New Editor For Organic Process Research & Development

Kai Rossen, a group leader at Sanofi in Frankfurt, Germany, has been named the next editor-in-chief of the American Chemical Society journal Organic Process Research & Development (OPR&D), effective January 2015. He has served on OPR&D’s editorial advisory board since 2010.

Rossen succeeds Trevor Laird, owner and founder of the U.K.-based consulting firm Scientific Update, who has been editor of OPR&D since its launch in 1997. Laird will remain with the journal in his current role through the end of 2014.

OPR&D reports on original work in the broad field of process chemistry encompassing aspects of organic chemistry, catalysis, analytical chemistry, and chemical engineering. It focuses on the development and optimization of chemical reactions and processes and their transfer to a larger scale and covers R&D in the fine organic chemicals and specialty chemicals industries, which includes pharmaceuticals.

As he takes the helm, Rossen says, “It will be necessary to expand the journal scope beyond the traditional target audience of chemists and engineers in the pharmaceutical industry” for OPR&D to remain successful.

“Dr. Rossen’s broad perspective of the pharmaceutical industry, coupled with his interest in sustainable chemistry, will ensure OPR&D continues to grow to meet the needs of the process chemistry community,” says Susan King, senior vice president of the Journals Publishing Group at ACS, which publishes C&EN.

Rossen earned a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from Cornell University in 1987.