Winner: 2025 Organic 九州影院 open Prize: Pedler Prize
Professor Varinder Aggarwal
University of Bristol
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2025 Pedler Prize: awarded for insight and creativity to deliver concise and efficient strategies for the assembly of complex organic molecules.
Varinder Aggarwal has developed new chemical methods to assemble complex, biologically important molecules. His research includes new ways of speeding up, or catalysing chemical reactions, developing new classes of reagents for iterative synthesis, and applications of these methods in medicine, such as helping to provide more effective routes to potential vaccines against tuberculosis.
Although many organic molecules occur in 鈥榬ight-handed鈥� and 鈥榣eft-handed鈥� forms, invariably just one of these is seen in living organisms. Normally, however, chemical reactions make both forms in equal amounts. Varinder鈥檚 work on asymmetric synthesis allows him to make one form selectively which has important applications in drug design and synthesis.
Biography
Varinder K Aggarwal studied chemistry at Cambridge University and received his PhD in 1986 under the guidance of Dr Stuart Warren. After postdoctoral studies (1986鈥�1988) under Professor Gilbert Stork, Columbia University, he returned to the UK as a lecturer at the University of Bath. In 1991, he moved to the University of Sheffield, where he was promoted to Professor in 1997. In 2000, he moved to the University of Bristol, where he holds the chair in synthetic chemistry. Apart from chemistry, his interests include running, cycling, yoga, table tennis, cinema and theatre.
Varinder is a renowned organic chemist who has developed new chemical methods to assemble complex, biologically important molecules. His research includes new catalytic asymmetric methods, developing new classes of reagents for iterative synthesis, and applications of these methods in the synthesis of complex molecules.
Early on his career, he showed how to convert the stoichiometric sulfur ylide epoxidation methodology into a catalytic and asymmetric process, and provided a set of rules that govern both diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity in this important reaction.
He later discovered new asymmetric reactions between sulfur ylides/lithiated carbamates and organoboranes/boronic esters which lead to homologated organoboron products in high enantioselectivity including tertiary boronic esters, reactions that could be used iteratively. This work has been particularly impactful, enabling complex molecules to be assembled in few steps and with very high stereocontrol. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012.
I love the unexpected. When reactions take a different course to the one you had expected. It shows our limited knowledge and understanding and it often leads to new discoveries.
Professor Varinder Aggarwal
Q&A with Professor Varinder Aggarwal
How did you first become interested in chemistry?
I was always interested in science and in fact it was physics that I gravitated to at school. I found it mind-blowing that I could work out the speed at which the universe was expanding by looking at the change in frequency of light (Doppler shift) coming from distant stars, and I wanted to investigate this further.
Fortunately, I got accepted at the University of Cambridge where I studied natural sciences which, in addition to physics, included chemistry, maths and materials in the first year. During this year I found chemistry to be even more enjoyable than any of the other subjects, primarily because of the superb teachers we had. Ian Fleming and Dudley Williams taught first-year organic chemistry, and they were able to make the subject interesting, fun and logical, and they completely turned my interest around. It also taught me the lesson and impact of good teachers.
Tell us about somebody who has inspired or mentored you in your career
My school physics teacher, Mr Thompson, took me to one side one day when I was a teenager and said 鈥渂e careful, Varinder, don鈥檛 go off the rails鈥�. Those few words were transformational since I really admired and looked up to him, and knowing he was right, I modified my behaviour thereafter. It showed the power of a few words spoken in the right way at the right time by your teacher.
What motivates you?
I love the unexpected. When reactions take a different course to the one you had expected. It shows our limited knowledge and understanding and it often leads to new discoveries.
What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?
Enjoy working with your students and post-docs as they will be your legacy. They will also be your ambassadors in the future.
Can you tell us about a scientific development on the horizon that you are excited about?
We have discovered a really interesting way of making tetra substituted alkenes from simple building blocks with very high geometric control.
What has been a highlight for you (either personally or in your career)?
A personal highlight has been our prostaglandin synthesis. The proline-catalysed dimerization of succinaldehyde led to a bicyclic motif that was perfectly set up to install the two side chains required on the five membered ring. However, the dimerisation of succinaldehyde was extremely challenging, but I had an excellent student, Graeme Coulthard, who persevered and managed to make a breakthrough. It is one of my favourite pieces of chemistry.
What has been a challenge for you (either personally or in your career)?
A few years ago, I walked the Coast to Coast across England, it鈥檚 just under 200 miles. I did it with a group of very dear old friends from my undergraduate days, and we did it in about 12 days. It was fabulous, but it was really tough as well since invariably on a long walk you have all sorts of issues with your boots, feet and blisters. I think I was the only one who managed to complete it without needing to take a day off.
What does good research culture look like/mean to you?
Enabling each and every member of the group to grow as scientists, to develop their ideas and to mature into scientists who can lead their own projects. It is about respecting them all and their ideas, being inclusive where everyone is encouraged to offer their opinions and every opinion counts.
How are the chemical sciences making the world a better place?
The chemical sciences will provide solutions to the major societal challenges for the next few decades. On climate change, it has the capacity to contribute to new sources of green energy and improved materials for batteries and solar panels. On health care, chemists will provide more effective and more economical treatments to combat disease. On sustainability, chemists will fund materials that can be more easily recycled as well as developing cost-effective methods for recycling current materials.
Why do you think collaboration and teamwork are important in science?
Because we don't know everything. Bringing other scientists into your team with different expertise enhances projects, enabling them to answer different questions to the one you may have posed. It broadens and deepens the research programme and it is a great learning experience too.
What is your favourite element?
Boron!