Keren; Gibson, Susan E. (2009). "Substitution of a benzylic hydrogen by nucleophiles on a chromium tricarbonyl complex of a benzyl ether". Tetrahedron Letters. 50 (26): 3690–3692. doi:10.1016/j.tetlet.2009.03.156. ISSN 0040-4039.
  11. ^ "RSC Awards Archive - Meldola Medal and Prize". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  12. ^ "RSC Hickinbottom Award Previous Winners". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  13. ^ "175 Faces of Chemistry". Royal Society of Chemistry. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  14. ^ Anon (2013). "New Year Honours: higher education". The Guardian.