Tony wins the RSC Physical Organic Chemistry Award 2015

Tony has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Physical Organic Chemistry Award for 2015. It is a biennially award, including a medal, cash prize and a UK lecture tour. The award was previously known as the Sir Christopher Ingold Lectureship and was founded in 1973 to commemorate Sir Ingold, the president of the RSC 1952-54.

Awarded for creative design and study of innovative functional molecular architectures, such as carbohydrate receptors and transmembrane anion transporters.

Tony Davis gained a B.A. in Chemistry from Oxford University in 1977, then stayed on for a D.Phil. under Dr. G. H. Whitham and two years’ postdoctoral work with Prof. J. E. Baldwin. In 1981 he moved to the ETH Zürich as a Royal Society European Exchange Fellow working with Prof. A. Eschenmoser, then in 1982 was appointed as a Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Trinity College, Dublin. In September 2000 he moved to the University of Bristol, where he is Professor of Supramolecular Chemistry in the School of Chemistry. In 2002 he was awarded the Tilden Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Organic and Biological Chemistry.

After some early work on synthetic methodology, especially the use of organosilicon reagents, the Davis group’s research has focused on supramolecular chemistry. A particular aim is the design of functional molecules which are both inspired by, and competitive with, biology.

Two areas which align with this theme are:

(i) Biomimetic carbohydrate recognition; the selective binding of carbohydrates under aqueous conditions by synthetic receptors, employing strategies analogous to those used by carbohydrate-binding proteins.

(ii) The recognition and transport of inorganic anions; the design, synthesis and study of molecules which bind inorganic anions strongly and selectively, and are able to carry their substrates across cell membranes. The group also has a newer programme on the crystal engineering of nanoporous solids (the design of organic molecules forming crystals with nanometer-scale pores). A company “Ziylo” has been founded to exploit the group’s work on carbohydrate sensing.

More details here: RSC Website