Anderson started his independent research as a
research fellow at
Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1990–1993, and conducted his research in 1993–1994 as SERC
postdoctoral research fellow at
ETH-Zürich, Switzerland. He returned to University of Oxford in 1994 as university lecturer in organic chemistry and tutor in Keble College. In 2004, he became professor of chemistry at the University of Oxford.
Template directed syntheses ubiquitously exist in nature (
protein biosynthesis, etc.), which provides inspiration for synthesising artificial supramolecular systems. Using porphyrin
monomers/
oligomers and molecular templates of various sizes, porphyrin nanoring systems can be constructed with high versatility.[8][9] These supramolecular systems also bear appealing co-ordination properties, providing inspirations for the co-ordination phenomena existing in nature.[10][11]
Vernier templating refers to the syntheses of complexes using templates and molecular building blocks with mismatching co-ordination numbers to construct larger molecular systems by incorporating more than one template molecule and more molecular building blocks than usual. Porphyrin nanoring systems are excellent examples in realising this methodology and giant artificial molecular systems with their molecular weights of small proteins can be constructed.[12][13]
Based on the work of organic synthesis, his research interests have found wide range of collaborators from versatile academic backgrounds all over the world. It was found that elongated/encapsulated pi-conjugate systems constructed by porphyrins showed unprecedented physical properties in charge transfer,[14][15] two-photon absorption,[16] etc., thereby providing physicists and photobiologists new candidates and inspirations in their research.
Honours and awards
2017 Izatt-Christensen Award[17] (in Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry)
Harry Anderson is known internationally for his insightful contributions to the design and synthesis of supramolecular materials and molecular wires. He has introduced new concepts for molecular design, and ground-breaking approaches to template-directed synthesis, leading to materials with unprecedented electronic and nonlinear optical characteristics. He has pioneered the investigation of conjugated porphyrin oligomers, encapsulated pi-systems, nanorings and two-photon absorbing dyes, and he has worked closely with physicists and photobiologists to understand the relationship between molecular structure and function. His work has resulted in profound insights into the factors controlling long-range electronic coupling and charge-transport in
supramolecular systems.[18]
^Anderson, S.; Anderson, H. L.; Bashall, A.; McPartlin, M.; Sanders, J. K. M. (1995). "Assembly and Crystal Structure of a Photoactive Array of Five Porphyrins". Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English. 34 (10): 1096–1099.
doi:
10.1002/anie.199510961.
^Stanier, C. A.; o'Connell, M. J.; Anderson, H. L.; Clegg, W. (2001). "Synthesis of fluorescent stilbene and tolan rotaxanes by Suzuki coupling". Chemical Communications (5): 493–494.
doi:
10.1039/b010015n.
^Hoffmann, M.; Kärnbratt, J.; Chang, M. H.;
Herz, L. M.; Albinsson, B.; Anderson, H. L. (2008). "Enhanced π Conjugation around a Porphyrin[6] Nanoring". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 47 (27): 4993–4996.
doi:
10.1002/anie.200801188.
PMID18506860.
^Hoffmann, M.; Wilson, C. J.; Odell, B.; Anderson, H. L. (2007). "Template-Directed Synthesis of a π-Conjugated Porphyrin Nanoring". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 46 (17): 3122–3125.
doi:
10.1002/anie.200604601.
PMID17318935.
^Hogben, H. J.; Sprafke, J. K.; Hoffmann, M.; Pawlicki, M. O.; Anderson, H. L. (2011). "Stepwise Effective Molarities in Porphyrin Oligomer Complexes: Preorganization Results in Exceptionally Strong Chelate Cooperativity". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 133 (51): 20962–20969.
doi:
10.1021/ja209254r.
PMID22091586.
^Sprafke, J. K.; Odell, B.; Claridge, T. D. W.; Anderson, H. L. (2011). "All-or-Nothing Cooperative Self-Assembly of an Annulene Sandwich". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 50 (24): 5572–5575.
doi:
10.1002/anie.201008087.
PMID21544909.
^o'Sullivan, M. C.; Sprafke, J. K.; Kondratuk, D. V.; Rinfray, C.; Claridge, T. D. W.; Saywell, A.; Blunt, M. O.; o'Shea, J. N.; Beton, P. H.; Malfois, M.; Anderson, H. L. (2011). "Vernier templating and synthesis of a 12-porphyrin nano-ring". Nature. 469 (7328): 72–75.
Bibcode:
2011Natur.469...72O.
doi:
10.1038/nature09683.
PMID21209660.
S2CID205223407.
^Kondratuk, D. V.; Perdigao, L. M. A.; O'Sullivan, M. C.; Svatek, S.; Smith, G.; O'Shea, J. N.; Beton, P. H.; Anderson, H. L. (2012). "Two Vernier-Templated Routes to a 24-Porphyrin Nanoring". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 51 (27): 6696–6699.
doi:
10.1002/anie.201202870.
PMID22653879.
^Sedghi, G.; García-Suárez, V. C. M.; Esdaile, L. J.; Anderson, H. L.; Lambert, C. J.; Martín, S.; Bethell, D.; Higgins, S. J.; Elliott, M.; Bennett, N.; MacDonald, J. E.; Nichols, R. J. (2011). "Long-range electron tunnelling in oligo-porphyrin molecular wires". Nature Nanotechnology. 6 (8): 517–23.
Bibcode:
2011NatNa...6..517S.
doi:
10.1038/nnano.2011.111.
PMID21804555.
S2CID5222943.
^López-Duarte, I.; Reeve, J. E.; Pérez-Moreno, J.; Boczarow, I.; Depotter, G.; Fleischhauer, J.; Clays, K.; Anderson, H. L. (2013). ""Push-no-pull" porphyrins for second harmonic generation imaging". Chemical Science. 4 (5): 2024.
doi:
10.1039/C3SC22306J.
^Odom, S. A.; Webster, S.; Padilha, L. A.; Peceli, D.; Hu, H.; Nootz, G.; Chung, S. J.; Ohira, S.; Matichak, J. D.; Przhonska, O. V.; Kachkovski, A. D.; Barlow, S.; BréDas, J. L.; Anderson, H. L.; Hagan, D. J.; Van Stryland, E. W.; Marder, S. R. (2009). "Synthesis and Two-Photon Spectrum of a Bis(Porphyrin)-Substituted Squaraine". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 131 (22): 7510–7511.
doi:
10.1021/ja901244e.
PMID19435343.