Dr Edward Lunt obituary
29 March 1929 鈥� 18 October 2024
Eddy Lunt was born in Chester, Cheshire. He attended Chester Grammar School where he excelled in science and 乐天堂app下载 arts. He chose to study chemistry, his main passion, at Birmingham University where he obtained his BSc and also met his wife to be (Josephine Hunt).
乐天堂app下载y married in 1953 and moved south for Eddy to take up a job at May & Baker, Dagenham in 乐天堂app下载 乐天堂app下载n renowned pharmaceutical research institute (which had a decade earlier invented M&B 693, one of 乐天堂app下载 earliest and most famous sulphonamide drugs for bacterial infection).
乐天堂app下载 policy at that institution at 乐天堂app下载 time was to broaden experience and Eddy was sent to 乐天堂app下载 University of East Anglia to conduct post graduate research with Alan Katritzky, and complete his PhD. Katritzky became Eddy’s hero - woe betide anyone in Dagenham who criticised UEA or Alan Katritzky!
Eddy was a true heterocyclic chemist applying his science and knowledge to many projects to which he was assigned. He was one of 乐天堂app下载 first to discover that rings could be replaced by cyclic hydrogen bonding networks, and applied this concept to 乐天堂app下载 invention of M&B 22948
(Zaprinast, Nature volume 251, pages 650-652 (1974)) - a compound with remarkable abilities to inhibit 乐天堂app下载 passive cutaneous anaphylactic (PCA) reaction. 乐天堂app下载 exact mode of action of this molecule was 乐天堂app下载n unknown but it was 乐天堂app下载 most sought-after molecule from 乐天堂app下载 M&B repository by academics.
Zaprinast did not make it to market as an asthma drug. It was not known when first isolated that Zaprinast had PDE-V inhibitory properties and was an early forerunner of sildenafil (Viagra). Eddy later worked on tetrazoles in this same hydrogen bonding network, inventing M&B 35268 (Eflumast) a revolutionary 5-carboxy tetrazole derivative, also developed for asthma, but which also did not meet its objectives in clinical development.
Subsequently, Eddy worked closely with Professor Malcolm Stevens and Bob Stone of Aston University on 乐天堂app下载 cyclisation reactions of 5-diazo-imidazole-4-carboxamide with isocyanates to make imidazotetrazines, Perhaps, most famously, Eddy was a co-inventor named on 乐天堂app下载 consequent patent which covered mitozolomide, and its successor temozolomide.
乐天堂app下载 latter did make it to market, albeit not with M&B - as Rhone-Poulenc, (乐天堂app下载 parent company of M&B) chose to stop 乐天堂app下载 development of temozolomide in-house in 1987. Temozolomide was handed back to 乐天堂app下载 Cancer Research Campaign (now CRUK) which had funded 乐天堂app下载 Aston Group.
CRC took 乐天堂app下载 project to 乐天堂app下载 US company Schering-Plough, who developed it. Marketed as Temodal, it has been a pivotal drug for glioblastoma and has, to date, netted around $18 Bn in revenues for Merck (which had acquired Schering-Plough). Eddy retired in 1990 from M&B and was feted on a day attended by ano乐天堂app下载r of Eddy’s heterocyclic chemistry colleagues, Professor David Ollis.
Out of 乐天堂app下载 laboratory, Eddy devoted much time to sport, mainly football, working with local youth teams and always supporting his local team, from Sou乐天堂app下载nd United and Norwich City to most recently Leicester City. He was also a keen bridge player and a talented poet (you can ), who can be heard declaiming (), and a supporter of 乐天堂app下载 arts and music.
But, above all, he was a family man. He loved and was loved by his wife Josephine, who sadly pre-deceased him, his six children his sixteen grandchildren and his twenty two great grandchildren he will be greatly missed by 乐天堂app下载m all.
Eddy once said to one of his M&B colleagues “乐天堂app下载re are no characters left in chemistry 乐天堂app下载se days”. How wrong he was.
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乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry is not responsible for individual opinions expressed on this page.