Steven Victor Ley (born 10 December 1945) is Professor of Organic Chemistry in the

Department of Chemistry An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, universities tend to use the term faculty; faculties are typically furthe ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and is a Fellow of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He was President of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

(2000–2002) and was made a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in January 2002, in the process. In 2011, he was included by ''The Times'' in the list of the "100 most important people in British science".

Education

Ley was educated at Stamford and

Loughborough University of Technology Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science and PhD.

Research

Ley's main research field are the

total synthesis Total synthesis, a specialized area within organic chemistry, focuses on constructing complex organic compounds, especially those found in nature, using laboratory methods. It often involves synthesizing natural products from basic, commercially ...

biomolecule A biomolecule or biological molecule is loosely defined as a molecule produced by a living organism and essential to one or more typically biological processes. Biomolecules include large macromolecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids ...

s. His group has published extensively on this topic, and has completed the synthesis of more than 140 natural target compounds, with notable examples including indanamycin, routiennocin, avermectin B1a, okadaic acid, spongistatin,

thapsigargin Thapsigargin is a non-competitive inhibitor of the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase ( SERCA). Structurally, thapsigargin is classified as a guaianolide, and is extracted from a plant, '' Thapsia garganica''. It is a tumor promoter in ...

, epothilone A, antascomicin B, bengazole A and

rapamycin Sirolimus, also known as rapamycin and sold under the brand name Rapamune among others, is a macrolide compound that is used to coat coronary stents, prevent organ rejection, organ transplant rejection, treat a rare lung disease called lymphang ...

. His total synthesis of

azadirachtin Azadirachtin, a chemical compound belonging to the limonoid group, is a secondary metabolite present in neem seeds. It is a highly oxidized tetranortriterpenoid which boasts a plethora of oxygen-bearing functional groups, including an enol ether, ...

, completed in 2007, is widely regarded as one of the major landmarks in total synthesis. In the course of this work, he has also made substantial advances in many areas of organic chemistry, including the development of new

catalyst Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

protecting group A protecting group or protective group is introduced into a molecule by chemical modification of a functional group to obtain chemoselectivity in a subsequent chemical reaction. It plays an important role in multistep organic synthesis. In man ...

s and

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

s. He is one of the inventors of TPAP, a widely employed oxidising reagent. He has also pioneered the use of immobilised reagents and flow techniques in multi-step organic synthesis. This work now incorporates

flow chemistry In flow chemistry, also called reactor engineering, a chemical reaction is run in a continuously flowing stream rather than in batch production. In other words, pumps move fluid into a reactor, and where tubes join one another, the fluids contac ...

for multistep organic synthesis applications. By 2020, Ley had published 888 academic research papers spanning his career of 50 years.

Honours and awards

, Ley's work of over 900 papers has been recognised by about 45 major prizes and awards, including: * 2022 Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia Foreign Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Pharmacy * 2018

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Arthur C. Cope Award * 2014

IUPAC The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...

-ThalesNano Prize in Flow Chemistry * 2013 Franco Brittanique Prize awarded by

Société Chimique de France Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

* 2013 Longstaff Prize from the

* 2011

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

* 2010 Paracelsus Prize from the Swiss Chemical Society * 2009 Perkin Prize for Organic Chemistry,

* 2009

Tetrahedron Prize The Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry or Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry is awarded annually by Elsevier, the publisher of Tetrahedron Publications. It was established in 1980 and named in honour of the founding co-chairmen o ...

for Creativity in Organic Chemistry * 2009

Heinrich Wieland Prize The Heinrich Wieland Prize is awarded annually by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation for outstanding research on biologically active molecules and systems in the areas of chemistry, biochemistry and physiology as well as their clinical importance ...

awarded for outstanding achievements in the synthesis of key natural products,

Boehringer Ingelheim C.H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Co. is the parent company of the Boehringer Ingelheim group, which was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer (1861–1939) in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany. As of 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's List of la ...

* 2008 High Throughput Drug Discovery Methodologies Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry * 2008 Prous Institute-Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery, European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry * 2008 Hans Herloff Inhoffen Medal, Helmholtz Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Germany * 2007 SCI Innovation Award * 2007

Paul Karrer Gold Medal The Paul Karrer Gold Medal and Lecture is awarded annually or biennially by the University of Zurich to an outstanding researcher in the field of chemistry. It was established in 1959 by a group of leading companies, including CIBA AG, J.R. Gei ...

(

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

) * 2007 The

Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry * 2006 The Nagoya Gold Medal from the Banyu Life Science Foundation International, Japan * 2006 Robert Robinson Award and Medal from the Royal Society of Chemistry * 2005 The Yamada-Koga Prize, Japan * 2004 The Messel Medal Lecture, Society of Chemical Industry * 2004 Innovation of the Year Award: Jointly with AstraZeneca, Avecia and Syngenta, Chemical Industries Association * 2004 iChemE Award for Innovation in Applied Catalysis. The iAc Award * 2004 Teamwork in Innovation Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry as part of Merck Chemicals Ltd; a team from Syngenta, Avecia, Cambridge University and Astrazeneca * 2004 Alexander-von-Humboldt Award, Germany * 1990 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1990 * 1980 Corday-Morgan Medal and Prize of the

Royal Institute of Chemistry The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its ai ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ley, Steven Victor Living people Members of the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Stamford School Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British organic chemists Royal Medal winners Presidents of the Royal Society of Chemistry Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy 1945 births Professors of chemistry (Cambridge, 1702)