Brief History

Since graduating with a 1^st Class B.Sc. (Hons) in Environmental Science from the University of Plymouth I completed a Ph.D. in 2000 entitled, "The quantitative isolation of 'insoluble organic matter' (IOM) from sediments and bacteria, and its attempted dissolution using the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride-aluminium (III) chloride" (PhD abstract), under the supervision of Professor Steve Rowland. I have also completed a post-doctoral research fellow contract investigating the nutritional status of soils and grasses in the Shimba Hills National Reserve, Kenya. This work was a collaboration between the University of Plymouth (John Maskall) and Imperial College, London (Professor Ian Thornton) on behalf of The People's Trust for Endangered Species. Until July 2003 I was engaged as a NERC funded Post-doctoral Research Fellow on a project entitled "Hydrocarbon 'humps': a forgotten petroleum fraction", under the supervision of Professor Rowland, investigating the molecular characterisation of chromatographically 'unresolved complex mixtures' (UCMs) obtained from crude oils using preparative-gas chromatography. I am currently employed as a Scientific Officer in the School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences.

In association with Dr Neil Chilcott of Kernow Analytical Technology Ltd. I was a runner-up in the University of Plymouth Business Ideas Challenge 2009 competition and received £1000 in cash to develop our idea for "Thermal Separations" plus professional and service support packages worth up to £2000.

Publications

• Johnson, R.J., Smith, B.E., Sutton, P.A., McGenity, T.J., Rowland, S. and Whitby, C. (2011) Microbial biodegradation of aromatic alkanoic naphthenic acids is affected by the degree of alkyl side chain branching. ISME Journal 5, 486-496. [doi: 10.1038/ismej.2010.146].
• Sutton, P.A., Smith, B.E. and Rowland, S.J. (2010) Mass spectrometry of polycyclic tetracarboxylic ('ARN') acids and tetramethyl esters. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 24, 3195-3204.[doi: 10.1002/rcm.4761].
• Sutton, P.A., Smith, B.E., Waters, D. and Rowland, S.J. (2010) Identification of a novel ester obtained during isolation of C₈₀ ("ARN") tetraprotic acids from an oilfield pipeline deposit. Energy Fuels 24, 5579-5585. [doi: 10.1021/ef1008743].
• Sutton, P.A., Nesterenko, P.N. (2007) Retention characteristics of aromatic hydrocarbons on silica and aminopropyl-modified monolithic columns in normal phase HPLC. Journal of Separation Science 30, 2900-2909. [doi: 10.1002/jssc.200700352].
• Booth, A., Sutton, P.A., Lewis, C.A., Lewis, A.C., Scarlett, A., Wing Chau, Widdows, J. and Rowland, S.J. (2007) Unresolved complex mixtures of aromatic hydrocarbons: Thousands of overlooked persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic contaminants in mussels. Environmental Science and Technology 41, 457-464. [doi: 10.1021/es0615829].
  This publication was featured on the ACS Publications website as one of the Most-Cited Articles published in 2007 and cited through the period ending 31 December 2007. Most-Cited Articles listed are based on data from Thomson Web of Science®.
• Smith, B.E., Sutton, P.A., Lewis, C.A., Dunsmore, B., Fowler, G., Krane, J., Lutnaes, B.F., Brandal, Ø., Sjöblom, J. and Rowland, S.J. (2007) Analysis of 'ARN' naphthenic acids by high temperature gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. Journal of Separation Science 30, 375-380. [doi: 10.1002/jssc.200600266].
• Sutton, P.A., Lewis, C.A. and Rowland S.J. (2005) Isolation of individual hydrocarbons from the unresolved complex hydrocarbon mixture of a biodegraded crude oil using preparative capillary gas chromatography. Organic Geochemistry 36, 963-970. [doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2004.11.007].
• Sutton, P., Maskall, J. and Thornton, I. (2002) Concentrations of major and trace elements in soil and grass at Shimba Hills National Reserve, Kenya. Applied Geochemistry 17, 1003-1016.
• Sutton, P.A., Lewis, C.A. and Rowland, S.J (1998) Attempted dissolution of 'insoluble organic matter' from Methanococcus jannaschii and Rostherne Mere (UK) sediment with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride/aluminium (III) chloride. Ancient Biomolecules 2, 195-207.
• Sutton, P.A., Lewis, C.A. and Rowland, S.J. (1998) Solving the insoluble? ABI Grand Finale, The Natural History Museum, London, January 1998.
• Sutton, P.A., Lewis, C.A. and Rowland, S.J. (1996) Solving the insoluble? Ancient Biomolecules Initiative (ABI) Newsletter 3, 80-81.

Presentations

• 1^st International Symposium on Comprehensive Multidimensional Gas Chromatography, Volendam, The Netherlands, 6-7 March 2003. Poster presentation: "GCxGC-ToF-MS Identification of Compounds in the Toxic Hydrocarbon Unresolved Complex Mixture (UCM) of Crude Oils".
• 3^rd European Meeting on Environmental Chemistry, Geneva, Switzerland, 11-14 December 2002. Poster presentation: "Identification of Compounds in the Unresolved Complex Mixture (UCM) of Hydrocarbons in Biodegraded Crude Oil".
• 14^th Meeting of the British Organic Geochemical Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K., 2-3 July 2002. Oral presentation (colleague): "Resolving the Unresolvable?". [Ancient Biomolecules 4, 95-96 (2002)].
• 14^th Meeting of the British Organic Geochemical Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K., 2-3 July 2002. Poster presentation: "Identifying Compounds in the 'Hump'". [Ancient Biomolecules 4, 111 (2002)].
• International Symposium of Column Chromatography, Riva del Garda, Italy, 13-17 May 2002. Poster presentation: "Resolving the 'Hump'".
• 10^th Meeting of the British Organic Geochemical Society, Plymouth, U.K., 15-17 July 1998. Poster presentation: "Solving the Insoluble?".
• 18^th International Meeting on Advances in Organic Geochemistry, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 22-26 September 1997. Poster presentation: "Isolation and Characterisation of Sedimentary and Bacterial 'Insoluble Organic Matter' (IOM) Using Dissolution in a Novel Ionic Liquid".
• 9^th Meeting of the British Organic Geochemical Society Meeting, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K., 8-9 July 1997. Poster presentation: "Isolation and Characterisation of Sedimentary and Bacterial 'Insoluble Organic Matter' (IOM) Using Dissolution in a Novel Ionic Liquid".
• 8^th Meeting of the British Organic Geochemical Society Meeting, Liverpool, U.K., 9-10 July 1996. Poster presentation: "The Isolation of Major Biochemical and Mineral Classes from Lacustrine Sediment Using a Mass Balance Sequential Digestion Procedure".