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Synthesis

Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator

January 30, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 5

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Credit: Photo by Paul M. Wehn
Du Bois
Credit: Photo by Paul M. Wehn
Du Bois

Sponsored by the Pfizer Endowment Fund

Pigeonholing chemists into specific research areas may be helpful for organizational reasons, but it has its limits. Although the title of this award specifies organic synthesis, this year's winner has a different take. Justin Du Bois, 36, prefers the term "synthetic chemist," as opposed to organic or inorganic chemist, because he "really enjoys just building functional molecules, whether they contain carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and/or a metal."

But his research entails more than just synthesis. He also enjoys thinking about how a host molecule, be it small or large, can be designed to bind selectively to a particular substrate. As he explains, "I am fascinated by problems in molecular recognition and catalysis and am in awe of nature for the beauty by which she integrates both elements into enzymatic designs."

His fascination has indeed served him well. Though he has been a professor for little more than six years-attaining an associate professorship after a mere five years-his accomplishments are impressive and have won him plaudits from many other researchers. One says: "Few individuals can claim the number of scientific accomplishments that Du Bois has had as a student, as a postdoc, and as an independent investigator. He has displayed a combination of creativity and insight, in addition to compiling an impressive body of work, that augurs well for his continued place at the leading edge of synthetic science."

Du Bois' research combines fundamental methodological studies with natural product synthesis. He explains that he has "had a long-standing interest in formulating atom-transfer-type processes." His group has successfully developed methods and new catalysts that allow selective interconversion of C-H bonds into C-N centers, which are finding application in pharmaceutical research. He says these technologies can "simplify the assembly of complex natural products containing nitrogen functional groups."

His group has completed syntheses of heterocyclic amine-derived natural products, including saxitoxin, agelastatin, and manzacidins A and C. These neuroactive molecules represent not only formidable problems in synthesis for which Du Bois' methods are aptly applied, but they also are agents employed in studying the physiology of voltage-gated ion channels.

A recent project involved the asymmetric synthesis of the highly complex tetrodotoxin, the guanidinium poison found in the Japanese fugu, or blowfish. One professor hails Du Bois' synthesis of this natural product as "a landmark achievement, very much in the tradition of the finest synthetic chemistry."

Du Bois received a B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1991, performing undergraduate research with Kenneth N. Raymond. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1997, working under the auspices of Erick M. Carreira at California Institute of Technology, where his studies focused on both natural product synthesis and methods development. He conducted postdoctoral work with Stephen J. Lippard at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Du Bois joined the faculty at Stanford University in 1999. His many honors include a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship (1993-97), the ACS Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry (1998), a Beckman Young Investigator Award (2001), an Arthur C. Cope Young Scholar Award (2004), and the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2004).

The award address will be presented before the Division of Organic Chemistry.-STEPHEN TRZASKA

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