After early studies in France, where he completed a degree in Chemical Engineering with Biochemical Engineering at Le Montet, Nancy, Christophe travelled to the UK to further his education. He obtained a first class honours degree in Chemistry with Biochemistry, and then went on to complete a PhD in physical organic chemistry under the supervision of Mike Crampton at Durham University. His thesis concentrated on synthetic and mechanistic studies of the Strecker reaction of aminonitriles. The kinetic studies were carried out using UV-Vis and stopped-flow spectrometers. NMR spectroscopy was widely used to examine both the products and the intermediates formed as well as following reaction progress. A number of synthetic methods for aminonitriles were applied and the use of organometallic catalysts to obtain asymmetric induction was investigated. After finishing his PhD, he took up a PDRA position in the Chemistry Department at Durham, working on a large collaborative project between the universities of Leeds, Durham and Newcastle. The project’s aim was to automate the determination of reaction mechanism and Christophe’s work focused on kinetic and mechanistic investigations of chemical reactions utilising an array of analytical instruments and techniques including React IR, reaction calorimetry, HPLC, GC/MS and NMR.
Christophe joined LyraChem as Senior Research Scientist in early 2008.
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