Teaching Professor of Chemistry / Head of Graduate Education
Deborah Longbottom leads on graduate level training (https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/gradstudents/training) and admissions (https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/pgapp/) in the Department of Chemistry, in combination with her other University role as the Director of Education in the School of the Physical Sciences (https://www.physsci.cam.ac.uk/). Prior to this, for several years she was a Teaching Fellow for undergraduates in the Department of Chemistry, College Teaching Officer and Tutor, and still retains some key responsibilities in this area, among which are the Part IA Laboratory and her first year organic chemistry course.
Her research background comprises organic synthesis and methodology and she spent many years as a Senior Research Associate in the group of Professor Steven V. Ley, which followed post-doctoral studies with Professor K. C. Nicolaou and experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She also independently collaborated with the O'Reilly group at Warwick University, which led to interesting investigations on the synthesis and utility of amino-acid functionalised polymers formed by RAFT polymerisation but is now working full time on the education agenda both in the Department and the School of the Physical Sciences: therefore, those seeking a position for research as a graduate student or post-doctoral researcher should look to others in the Chemistry Department here or elsewhere to submit their applications.
Representative Publications
Tuning the Catalytic Activity of L-Proline Functionalised Hydrophobic Nanogel Particles in Water A. Lu, P. Cotanda, J. P. Patterson, D. A. Longbottom and R. K. O’Reilly, ChemSci., 2013, 4, 965.
Immobilization of MacMillan Catalyst via Controlled Radical Polymerisation: Catalytic Activity and Reuse B. Moore, A. Lu, D. A. Longbottom and R. K. O’Reilly, Polym. Chem., 2013, 4, 2304.
Aldol Reactions Catalysed by L-Proline Functionalised Polymeric Nanoreactors in Water A. Lu, P. Cotanda, J. P. Patterson, D. A. Longbottom and R. K. O’Reilly, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 9699.
L-Proline Functionalized Polymers Prepared by RAFT Polymerization and their Assemblies as Supported Organocatalysts A. Lu, T. Smart, T. Epps, III, D. A. Longbottom and R. K. O'Reilly, Macromolecules, 2011, 44, 7233.
Organocatalytic Tuneable Amino Acid Polymers Prepared by Controlled Radical Polymerization A. C. Evans, A. Lu, C. Ondeck, D. A. Longbottom and R. K. O'Reilly, J. Polym. Sci., Part A, 2009, 47, 6814.
Highly Diastereoselective Desymmetrisation of Cyclic meso-Anhydrides and Derivatisation for Use in Natural Product Synthesis A. C. Evans, D. A. Longbottom, M. Matsuoka, J. E. Davies, R. Turner, V. Franckevicius and S. V. Ley, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2009, 7, 747.
Practical Organocatalysis Using (S)- and (R)-5-Pyrrolidin-2-yl-1H-tetrazoles: A Review D. A. Longbottom, V. Franckevicius, S. Kumarn, A. J. Oelke, V. Waschlowski and S. V. Ley, Aldrichimica Acta, 2008, 41, 3.
Practical Synthesis of (S)-5-Pyrrolidin-2-yltetrazole, Incorporating Efficient Protecting Group Removal by Flow-reactor Hydrogenolysis V. Franckevicius, K. R. Knudsen, M. Ladlow, D. A. Longbottom and S. V. Ley, Synlett, 2006, 889.
Total Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Halipeptins A and D and Analogues K. C. Nicolaou, D. E. Lizos, D. W. Kim, D. Schlawe, R. G. de Noronha, D. A. Longbottom, M. Rodriguez, M. Bucci and G. Cirino, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128, 4460.
New Uses for the Burgess Reagent in Chemical Synthesis: Methods for the Facile and Stereoselective Formation of Sulfamidates, Glycosylamines, and Sulfamides K. C. Nicolaou, S. A. Snyder, D. A. Longbottom, A. Z. Nalbandian and X. Huang, Chem. Eur. J., 2004, 10, 5581.
Total Synthesis of Polycephalin C and Determination of Absolute Stereochemistry at the 3'',4'' Ring Junction D. A. Longbottom, A. J. Morrison, D. J. Dixon and S. V. Ley, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2002, 41, 2786.
Total Synthesis of the Plasmoidal Pigment Physarorubinic Acid, a Polyenoyltetramic Acid D. J. Dixon, S. V. Ley and D. A. Longbottom, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1, 1999, 2231.
If you are interested in reading more about the O'Reilly Group research, please see:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/chemistry/research/oreilly/oreillygroup