Harman Patil (Editor)

Varinder Aggarwal

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Doctoral advisor
  
Varinder Aggarwal wwwchmbrisacukorgaggarwalimagesvarinderag

Notable awards
  
Corday-Morgan Prize (1998)Green Chemistry Award (2003)Organic Stereochemistry Award (2009) FRS (2012)Perkin Prize (2013)

Alma mater
  
Books
  
Science of Synthesis: Houben-Weyl Methods of Molecular Transformations

Fields
  
Organic chemistry, Enantioselective synthesis

Institutions
  

Professor jos barluenga some words of varinder aggarwal


Varinder Kumar Aggarwal FRS (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.

Contents

Early life

Aggarwal was born in 1961 in Kalianpur, a town in Northern India. In 1963 his family emigrated to the United Kingdom.

Education and career

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. 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.

Research

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.

Awards and honours

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. His certificate of election reads:

References

Varinder Aggarwal Wikipedia


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