Tomas Hudlicky: Biography

Tomáš Hudlický was born in 1949 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he received his elementary and middle school education.

After several years of working as a process chemist apprentice and in other odd jobs in pharmaceutical chemistry, it became apparent that higher education opportunities were closed to him. In 1968, he emigrated to the U.S. with his parents and sister. Hudlický’s educational experience continued at Blacksburg High School, from which he dropped out in the spring of 1969.

Accepted as a probational student at Virginia Tech the following autumn, he received his B.S. in chemistry in 1973, and went on to pursue graduate studies at Rice University under the direction of Professor Ernest Wenkert in the field of indole alkaloid total synthesis, earning his Ph.D. in 1977. He then spent a year at the University of Geneva working under the late Professor Wolfgang Oppolzer on the synthesis of isocomene.

In 1978, he joined the faculty at the Illinois Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor, and began the first phase of his research career in the field of general methods of synthesis for triquinane terpenes and other natural products containing five-membered rings by [4+1] cyclopentene, pyrroline, and dihydrofuran annulation methodologies. He returned to his alma mater, Virginia Tech, in 1982, and rose to the rank of Professor in 1988. One year later, at the 20-year class reunion of the Blacksburg High School class of 1969, he received his High School Diploma.

The next phase of his research involved the investigation of cis-cyclohexadienediols in enantioselective synthesis. In 1995, he moved to University of Florida in Gainesville. In 2003, Dr. Hudlický accepted an offer from Brock University where he currently holds a position as Canada Research Chair.

His current research interests include the development of enantioselective synthetic methods, bacterial dioxygenase-mediated degradation of aromatics, design and synthesis of fluorinated inhalation anesthetic agents, synthesis of morphine and amaryllidaceae alkaloids, and design of unnatural oligo-saccharide conjugates with new molecular properties. His hobbies include skiing, hockey, martial arts, and music.