Jump to content

Simon Aldridge

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Simon Aldridge FRS is a British chemist specialising in inorganic chemistry, with a particular focus on the chemistry of main group elements. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and a Fellow and Tutor in Inorganic Chemistry at The Queen’s College, Oxford.[1] His research has significantly contributed to the field of main group chemistry. Aldridge has been recognised with several awards, including a Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2024.[2]

Early life and education

[edit]

Aldridge was born in Shrewsbury, United Kingdom. He studied chemistry at Jesus College, University of Oxford, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in 1992. He went on to complete a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Inorganic Chemistry at Oxford in 1996, under the supervision of A.J. Downs. His doctoral thesis focused on the chemistry of volatile compounds of main group elements.[3]

Academic career

[edit]

Aldridge began his academic career as a Post-doctoral Associate at Imperial College London and the University of Notre Dame, USA, where he was also a Fulbright Scholar.[4][5] In 1998, he joined Cardiff University as a Lecturer in the School of Chemistry, where he later became a Senior Lecturer and co-founded the Centre for Fundamental and Applied Main Group Chemistry.[6]

In 2007, Aldridge returned to Oxford, where he was appointed as a University Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor) in Inorganic Chemistry.[7] That same year, he became a Fellow and Tutor at The Queen’s College, Oxford. He was promoted to Professor of Main Group Chemistry in 2010.[8]

Since 2019, Aldridge has been Director for the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Inorganic Chemistry for Future Manufacturing (OxICFM).[9] He is also Director of the EPSRC CDT in Inorganic Materials for Advanced Manufacturing (IMAT) (2024 - present), with both centres collectively managing research funding of over £25 million.[10]

Research and publications

[edit]

Aldridge’s research interests span inorganic and organometallic chemistry, with a focus on the design of novel main group complexes for small molecule activation. He has published extensively, with over 265 peer-reviewed papers and an h-index of 57 (according to Google Scholar).[11] His work has been featured in journals including Science,[12] Nature Chemistry,[13] and Angewandte Chemie.[14]

Aldridge's most prominent works have involved the synthesis and reactivity of boryl- and aluminyl anions,[15][16] in addition to acyclic silylenes and stannylenes.[17][18]

In addition to his research articles, Aldridge co-authored a book on Group 13 elements titled The Group 13 Metals Aluminium, Gallium, Indium and Thallium: Chemical Patterns and Peculiarities, published by Wiley/Blackwell in 2010.[19]

Awards and honours

[edit]

Aldridge has received several awards and fellowships in recognition of his contributions to chemistry, including the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Frankland Award in 2018 and the Humboldt Prize in 2021.[20][21] In 2024, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). He has also held visiting professorships at institutions such as the Technische Universität Berlin,[22] Monash University,[23] and Hong Kong Baptist University.[24]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Prof Simon Aldridge FRS". The Queen's College, Oxford. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  2. ^ "Fellow Detail Page | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  3. ^ Aldridge, S (1996). "Studies of some volatile compounds of main group elements". PhD Thesis, University of Oxford.
  4. ^ "Simon Aldridge | Fulbright Scholar Program". fulbrightscholars.org. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  5. ^ "Simon Aldridge". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 49 (6): 1008. 2010. doi:10.1002/anie.200905813. ISSN 1433-7851.
  6. ^ Kays (née Coombs), Deborah L.; Day, Joanna K.; Ooi, Li-Ling; Aldridge, Simon (2005-11-18). "Cationic Terminal Borylene Complexes: A Synthetic and Mechanistic Investigation of MB Metathesis Chemistry". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 44 (45): 7457–7460. doi:10.1002/anie.200502343. ISSN 1433-7851. PMID 16229036.
  7. ^ "Prof Simon Aldridge FRS". The Queen's College, Oxford. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  8. ^ "Recognition of Distinction 2010–2011: Successful Candidates" (PDF). The University of Oxford Gazette. 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
  9. ^ "Home". OxICFM CDT. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  10. ^ "Home". IMAT CDT. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  11. ^ "Simon Aldridge". scholar.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  12. ^ Boronski, Josef T.; Crumpton, Agamemnon E.; Wales, Lewis L.; Aldridge, Simon (2023-06-16). "Diberyllocene, a stable compound of Be(I) with a Be–Be bond". Science. 380 (6650): 1147–1149. Bibcode:2023Sci...380.1147B. doi:10.1126/science.adh4419. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 37319227.
  13. ^ Struijs, Job J. C.; Ellwanger, Mathias A.; Crumpton, Agamemnon E.; Gouverneur, Véronique; Aldridge, Simon (2024). "Enabling nucleophilic reactivity in molecular calcium fluoride complexes". Nature Chemistry. 16 (9): 1473–1480. Bibcode:2024NatCh..16.1473S. doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01524-x. ISSN 1755-4330. PMC 11375610. PMID 38744913.
  14. ^ Hicks, Jamie; Heilmann, Andreas; Vasko, Petra; Goicoechea, Jose M.; Aldridge, Simon (2019-11-25). "Trapping and Reactivity of a Molecular Aluminium Oxide Ion". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 58 (48): 17265–17268. doi:10.1002/anie.201910509. ISSN 1433-7851. PMID 31550066.
  15. ^ Hicks, Jamie; Vasko, Petra; Goicoechea, Jose M.; Aldridge, Simon (May 2018). "Synthesis, structure and reaction chemistry of a nucleophilic aluminyl anion". Nature. 557 (7703): 92–95. Bibcode:2018Natur.557...92H. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0037-y. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 29662211.
  16. ^ Protchenko, Andrey V.; Dange, Deepak; Harmer, Jeffrey R.; Tang, Christina Y.; Schwarz, Andrew D.; Kelly, Michael J.; Phillips, Nicholas; Tirfoin, Remi; Birjkumar, Krishna Hassomal; Jones, Cameron; Kaltsoyannis, Nikolas; Mountford, Philip; Aldridge, Simon (April 2014). "Stable GaX2, InX2 and TlX2 radicals". Nature Chemistry. 6 (4): 315–319. doi:10.1038/nchem.1870. ISSN 1755-4349. PMID 24651198.
  17. ^ Protchenko, Andrey V.; Birjkumar, Krishna Hassomal; Dange, Deepak; Schwarz, Andrew D.; Vidovic, Dragoslav; Jones, Cameron; Kaltsoyannis, Nikolas; Mountford, Philip; Aldridge, Simon (2012-04-18). "A Stable Two-Coordinate Acyclic Silylene". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 134 (15): 6500–6503. Bibcode:2012JAChS.134.6500P. doi:10.1021/ja301042u. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 22443679.
  18. ^ Protchenko, Andrey V.; Bates, Joshua I.; Saleh, Liban M. A.; Blake, Matthew P.; Schwarz, Andrew D.; Kolychev, Eugene L.; Thompson, Amber L.; Jones, Cameron; Mountford, Philip; Aldridge, Simon (2016-04-06). "Enabling and Probing Oxidative Addition and Reductive Elimination at a Group 14 Metal Center: Cleavage and Functionalization of E–H Bonds by a Bis(boryl)stannylene". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 138 (13): 4555–4564. Bibcode:2016JAChS.138.4555P. doi:10.1021/jacs.6b00710. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 26981766.
  19. ^ Aldridge, Simon; Downs, Anthony J., eds. (2011-03-18). The Group 13 Metals Aluminium, Gallium, Indium and Thallium: Chemical Patterns and Peculiarities (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9780470976548. ISBN 978-0-470-68191-6.
  20. ^ "Frankland Award". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  21. ^ "Humboldt Research Award". www.humboldt-foundation.de. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  22. ^ "Simon Aldridge receives Humboldt Award". www.chem.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  23. ^ "Collaborations". Science. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  24. ^ "About". chem.hkbu.edu.hk. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Simon_Aldridge&oldid=1263636520"