Rate My Professor Helen Sneddon

Helen Sneddon is Professor of Sustainable Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of York and Director of the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, a leading international academic facility dedicated to excellence in green and sustainable chemical technologies, processes, and products. She also co-directs two centres for doctoral training: the Process Industries: Net Zero CDT in partnership with Newcastle University and the Chemical Synthesis for a Healthy Planet CDT with the University of Oxford. Sneddon earned her MSci and PhD at the University of Cambridge, where she investigated dithianes in organic synthesis under Professor Steve Ley. She then held a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 research fellowship for postdoctoral work at the University of California, Irvine with Professor Larry Overman on the catalytic asymmetric chemistry of palladium(II).

Before joining York in 2022, Sneddon spent 15 years at GlaxoSmithKline, initially in Medicinal Chemistry before focusing on efficient and sustainable synthetic processes, establishing and leading the company's Green Chemistry group since 2011 as a Scientific Team Director. Key accomplishments include halving chlorinated solvent usage across GSK's UK R&D sites through replacement solvent research and mindset shifts, alongside optimizing routes to multiple drug candidates via new synthetic pathways, reaction media or reagent changes, and replacing a previously irreplaceable toxic chromium(VI) oxidant. Her research group addresses the GCCE's four themes: renewable feedstocks via biobased monomer production and platform molecule diversification; green synthesis using Design of Experiments, solvent and reagent selection guides to challenge outdated precedents; sustainable technologies such as greener solid-phase peptide synthesis; and design for reuse, degradation, or recovery, particularly sustainable installation of carbon-halogen bonds essential in pharmaceuticals. Notable work includes Sneddon et al., Green Chemistry, 2024, 26, 9697-9711. Previously, she collaborated with the GCCE through lectures and workshops for master's students.