Welcome to the website of the research group of Prof. Andy Lawrence. We are a synthetic organic chemistry research group based at the University of Edinburgh. Our research effort is primarily focused on the total synthesis of natural products, exploring new strategies and concepts in chemical synthesis, and developing new synthetic methodology (for further details see our research section and publication list).

Group News

January 2023 – Andy has been named as a Chemistry Finalist for the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom for “Elegant and efficient total syntheses of naturally-occurring, bio-active molecules that hold promise for the development of treatments for various diseases”. It is a great honour and a fantastic recognition of the dedication, hard-work and creativity of all the incredible chemists that have worked in the Lawrence Group at Edinburgh.

January 2023 – Tomás’ previous work with Professor Jonathan George (University of Adelaide) has been published in Chemical Science. We were delighted that Tomás was able to complete his work on this project in Edinburgh, as he couldn’t return to Australia during the COVID pandemic. Congratulations Tomás, a spectacular one-step total synthesis of peshawaraquinone!

September 2022 – Congratulations to Shane who has been awarded ‘The Cocker Prize’ at Trinity College Dublin! This prestigious prize was founded in 1949 by a gift from Sir William W. Cocker. Shane was awarded the prize for his outstanding performance in his Capstone research project, which he conducted in our group working under the supervision of David and Jacob.

August 2022 – The group celebrates Ben receiving the ‘Prize for Best Presentation’ at the MSc Medicinal and Biological Chemistry final oral presentations.

July 2022 – Congratulations to Kimberley for winning two medals for Scotland in the 2022 European Bowls Championships! Kimberely secured a BRONZE medal in the ladies triples and a GOLD medal in the ladies fours. The group is incredibly proud of Kimberley’s sporting achievements!

July 2022 – Well done Annika & Lorna, our undergraduate project students, who both secured 1st class marks! Further congratulations to Annika for securing the Best Overall Performance Prize for BSc (Hons) Chemistry Research Project.

June 2022 – Congratulations to Dr David Jones on winning the Prize for Best Oral Presentation at the RSC Chemistry and Biology of Natural Products XV meeting, for his talk ‘A biomimetic approach to the synthesis and prediction of ulodione natural products’!

May 2022 – Congratulations to Adam on winning the Prize for Best Poster at the 2022 School of Chemistry Organic Section Retreat! This event is held at the University of Edinburgh’s Firbush Outdoor Centre on Loch Tay in the Scottish Highlands.

May 2022 – Congratulations to Shane who has graduated with First Class Honors from Trinity College Dublin! Shane completed his final year research project in the group, working with David and Jacob.

March 2022 – Publications from our collaborative projects with the Campopiano Group (University of Edinburgh) and the Trauner Group (New York University) have appeared on the front covers of Green Chemistry and Nature Reviews Chemistry, respectively.

December 2021 – The group have been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Grant for our work on “Biomimetic [1,2]-Shifts in the Synthesis of Complex Diterpenes”.

December 2021 – The group Christmas dinner at the Sheep Heid Inn, possibly Edinburgh’s oldest pub, was a great success. Congratulations to David and Lorna for winning the Skittles championship and an honourable mention for Steven who scored the only strike (yes, we were that bad!).

December 2021 – Congratulations to Jacob on delivering a fantastic on-line poster at the RSC Organic Division Poster Symposium, and Adam for presenting his First-Year PhD Talk!

October 2021 – Congratulations to Jacob on delivering a fantastic presentation at the first day of the 36th Annual Postgraduate Symposium of the RSC Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group!

September 2021 – Congratulations to Mária (visiting PhD student from the Slovak University of Technology) on winning the prize for best poster at the 73rd Annual Congress of the Slovak and Czech Chemical Societies in the High Tatra Mountains. Mária’s poster covered her work on new amine donors for biocatalysis, which is a collaborative endeavour with our colleagues in the Campopiano Group.

For previous group news see the News Archive section.