The work of Lord Alexander Todd on dinucleotide synthesis

On the 9 December 2005 a Historic Chemical Landmark was awarded to the University of Cambridge in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first synthesis of a dinucleotide by Lord Alexander Todd and co-workers.

A talk about the work of Todd was given by one of his co-workers at the time of this synthesis Dr Dan Brown.

The plaque was presented to the Head of the Chemistry Department, Professors Jeremy Sanders by RSC President, Professor Simon Campbell. Lord Todd's son, Dr Alexander Todd also attended the ceremony and is pictured below with Simon Campbell and Jeremy Sanders.

The plaque will be put up in the foyer of the Chemistry Department and has the wording:

Natural Products

Research in the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge over more than 50 years has established the structures and many principles of the synthesis of molecules that control the processes of life.
Notably, Lord Alexander Todd FRS and his co-workers invented the chemical synthesis of nucleotides, which led to the elucidation of the chemical structure of DNA.

9 December 2005