Maxwell Crossley

Professor Emeritus Maxwell Crossley is Professor of Organic Chemistry and University Professorial Fellow in the School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney, where he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy. His career at the University of Sydney has centered on pioneering research in organic chemistry, with a particular emphasis on porphyrin chemistry and molecular engineering.

Crossley's academic interests include molecular recognition by porphyrin systems forming chiral cavities for amino acids and nucleic acids, porphyrin arrays as models for light-harvesting in photosynthesis with applications in solar energy devices, synthesis of metalloporphyrin-based polymers for electrical conductors and semiconductors, self-replication and templated synthesis of poly-porphyrins, synthesis of non-proteinogenic amino acids such as anticapsin and bacilysin along with dipeptide inhibitors, and development of hybrid porphyrin-sugar and porphyrin-steroid systems. Recent advancements feature the Polytope Formalism applied to molecular constitution and stereoisomerism, highlighted in 'The Polytope Formalism: application to molecular constitution and the prospect of a complete description of Chemical Space' (2026) and 'Rigorous treatment of polytopal rearrangements reveal surprising complexity of stereoisomerism configuration landscapes' (2025). Among his highly influential publications are 'On the efficiency limit of triplet–triplet annihilation for photochemical upconversion' (2010), 'Improving the light-harvesting of amorphous silicon solar cells with photochemical upconversion' (2012), and 'Density functional theory for charge transfer: The nature of the N-bands of porphyrins and chlorophylls revealed through CAM-B3LYP, CASPT2, and SAC-CI calculations' (2006). He has earned election as Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (2001), the Birch Medal from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute for organic chemistry research, and the Robert Burns Woodward Career Award in Porphyrin Chemistry (2012). With 334 publications garnering over 11,000 citations, his contributions have significantly impacted the fields of photovoltaics, molecular electronics, and advanced materials.

Professional Email: maxwell.crossley@sydney.edu.au