Professor Leonard F. Lindoy, FRACI, FAA,Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney.
Brief CV:
Len Lindoy graduated from the University of New South Wales with a BSc in
1963 and a PhD in 1968. In 1985 he also obtained a DSc from this University.
Following a postdoctoral appointment at Ohio State University with
Professor Daryl Busch, he joined James Cook University as a lecturer in
1970, rising through the ranks to be appointed to the first Personal Chair
at James Cook in 1987. In 1996, he moved to take up the Chair of Inorganic
Chemistry at the University of Sydney and Headship of the Inorganic
Division within the School of Chemistry. At Sydney he is currently Academic
Director of the Foundation of Inorganic Chemistry and is the Foundation
Director of the Centre for Heavy Metals Research - a new Centre in the
University largely setup under his guidance.
Professor Lindoy is a Fellow of Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and the Australian Academy of Science. He is a recipient of the RACI's Olle Prize on two occasions (most recently in 2001, jointly with Dr. I. M. Atkinson), the Inorganic (Burrows) Award and the H. G. Smith Medal. In 1995 he also received the Gold Medal for Research from the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering. He was the 1998 Liversidge Lecturer of the Royal Society of NSW and in 2000 he was the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) Australasian Lecturer. In 2003, he was awarded a Centenary Medal for his contributions to Inorganic Chemistry. In 2004, he was appointed to the IUPAC Committee, Division (VIII) of Chemical Nomenclature and Structure. He has had the honour of being elected a Senior Member of Robinson College, Cambridge - an appointment for life that conveys many of the privileges of a Fellow when in residence. He has recently been reappointed to a second term as an adjunct Professor of Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy & Molecular Sciences, James Cook University.
Professor Lindoy has made a range of contributions to Chemistry. These include periods as President of the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE), Chair of the Physical Sciences Panel of the Australian Research Council, Chair of the Chemistry Sub-panel of the Australian Research Council, President of the Sydney University Chemical Society, Member of the Council of the Australian Academy of Science, and most recently Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Australian Journal of Chemistry. He has been a consultant to several national and international companies [including ICI (Aust.), Bristol Myers Squibb (US) and ICI/Zenica (UK), the latter for 10 years] and has served on five international journal editorial boards.
He has published over 235 research papers and patents, including two monographs.
Brief summary of expertise and significant research achievements:
Professor Lindoy's research is centered on the related areas of macrocyclic
and supramolecular chemistry. He and his group have
been responsible for the design, synthesis and characterisation of a very
large number of new systems over many years. These
range from simple rings, through to pendant arm derivatives, to
linked-ring systems and to large cage structures. The design
and synthesis of new systems for use in host-guest chemistry has been
given emphasis in recent years. In particular, the
studies have tended to focus on the elucidation of structure-function
relationships - an activity that relies heavily on
structure determination involving diffraction methods.
Particular highlights of the groups research include one of the first investigations in which DFT methods were applied to the study of transition metal macrocyclic species, the first reported example of the transport of a discrete metal complex intact across an artificial liquid membrane, and the synthesis and investigation of new cage molecules capable of selectively binding a range of ionic and molecular hosts, including aromatic species such as benzene or polyphenols.
