Dr Claire Lennon

Dr. Lennon has lectured at undergraduate level in the areas of organic synthesis and characterisation, biocatalysis, medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical manufacturing, and at postgraduate level in NMR spectroscopy. She was the Programme Director for the BSc (Hons) in Pharmaceutical Science and the development lead of the L9 10 Credit Certificate in Green and Sustainable Pharmaceutical Production.  Dr. Lennon has also acted as External Examiner for programmes outside of SETU. Dr Lennon has a strong interest in research informed teaching and undergraduate research. She was Acting Chair (2023) and has been a committee member of the Science Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Network since 2017, and was Co-Chair of the National SURE conference organising committee in 2021 and 2022. Dr. Lennon is also a member of the SUREByts early undergraduate video curriculum project. Dr. Lennon was the recipient of the WIT 2021 Teaching Excellence Award. She completed the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Digital Badge in Universal Design for Teaching & Learning in 2021/2022 and the Level 8, 20 credit Certificate in the Management of Occupational Stress and Wellbeing at SETU in 2022/2023.

Dr. Lennon is committed to embedding Education for Sustainable Development principles and practices within her teaching and research and completed the 10 Credit Level 9 Certificate in Environmental Sustainability in Education at SETU in 2023. Dr Lennon and colleagues received funding from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education SATLE 2 Call in 2023 to develop instructional video media for use in chemistry laboratory teaching. These videos have since been made available as a support to chemistry laboratory teaching in secondary schools via the SETU website.

Dr. Lennon’s research interests lie in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry with the aim of designing novel more sustainable processes of pharmaceutical relevance.  More specifically areas of interest include the development of novel organocatalysts based on molecular recognition motifs for use in asymmetric synthesis, biotransformations for organic synthesis using hydrolase enzymes, greener and more sustainable solvents and flow chemistry. Dr. Lennon also has an interest in NMR spectroscopy and its applications. She is a member of the PMBRC (Pharmaceutical and Molecular Biotechnology Research Centre) at SETU and has supervised 4 PhD students and 1 research Masters student (IRCSET, INTEREGG 4A WINSS , WIT and SETU funding) to completion with 3 students currently under her supervision. She was nominated for the SETU Research Excellence Awards for the Research Supervision Award in 2022 and 2023.  Dr. Lennon is named on 3 IDF/patent/PCT applications and a biocatalysis technology license agreement. Current research projects also include development of novel anti-microbials derived from carbohydrate and fatty acid sources and methods to improve solubility of poorly soluble pharmaceuticals for application in transdermal drug delivery. Dr Lennon is a MyGreen Lab Ambassador, member of Irish Green Labs and a member of the Green Lab team within the PMBRC,

Dr. Lennons peer reviewed publications are listed below:

A tutorial review for research laboratories to support the vital path toward inherently sustainable and green synthetic chemistry; S. M. Kernaghan, T. Coady, M. Kinsella, & C. M. Lennon  RSC Sustainability, 2024,  2, 3, p. 578-607 30 p.

Development of a rapid quantitative method of analysis of carbohydrate fatty acid ester reaction mixtures using 1H qNMR; A. Nayak, J. Dunne, M. Kinsella, & C. M. Lennon, Carbohydrate Research, 2024, 540, 109143.

SUREbyts: Presenting Early-Year Undergraduate Students with Videos on Research Topics. C. O’Leary, G. Cooke, J. Dunne, B. Ryan, C. Surlis, M. Smith, E. Caraher, C. Lennon, E. Landers, E. O’Leary, G. Dowling, M. McCallig, A. M. O’Brien, J. Treacy, and V. McCarthy SPUR, 2023, 7 (1): https://doi.org/10.18833/spur/7/1/1
 

A Continuous-Flow Route to Enantioenriched 3-Substituted-3-Hydroxyoxindoles: Organocatalytic Aldol Reactions of Isatin with Acetone, K. Tseke, C. Lennon, J. O'Mahony, M. Kinsella, European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2021, 42, 15, 5767-5774

Reflections on the Formation and Growth of the SURE Network: a National Disciplinary Network to Enhance Undergraduate Research in the Sciences, C. O'Leary; J. Dunne; B. J. Ryan; T. Montgomery; A. M. O'Brien; C. Quigley; C. Lennon; F. McArdle, ; L. Keaver; E. Campion; G. Cooke; E. M. Caraher; M. Deasy; A. Storey; C. Petti; E. O'Leary; K. Finn; S. Loughran; G. Byrne, ; A. Van Rossum; D. Brazil; M. Smith; N. Touzet; T. Coady; V. McCarthy; J. Walton; and J. Tracey, Irish Journal of Academic Practice, 2021, 9, 1, 7

Process Optimisation Studies and Aminonitrile Substrate Evaluation of Rhodococcus erythropolis SET1, A Nitrile Hydrolyzing Bacterium,  ChemistryOpen, T. M. Mareya  T. M. Coady  C. O'Reilly  M. Kinsella, L. Coffey, C. M. Lennon, 2020, 9, 512 – 520

Novel β‐amino Amide Organocatalysts for the Synthesis of Pharmaceutically Relevant Oxindoles, M. Gavendova,  C. M. Lennon,  L. Coffey, P. Manesiotis, and M. Kinsella, ChemistrySelect, 2019, 4, 28, 8246-8254

Substrate Evaluation of Rhodococcus erythropolis SET1, a Nitrile Hydrolysing Bacterium, Demonstrating Dual Activity Strongly Dependent on Nitrile Sub-Structure, European Journal of Organic Chemistry, T. M. Coady, L. V. Coffey, C. O'Reilly and C. M. Lennon, 2015, 5, 1108–1116.

A high throughput screening strategy for the assessment of nitrile-hydrolyzing activity towards the production of enantiopure β-hydroxy acids, T. M. Coady, L. V. Coffey, C. O‘Reilly, E. B. Owens, C.M. Lennon, Journal of Molecular Catalysis B: Enzymatic, 2013, 97, 150-155

Synthesis and NMR Binding Studies towards Rational Design of a Series of Electron-Withdrawing Diamide Receptors/Organocatalysts, M. Kinsella, P. G. Duggan, J. Muldoon, K. S.  Eccles, S. E. Lawrence and C. M. Lennon, European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2011, 1125–1132.

Screening of simple N-aryl and N-heteroaryl pyrrolidine amide organocatalysts for the enantioselective aldol reaction of acetone with isatin, M. Kinsella, P. G. Duggan, and C. M. Lennon, Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 2011, 22(13), 1423–1433.

A Rotaxane Mimic of the Photoactive Yellow Protein Chromophore Environment: Effects of Hydrogen Bonding and Mechanical Interlocking on a Coumaric Amide Derivative, J Berná, A M Brouwer, S M Fazio, N Haraszkiewicz, D A Leigh and C M Lennon (neé Keaveney), Chemical Communications, 2007,1910-1912.  

Coumaric Amide Rotaxanes: Effects of Hydrogen Bonding and Mechanical Interlocking on the Photochemistry and Photophysics, A M Brouwer, S M Fazio, N Haraszkiewicz, D A Leigh and C M Lennon (neé Keaveney), Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. 2007, 6, 480-486.

Shuttling through Anion Recognition, C M Keaveney and D A Leigh, Angewandte. Chemie. International. Edition, 2004, 43, 1222-1224.

A Concise Stereocontrolled Formal Total Synthesis of (±)-Podophyllotoxin Using Sulfoxide Chemistry' M. Casey, C. M. Keaveney, Chemical Communications, 2004, 184-185.

A Novel Method for the Stereoselective Synthesis of Tetralins and Indanes, Z. Appelbe, M. Casey, C. M. Keaveney, C. J. Kelly, Synlett, 2002, 1404.

MIRC Reactions Using Sulfoxides and Synthesis of Dictyopterene A, M. Casey, C. M. Keaveney, A. J. Walker, ARKIVOC, 2002 (v), 91.