A. Ian Scott was born in Glasgow, Scotland and obtained his PhD from Glasgow University (with R.A. Raphael). Following a year with ICI (Nobel Division), postdoctoral studies with M.S. Newman (Ohio State University) and Sir Derek Barton (Birkbeck College and Glasgow) and a lectureship at Glasgow University where he developed biomimetic syntheses of griseofulvin and tetracycline, he occupied chairs of organic chemistry at U.B.C., Vancouver, Sussex and Yale before moving to Texas A&M University in 1977 where he is the Davidson Professor of Science. His research interests are concentrated at the interfaces of organic chemistry, NMR spectroscopy and genetic engineering of natural product biosynthetic pathways.
The combination of these techniques has led his investigations into the use of stable isotopes, enzymology and gene expression to study the mechanisms and synthetic power of the enzymes which mediate the biosynthesis of alkaloids, antibiotics, and vitamin B12 highlighted by a 17-step, one flask synthesis of an advanced B12 intermediate using 12 enzymes. Most recently, Scott's group discovered a second, anaerobic pathway to vitamin B12.
His work has been recognized by numerous awards, including the Ernest Guenther and A.C. Cope Scholar Awards of the American Chemical Society, the Centenary Lectureship and Natural Product Chemistry Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry and the Robert A. Welch Award.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the European Academy of Arts and Science.
Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University of Photo Services