David John Procter was born in Leyland in Lancashire, England. He obtained his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Leeds in 1992 and his PhD in 1995 working with Professor Christopher Rayner on the asymmetric oxidation of sulfides with novel selenoxide salts. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral research associate with Professor Robert Holton at Florida State University in Tallahassee, USA working on the synthesis of analogues of the anticancer agent Taxol. In late 1997 he took up a Lectureship at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in February 2004. In September 2004, he moved to a Readership at the University of Manchester. David was promoted to Professor in October 2008. His research interests lie in the development of new synthetic methods, target synthesis, and catalysis.

• Biocatalysis
• Biotechnology
• Catalysis
• Drug discovery
• Efficient chemical synthesis
• Material Synthesis
• Organic electronics
• Organic Synthesis
• Synthesis