Dr Alexander J. Cresswell
Department of Chemistry
University of Bath
Claverton Down
Bath
BA2 7AY
United Kingdom
Office: 1 South 0.09
Group Office: 1 South 0.30
Laboratory: 1 South 0.28
E-mail: a.j.cresswell@bath.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)1225 385382
Biography
Alexander James Cresswell was born in Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, in 1985. He obtained his M.Chem. from the University of Oxford in 2008 and his D.Phil. in 2012 working in the group of Professor Stephen G. Davies on stereoselective fluorination with boron fluorides. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral research associate with Professor Scott E. Denmark at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, working on iron-catalysed cross-coupling of alkylsulfur electrophiles and the first catalytic, syn-dichlorination of alkenes. On returning to the UK, he took up a second postdoctoral appointment with Professor Guy C. Lloyd-Jones at the University of Edinburgh, working on gold-catalysed C–H arylation. In late 2016, he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to commence his independent research career at the University of Bath. His research interests lie in the development of new, catalytic strategies for the synthesis of amines and azacycles.
Career History
October 2016 – present
Royal Society University Research Fellow (University of Bath)
January 2014 – September 2016
PDRA (University of Edinburgh)
Advisor: Professor Guy C. Lloyd-Jones FRS, FRSE
Research: Gold-catalysed C–H arylation
January 2012 – December 2013
PDRA (University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign)
Advisor: Professor Scott E. Denmark
Research: (1) Iron-catalysed cross-coupling of alkyl sulfur electrophiles; (2) Catalytic, stereospecific syn-dichlorination of alkenes
October 2008 – January 2012
D.Phil. in Organic Chemistry (University of Oxford)
Advisor: Professor Stephen G. Davies
Industrial Advisor: Dr Melloney Morris (née Tyte)
CASE award studentship in collaboration with Syngenta
Research: Boron trifluoride and fluoroborates as fluorinating agents
October 2004 – July 2008
M.Chem. (1st Class) (University of Oxford)
Advisor: Professor Stephen G. Davies
Research: Ammonium-directed oxidation of allylic amines
July 2007 & 2006 – September 2007 & 2006
Summer student at the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, University of Bradford
Advisor: Dr Klaus Pors
Research: (2007) Novel approach to anthraquinones using the Nozaki-Hiyama-Kishi reaction; (2006) Nitrene C–H insertions to prepare novel anticancer agents inspired by the duocarmycins
Professional Affiliations
-
Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
-
Member of the American Chemical Society (ACS)
-
Member of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI)
-
Member of the SCI's Young Chemists Panel
-
Member of the Editorial Board of Modern Synthetic Organic Chemistry (for the journal Frontiers in Chemistry)
-
Peer reviewer for RSC (Chemical Science, Chemical Communications, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, Catalysis Science & Technology, RSC Advances) and Elsevier (Tetrahedron, Tetrahedron Letters)
Academic Prizes & Awards
Royal Society University Research Fellowship
The Royal Society, October 2016
Best talk prize at 4th Royal Society of Chemistry Early Career Symposium
University of Strathclyde, June 2016
Best talk prize at Syngenta Doctoral Training Awards Conference
Jealott’s Hill, September 2011
Poster prize at the Pfizer Poster Symposium
Burlington House, London, December 2010
Lilly Prize for Excellence in First Year of Postgraduate Study
University of Oxford, October 2009
Best talk prize at SCI Young Chemists Panel Regional Undergraduate Symposium
University of Bath, May 2008
Glaxosmithkline 3rd Year Undergraduate Prize in Practical Organic Chemistry
University of Oxford, November 2007