Mike Hutchings

InfoChem, Germany

After a PhD at Manchester University on organoboron chemistry and successive postdoc positions at Princeton and UCL, Mike Hutchings joined the research department of ICI Organics Division, Manchester, in 1976. In 1980 he was seconded by ICI to work for more than 2 years at the Technical University of Munich, developing the synthesis design and reaction prediction program EROS, with Prof Johnny Gasteiger. After returning to the UK he spent several further years implementing and publicising a battery of computer aids to synthesis throughout ICI, before moving on to unrelated R&D duties. After finishing in the chemical industry in 2010, via research positions in Zeneca, BASF and DyStar, he has returned to computer aided synthesis, and is now working as a freelance consultant on InfoChem’s new generation software ICsynth. He also holds a non-executive role in a joint UK-Chinese start-up company, is a consultant for the wider colours industry, and is co-author of “Chromic Phenomena: Technological Applications of Colour Chemistry”.