Professor Chris Easton

Position

Professor of Chemistry in the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University and Deputy Director of the Centre.

Qualifications
•    University of Canterbury in New Zealand and University of Adelaide Chemistry Department staff appointments.
•    Postdoctoral studies (1980–1981) Harvard University with Professor Jeremy Knowles.
•    PhD (1981) University of Adelaide.
•    Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Australian Academy of Science and the World Innovation Foundation.

Expertise
•    Mechanisms and kinetics of free radical reactions,
•    Synthetic methods to produce molecular devices and regulate biochemical processes.

Key Areas of Research

•    Design and synthesis of novel, physiologically active fatty acids.
•    Production of photo-responsive molecular pumps and muscles, and related molecular shuttles and sensors.
•    Development of new approaches for studying radical reactions, combining gas and solution phase studies, and theoretical calculations.
•    Development of enzymes as catalysts with novel functions and mechanisms of action.
•    Design, synthesis and evaluation of compounds to regulate hormone levels in higher organisms.
•    Development of new methods for the synthesis of physiologically active peptide secondary metabolites.
•    Studies of peptide and protein evolution.

Selected Publications

Dawson, RE; Lincoln, SF, Easton, CJ. Chem. Commun. 2008, 3980–3982.

Maniam, S; Cieslinski, MM; Lincoln, SF; Onagi, H; Steel, PJ; Willis, AC; Easton, CJ. Org. Lett., 2008, 10, 1885–1888.