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K. Barry Sharpless is Awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
 La Jolla,
CA, October 10, 2001 -- K. Barry Sharpless, Ph.D., W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry
at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), and member of The Skaggs Institute
for Chemical Biology, has been awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for
achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics, and peace,
the prize recognizes individuals who, as stipulated in Alfred Nobel's will, "have
conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." The prize carries a cash award of
about a million dollars.
Sharpless was awarded this year's prize in chemistry along
with William S. Knowles, formerly of Monsanto, and Ryoji Noyori of Nagoya University
in Japan for "the development of catalytic asymmetric synthesis."
"We are obviously delighted that Dr. Sharpless has received this recognition," says
TSRI President Richard Lerner. "In my mind, it was inevitable that he would be
awarded the Nobel Prize—the extent and significance of his work are so far reaching.
[Dr. Sharpless] has been recognized for his prodigious work by the scientific
community for many years and has been acknowledged by the philanthropic community,
most notably Mr. Sam Skaggs, whose contributions have enabled Dr. Sharpless to
achieve many research breakthroughs."
According to the prize committee, Knowles and Noyori shared half the prize "for
their work on chirally catalyzed hydrogenation reactions." The other half of
this year's award recognized Sharpless "for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation
reactions."
Sharpless contributed innovations to the development of broadly useful and
commercially viable catalytic oxidation chemistry for the selective production
of bioactive chiral molecules with the proper right or left "handedness."
Chirality, or handedness, is the structural characteristic of a molecule
that makes it impossible to superimpose it on its mirror image. Proteins, DNA,
and carbohydrates are all chiral molecules: without the correct handedness, they
will not function as the basic molecules of life. Many drugs must also be of
correct chirality; indeed, in some cases, the molecules with the wrong chirality
can be toxic.
Sharpless's methods allow for the manufacture of safer and
more effective antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, heart medicines, and agricultural
chemicals.
In 1980, Sharpless reported a breakthrough in synthesizing
chiral molecules - the highly enantioselective epoxidation of allylic alcohols
catalyzed by a titanium complex which is now used routinely. More recently, Sharpless
developed another useful method—the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes catalyzed
by an osmium complex.
In fact, these process, named the "Sharpless Asymmetric Epoxidation,
Dihydroxylation, and Aminohydroxylation" have revolutionized organic chemistry
by transforming asymmetric synthesis from nearly impossible to routine.
Sharpless received his B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1963
and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1968. In 1970, following postdoctoral
studies at Stanford and Harvard Universities, he joined the faculty of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. After three years at Stanford in the late 1970s, he
returned to MIT as Arthur C. Cope Professor of Chemistry. He joined TSRI's faculty
in 1991. Sharpless was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1985.
Other significant honors include the Tetrahedron Prize, the
American Chemical Society's Award for Creative Work in Organic Synthesis and
the Arthur C. Cope Award; the Prelog Medal (Switzerland); the Janssen Prize (Belgium);
the Scheele Medal (Sweden); the King Faisal International Prize for Science (Saudi
Arabia); the Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry, American Chemical Society;
the Harvey Prize of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; the National
Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Science; and most recently, the Wolf Prize
in Chemistry and the Benjamin Franklin Medal. Also, he was listed among the "Top
75 Contributors to the Chemical Enterprise," in the 75 years since the founding
of Chemical & Engineering News.
Links:
For more information contact:
Keith McKeown
10550 North Torrey Pines Road
La Jolla, California 92037
Tel: 858.784.8134
Fax: 858.784.8118
kmckeown@scripps.edu
Copyright © 2001 TSRI.
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of TSRI is prohibited.
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