Total Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Natural and Designed Molecules of Biological and Medical Importance

Total Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Natural and Designed Molecules of Biological and Medical Importance
Date
Wed April 6th 2016, 4:30pm
Location
Braun Lecture Hall

About the Seminar

This lecture will cover a number of topics dealing with total synthesis, molecular design and biological testing of complex molecules relevant to biology and medicine, including the antibiotics viridicatumtoxin B and CJ-16,264 and antitumor agents N14-desacetoxytubulysin H, (delta)12-prostaglandin J3, shishijimicin A, uncialamycin, and trioxacarcin C.

About the Speaker

K.C. Nicolaou was born on July 5, 1946 in Cyprus, where he attended school until the age of 18. In 1964, he emigrated from Cyprus to England where he spent two years learning English and preparing to enter the university. His advanced studies in chemistry were carried out at the University of London (B.Sc., 1969, Bedford College, First Class Honors; Ph.D. 1972, University College, with Profs. F. Sondheimer and P.J. Garratt). In 1972, he crossed the Atlantic to the United States and completed postdoctoral appointments at Columbia University (1972–1973, Prof. T.J. Katz) and Harvard University (1973–1976, Prof. E.J. Corey) after which he joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, where he rose through the ranks to become the Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry. In 1989, he accepted joint appointments at the University of California, San Diego, where he was Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and The Scripps Research Institute, where he served as the Chairman of the Department of Chemistry and held the Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry and the Aline W. and L. S. Skaggs Professor of Chemical Biology (1996–2013) in the Department of Chemistry. From 2003 to 2009, he concurrently served as the Founder and Director of the Chemical Synthesis Laboratory at A*STAR, Biopolis in Singapore.  From 2012-2014, he was Visiting Professor at Chongqing University, China. In May 2013, Dr. Nicolaou joined Rice University as the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Chemistry in the BioScience Research Collaborative.

For his scientific work, Professor Nicolaou has received numerous awards and honors. He is the author or co-author of more than 760 scientific articles, reviews, and book chapters, 67 patents, and 5 books, including the popular Classics in Total Synthesis co-authored with his student E.J. Sorensen (1996, VCH), Classics in Total Synthesis II co-authored with his student S.A. Snyder (2003, Wiley-VCH),Classics in Total Synthesis III co-authored with his student J.S. Chen (2011, Wiley-VCH), and Molecules that Changed the World, co-authored with his research associate T. Montagnon (2008, Wiley-VCH). His dedication to chemical education is evidenced by his training of hundreds of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.