University of the Witwatersrand

Faculty Member, School of Chemistry

Lecturer

Thesis Title: Phase Transitions and Structural Motifs of Inorganic-Organic Lead Halide Hybrids

About

I have been very interested in the structure and arrangement of organic molecules or inorganic-organic complexes from the very start of my postgraduate career, and as such, crystallography has been a passion of mine from the very start. My doctoral research was on "Phase Transitions and Structural Motifs of Inorganic-Organic Lead Halide Hybrids" under the supervision of Prof. David G. Billing. After a successful PhD, where a very large number of novel compounds were synthesized, crystallized and then characterized (76), I moved into the field of solid state organic chemistry under the encouragement of my PhD supervisor to start exploring my own avenues of research to create a distinct line of research and track record of my own. To this end, and also due to my desire to pursue an academic career, I spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow in two research groups well known for their work on pharmaceutical drug compounds. I spent one year at the Centre for Supramolecular Chemistry Research (CSCR) at the University of Cape Town under the supervision of Prof. Susan A. Bourne on a project entitled "Crystal Engineering of Co-Crystals and Molecular Salts". This project focused on making salts and co-crystals of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), a research direction I was keen to pursue after seeing similar work at an international crystallography conference in 2006. Prof. Mino R. Caira, who now heads this Centre, has a strong track record in research on drug compounds, as does Prof. Bourne. First, proof of concept work was carried out on organic compounds that are models for the drug compounds investigated later. Six publications came out of this preliminary work; this was followed by two papers using drug compounds, one reporting the synthesis of co-crystals and the second on the salts of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID). A third paper resulted from a failed co-crystallization attempt, but resulted in a comprehensive study of the polymorphs of the antihyperlipoproteinemic Bezafibrate. My experience in drug compounds needed further development, and I then had the opportunity to do a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with one of the world leaders on polymorphs and co-crystals of drug compounds, Prof. Joel Bernstein at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel; Prof Bernstein has written the seminal monograph on polymorphism. The project I worked on was "Crystal Design and Engineering Utilizing Geometry-Specific Interactions" and focused on making co-crystals of drug compounds together with substances known as GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe). We also did work on the polymorphism of co-crystals, a new avenue of research currently being investigated by a number of research groups. Due to the international standing of Prof. Bernstein, and his extensive network with international researchers, I was able to spend three months at the pharmacy group of Prof. Ulrich Griesser in Innsbruck, Austria, whose group is the leader in polymorphic research on drug compounds. I also spent six weeks at Brookhaven National Lab with Prof. Peter Stephens, who together with Prof. Bernstein does extensive consulting work for pharmaceutical companies as expert witnesses in patent litigation and research consulting. To date, six publications have resulted from this work, with an additional three in preparation. After three years of postdoctoral work, I was able to successfully apply for a lecturer position at the University of the Witwatersrand, where I hope to continue to do research on drug compounds and attracting research students to train and to aid me. Since joining Wits I have published seven papers as single author in all the major crystallography and crystal engineering publications, and established collaborative work with the organic chemistry group as well as the crystallography group. I am in the process of establishing formal collaborations with research groups at the University of Stellenbosch and the University of Innsbruck in Austria. My PhD and postdoctoral fellowships have all been sponsored by the National Research Foundation, as well as receiving additional funding from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust for my international postdoc. As such, I have been able to apply and successfully receive independent funding for my research.

My work has appeared on the cover of three issues each of Acta Crystallographica Section C as well as CrystEngComm to date. My most recent article has been highlighted in the CrystEngComm blog as a hot article, and will be featured on the cover in the September issue; see http://blogs.rsc.org/ce/2011/05/16/hot-article-assembling-isoniazid/.

I have reviewed articles and communications for Crystal Growth & Design, CrystEngComm, Journal of Chemical Crystallography, Chirality, Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, Acta Crystallographica Section B, Acta Crystallographica Section C and Acta Crystallographica Section E. I have also examined a Masters thesis for the University of the Witwatersrand. I am a member of the South African Chemical Institute, South African Crystallographic Society, European Crystallographic Association, American Chemical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

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