Strategies for the synthesis of 2,3-dihydrobenzofurans

Abstract

Tom Sheppard grew up in Lancashire, UK. He obtained his MSc degree from the University of Cambridge in 1999. After a year working in the pharmaceutical industry at GlaxoWellcome, he went on to obtain his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2004, working under the supervision of Professor Steven Ley on the development of butane-2,3-diacetal desymmetrised glycolic acid. He then carried out postdoctoral research with Professor William Motherwell at University College London, working on new methods for cyclopropane synthesis and novel multi-component reactions. In 2007, he was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship and appointed to a lectureship at University College London where his research is focussed on the development and application of novel organocatalytic and metal-catalysed reactions.