History
The Heterocyclic Group was formed in 1967 by a group of heterocyclic chemists. It gained approval from the Chemical Society on 5th April 1967 and held its first scientific half-day meeting in September 1967. The first Chairman was Alan Katritzky (then at UEA) and the first Secretary/Treasurer was Gurnos Jones (Keele). In 2001, the Group voted to change its name to the Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group, to reflect the wider interests of its membership in synthetic organic chemistry.
The Group continues to hold its flagship conference, the Lakeland Symposium in Grasmere, every two years. More recently, the Group has been involved in cross-group activities and is a co-organiser, with the SCI, of the annual Retrosynthesis Competition.
The Group holds an annual one-day Postgraduate meeting in September. We are also commencing an annual one-day Postdoctoral Meeting, which will also host the AGM.
The Group welcomes new members from industry or academia, with an interest in synthetic organic chemistry.
The Group awards the Charles Rees Award. This is awarded biennially. The Charles Rees Award is to reward excellence in the field of heterocyclic chemistry. The award covers the synthesis, properties, and applications of all types of heterocyclic compounds.
Heterocyclic Meetings
The most famous and popular meeting in the Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group calendar is the Lakeland Symposium on Heterocyclic and Synthetic Chemistry held in Grasmere every 2 years, next planned for May 2025.
This has been a fixture of the group's calendar for over 40 years and attracts organic chemists from all over the world to hear some outstanding heterocyclic and synthetic chemistry and enjoy the social interactions the format allows.
The meeting is able to attract top-flight speakers from across the world and is always over-subscribed.
We hold a one-day Autumn postgraduate meeting, with a focus on early career researchers, usually at an industrial venue. The day includes plenary sessions, short talks from postgraduate students, a flash presentation session, and a poster session. As of May 2024, we will also hold a biennial Postdoctoral Meeting to support this important element of the Heterocyclic and Synthesis group community.
Events in 2023
The 25th Lakeland Symposium, Grasmere (7 - 11 May)
The Heterocyclic and Synthesis Interest Group held its flagship meeting, the 25th Lakeland Symposium, in Grasmere from Sunday 7 May to Thursday 11 May 2023. After a four year hiatus, the 25th Lakeland event was extremely popular. The diverse plenary line-up provided excellent science in the relaxing atmosphere of the Lake District. It was a real pleasure for the committee to see so many early career researchers being able to discuss their science at the symposium.
There were nine plenary talks across the five day programme, including the Charles Rees lecture by Prof. David Procter on Sunday evening. A supporting programme of fourteen lectures by academics and industrialists highlighted the group's strong and enduring links to industry. The meeting is also renowned for its support of early career researchers, and we were delighted to see nineteen excellent short talks from postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers.
With support from Thieme and the RSC, two short talk prizes were awarded:
Laura Winfrey (University of Leicester)
Harry Hicks (University of Oxford)
The traditional Monday evening poster session in the Wordsworth Hotel provided an excellent snapshot of the outstanding organic chemistry being carried out by early career researchers from across the UK and overseas. Over 50 posters were presented, showcasing a large breadth of organic chemistry research.
With support from the RSC, four poster prizes were awarded:
Jerson Lapetaje (University of St. Andrews)
Nahim Kazi (University of Lancaster)
Kate Donaghy (UCD)
Annie Rouse (University of Greenwich)
The committee would like to thank the plenary speakers, supporting presenters, all delegates, and especially the PGR community for making the event such a success. We are also indebted to our sponsors (AstraZeneca, Astex, Syngenta, Vertex, UCB, Sygnature Discovery, Charles River, SpiroChem, Teledyne, RSC publishing, and SynOpen), our hosts at the ‘Wordsworth Hotel’ and ‘The Inn at Grasmere’, as well as the Trustees at the Grasmere Village Hall.
37th PGR Symposium, Chesterford Research Park, Charles River (19 September)
Our 37th Postgraduate Symposium was held on Tuesday 19 September 2023 at Chesterford Research Park (Charles River), Saffron Walden. This was a lively meeting of excellent science, with nine postgraduate talks, a flash presentation session, and a poster session during lunch, as well as lectures from Dr. Stefano Lavanto (Charles River) and Prof. Ross Denton (University of Nottingham).
The prize winners were:
Best short talk: Hannan Adams (University of Cambridge)
Best flash presentation: Luke Chem (GSK/University of Strathclyde)
Best poster: Adam Lockyer (The University of Edinburgh)
Many thanks to all the presenters!
Picture caption: The three prize winners are (from left to right) Hannan Adams (University of Cambridge); Luke Chem (GSK/University of Strathclyde); Adam Lockyer (The University of Edinburgh)
How to Join
RSC members can join the Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group by updating their details in the “My communities and subscriptions” tab of the online RSC membership area. Please login and add us to your list of interest groups.
Quick links
Forthcoming events
Forthcoming events organised by the Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group.
Contact the Secretary
For further information on the Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group you can contact the Secretary, Dr Marc Kimber BSc MRSC.
Support for interest groups
Useful information and resources for all RSC interest groups.
MyRSC Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group
This group is open to anyone with an interest in heterocyclic chemistry. You will be required to register for MyRSC, then you can sign up to become a member of this group.
Downloadable files
Article - Retro(synthesis) is back in fashionCommittee
Chair
Professor Andrew Smith FRSC
University of St Andrews