The School of Chemistry is a school of the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) the school was ranked sixth in the UK.

History and alumni

The teaching of Chemistry at Edinburgh began in 1713 when James Crawford was appointed to the 'Chair of Physik and Chymistry' (where 'physik' = natural science/art of medicine). The department has occupied many sites in its history, from a house at the top of Robertson's Close in the city centre, to purpose-built facilities in the central campus at Old College through to its current location at King's Buildings. Each move has brought with it expansions in size and status until the department occupied the position it does now, as one of the world's leading Chemistry teaching and research establishments. The department also hosts the oldest student-run Chemistry society in the world which was created in 1785 and is still active today. Today the department carries on the traditions of Chemistry at Edinburgh both in teaching and research. The collaborative research School formed with St Andrews University Chemistry department to form EaStCHEM has strengthened research in Scotland in the chemical sciences. Alumni and former staff include: James_Dewar

* Thomas Anderson, discoverer of pyridine * Joseph Black, discoverer of carbon dioxide, latent heat and specific heat * Perdita Barran, Professor in the School of Chemistry, University of Manchester * Neil Campbell, chemist and amateur athlete * Archibald Scott Couper, proposed an early theory of chemical structure and bonding * John Davy, discoverer of

phosgene Phosgene is the organic chemical compound with the formula COCl2. It is a toxic, colorless gas; in low concentrations, its musty odor resembles that of freshly cut hay or grass. Phosgene is a valued and important industrial building block, espe ...

* James Dewar, inventor of the Dewar flask * Narayan Hosmane, cancer researcher, BNCT * David Leigh, Forbes Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh from 2001 to 2012, Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology winner in 2007 *

Christina Miller Christina Cruikshank Miller FRSE (29 August 1899 – 16 July 2001) was a Scottish chemist and one of the first five women (also the first female chemist) elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (7 March 1949). Christina Miller was deaf from chil ...

, synthesized

phosphorus trioxide Phosphorus trioxide is the chemical compound with the molecular formula P4O6. Although the molecular formula suggests the name tetraphosphorus hexaoxide, the name phosphorus trioxide preceded the knowledge of the compound's molecular structure, a ...

* Dai Rees, CEO of the Medical Research Council from 1987 to 1996 * Prafulla Chandra Roy, distinguished chemist and founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals * Daniel Rutherford, discovered nitrogen while he was studying at the University of Edinburgh in 1772 * James Fraser Stoddart, supramolecular chemist *

Lesley Yellowlees Lesley Jane Yellowlees, (born 1953) is a British inorganic chemist conducting research in Spectroelectrochemistry, Electron transfer, Electron transfer reactions and Electron paramagnetic resonance, Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) Spectro ...

CBE, first female president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Vice-President of the University of Edinburgh

Organisation

The school has a research staff of approximately 120 individuals, and an academic staff of over 40. Current annual enrollment includes around 200 research students, and 450 taught postgraduate and undergraduate students. EaStCHEM is the joint research school in chemistry between the Universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews. It has eight research groupings: Chemical Biology; Synthesis; Materials; Structural Chemistry; Chemical Physics; Biophysical Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry; and Catalysis. In the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008, the most in-depth analysis of research outputs for seven years, EaStCHEM, submitted 73% of all world leading outputs (4*) in Scotland and 12% of world leading outputs in all of the UK. From 31 submissions EastChem was the largest in UK Chemistry. EaStCHEM comes joint 4th in the

Grade Point Average Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

(GPA) metric, and first when staff numbers are factored in (the power ranking).

Research Themes

The School has four major research themes as part of EaStCHEM: The Chemistry/Biology Interface area is broad, with particular strengths in the areas of protein structure and function, mechanistic

enzymology Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

proteomics Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replication of DNA. In ...

, biologically targeted synthesis, the application of high throughput and combinatorial approaches and biophysical chemistry, which focuses on the development and application of physicochemical techniques to biological systems. Chemical Physics/Physical Chemistry is the fundamental study of molecular properties and processes. Areas of expertise include probing molecular structure in the gas phase, clusters and nanoparticles, the development and application of physicochemical techniques such as

mass spectrometry Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is use ...

to molecular systems and the EaStCHEM surface science group, who study complex molecules on surfaces, probing the structure property-relationships employed in heterogeneous catalysis. A major feature is In Silico Scotland, a world class research computing facility. Molecular Synthesis encompasses the synthesis and characterisation at ambient and extreme conditions of organic and inorganic compounds, including those with application in homogeneous catalysis,

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

, supramolecular chemistry,

drug discovery In the fields of medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered. Historically, drugs were discovered by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by ...

and ligand design. The development of innovative synthetic and characterisation methodologies (particularly in structural chemistry) is a key feature. The Materials Chemistry group is one of the largest materials chemistry groups in the UK. Areas of strength include the design, synthesis and characterisation of strongly correlated electronic materials, battery and

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...

materials and devices, porous solids, materials at extreme pressures and temperatures, polymer microarray technologies and technique development for materials and nanomaterials analysis.

Senior academic staff

senior academic staff (full professors) in the school include: * Polly Arnold *

Paul Attfield John Paul Attfield (born 1962) One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: is a Professor of Materials science in the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the ...

* * Eleanor Campbell * *

Alison Hulme Alison Hulme is an English chemist and Professor of Synthesis and Chemical Biology. Her research considers natural products and synthesis. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Bader ...

* *

Guy Lloyd-Jones Guy Charles Lloyd-Jones FRS FRSE (born 17 May 1966) is a British chemist. He is the Forbes Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. His research is largely concerned with the determination of orga ...

* Neil McKeown * *Carole A. Morrison *Jason Love *Paul N. Barlow *Scott L. Cockroft *Mathew Heal *Michael Ingleson *Simon Parsons *Neil Robertson *Dusan Uhrin *Andy Mount *Michael Seery

References

External links