AIC Gold Medal To Jacqueline Barton

Jacqueline Barton, Arthur & Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of Chemistry and chair of the division of chemistry and chemical engineering at California Institute of Technology, is the recipient of the 2015 AIC Gold Medal, presented by the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) and the American Institute of Chemists.

The medal recognizes service to the science of chemistry and to the profession of chemist or chemical engineer in the U.S. It will be presented on May 15 during CHF’s Heritage Day festivities.

Barton pioneered the application of transition-metal complexes to probe recognition and reactions of double-helical DNA. She has designed chiral metal complexes that recognize nucleic acid sites with specificities rivaling DNA-binding proteins. These synthetic transition-metal complexes have been useful in elucidating fundamental chemical principles that govern the recognition of nucleic acids, in developing luminescent and photochemical reagents as new diagnostic tools, and in laying a foundation for the design of novel chemotherapeutics.

She has received numerous awards, including the 2015 ACS Priestley Medal and 2010 National Medal of Science.