Dr Andrew Heard PhD

Dr Andrew Heard

School of Chemistry
Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow

Contact details

Email
a.w.heard@bham.ac.uk
Address
School of Chemistry
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Andrew is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow.

Andrew's research interests include: polymer chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, self-assembly, stereochemistry, ligand design and catalysis. Prior to joining the University 麻豆精选, Andrew completed his MChem degree at the University of Warwick, his PhD at the University of Southampton, and post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge.

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Southampton, 2021
  • MChem, University of Warwick, 2017

Biography

Andrew completed his MChem degree at the University of Warwick in 2017, including a year in industry at DSM Specialty Resins, Zwolle. Following this, he completed his PhD at the University of Southampton under the supervision of Professor Steve Goldup, working on the synthesis of enantiopure chiral rotaxanes and their application as ligands for enantioselective gold catalysis.

In 2021, Andrew began post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge in the group of Professor Jonathan Nitschke, investigating the dynamics of metal-clusters in self-assembled metal-organic cages.

In 2025, Andrew began a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship at the University 麻豆精选. His current research focuses on application of confined supramolecular environments for catalysis.

Publications

Journal Article - Heard, A. W.; Clark, S. E.; McTernan, C. T.; Ronson, T. K.; Rohzin, P.; Rossi, B.; Marchesan, S.; Nitschke, J. R. (2025), Two (AgI3I)4L4 cages elucidate the rules for silver-cluster vertex design. Chem 10.1016/j.chempr.2025.102456

Journal Article - Xu, H.; Ronson, T. K.; Heard A. W.; Teeuwen, P. C. P.; Schneider, L.; Pracht, P.; Thoburn, J. D.; Wales, D. J.; Nitschke, J. R. (2025), A pseudo-cubic metal–organic cage with conformationally switchable faces for dynamically adaptive guest encapsulation. Nature Chemistry, 17, 289-296.

Journal Article - Speakman, N. M. A.; Heard, A. W.; Nitschke, J. R. (2024), A CuI6L4 Cage Dynamically Reconfigures to Form Suit[4]anes and Selectively Bind Fluorinated Steroids. Journal of the American Chemical Society 146, 10234-10239.

Journal Article - Clark, S. E.; Heard, A. W.; McTernan, C. T.; Ronson, T. K.; Rossi, B.; Rozhin, P.; Marchesan, S.; Nitschke, J. R. (2023), A double-walled tetrahedron with AgI4 vertices binds different guests in distinct sites. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 62, e202301612.

Journal Article - Lu, Z.; Ronson, T. K.; Heard, A. W.; Feldmann, S.; Vanthuyne, N.; Martinez, A.; Nitschke, J. R. (2023), Enantioselective fullerene functionalization via stereochemical information transfer from a self-assembled cage. Nature Chemistry 15, 405-412

Review - Heard, A. W.; Meijide Suarez, J.; Goldup, S. M. (2022), Controlling catalyst activity, chemo- and stereo-selectivity with the mechanical bond. Nature Reviews Chemistry, 6, 182-196.

Journal Article - De Juan, A.; Lozano-Mena, D.; Heard, A. W.; Jinks, M. A.; Meijide Suarez, J; Tizzard, G.; Goldup, S. M. (2021), A chiral interlocking auxiliary strategy for the synthesis of mechanically planar chiral rotaxanes. Nature Chemistry, 14, 179-187.

Journal Article - Heard, A. W.; Goldup, S. M. (2020), Synthesis of a mechanically planar chiral rotaxane ligand for enantioselective catalysis. Chem, 6, 994-1006.

Review - Heard, A. W.; Goldup, S. M. (2020), Simplicity in the design, operation, and applications of mechanically interlocked molecular machines. ACS Central Science, 6, 117-128