He specialized in physical organic chemistry with studies on steric hindrance in benzene compounds.
He was the founding professor at the department of organic chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Sudborough was born in Birmingham and after schooling there he went to Mason College where he studied under W. A. Tilden and Charles Lapworth.
He received a BSc from London in 1889 and worked at Mason College under Tilden studying reactions of nitrosyl chloride and terpenes.
He worked on physical organic chemistry examining the kinetics of esterification and hydrolysis of esters.
After the death of his wife in 1911, he accepted a position as a founding professor of organic chemistry at the newly created Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.