Professor Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, celebrates his 75th birthday on July 5, 2021.
Nicolaou’s research focuses on the total synthesis of natural products, molecular design, combinatorial synthesis, and biological investigations. His group has synthesized many complex compunds, often with interesting biological activities, including the cancer drug Taxol, the antibiotic vancomycin, and the neurotoxin brevetoxin B.
Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou was born in Cyprus in 1946. He studied chemistry at the University of London, UK, where he received his Ph.D. in 1972. After postdoctoral stays at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, he joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, in 1976. In 1989, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at both the University of California, San Diego, USA, and at the Scripps Research Institute, San Diego. In 2013, Nicolaou joined Rice University as Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Chemistry.
Among numerous other honors, K. C. Nicolaou has received the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2016, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Arthur C. Cope Award in 2005, the Nagoya Gold Medal of Organic Chemistry from Nagoya University, Japan, in 2001, the Yamada Prize in 1999, the ACS Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry in 1993, and several honorary degrees. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Indian Academy of Sciences, a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Israel Chemical Society, and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, UK, and the Academy of Athens, Greece.
Selected Publications by K. C. Nicolaou
- Design, Synthesis, and Biological Investigation of Thailanstatin A and Spliceostatin D Analogues Containing Tetrahydropyran, Tetrahydrooxazine, and Fluorinated Structural Motifs,
K. C. Nicolaou, Santhosh Reddy Rekula, S. Mothish Kumar, Ananda Rao Podilapu, Ryan P. Matuszak, Paul M. Jung, Lloyd T. Lam, Andrew C. Phillips, Joseph Lyssikatos, Stefan Munneke, Christine Gu, Hetal Sarvaiya, Joseph Sandoval, Mikhail Hammond, Monette Aujay, James W. Purcell, Regina M. Reilly, Julia Gavrilyuk,
J. Org. Chem. 2021, 86, 2499–2521.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.0c02643 - Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Tubulysin Analogues, Linker-Drugs, and Antibody–Drug Conjugates, Insights into Structure–Activity Relationships, and Tubulysin–Tubulin Binding Derived from X-ray Crystallographic Analysis,
K. C. Nicolaou, Saiyong Pan, Kiran K. Pulukuri, Qiuji Ye, Stephan Rigol, Rohan D. Erande, Dionisios Vourloumis, Bogusław P. Nocek, Stefan Munneke, Joseph Lyssikatos, Amanda Valdiosera, Christine Gu, Baiwei Lin, Hetal Sarvaiaya, Jose Trinidad, Joseph Sandoval, Christina Lee, Mikhail Hammond, Monette Aujay, Nicole Taylor, Marybeth Pysz, James W. Purcell, Julia Gavrilyuk,
J. Org. Chem. 2021, 86, 3377–3421.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.0c02755 - Total Synthesis of the Monomeric Unit of Lomaiviticin A,
K. C. Nicolaou, Qifeng Chen, Ruofan Li, Yasuaki Anami, Kyoji Tsuchikama,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 20201–20207.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c10660 - Classics in Total Synthesis III,
K. C. Nicolaou, Jason S. Chen,
Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2011.
ISBN: 978-3-527-32957-1 - Samarium Diiodide Mediated Reactions in Total Synthesis,
K. C. Nicolaou, Shelby P. Ellery, Jason S. Chen,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 7140–7165.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200902151 - The art of total synthesis through cascade reactions,
K. C. Nicolaou, Jason S. Chen,
Chem. Soc. Rev. 2009, 38, 2993.
https://doi.org/10.1039/b903290h - Molecules That Changed the World,
K. C. Nicolaou, Tamsyn Montagnon,
Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2008.
ISBN: 978-3-527-30983-2 - Cascade Reactions in Total Synthesis,
K. C. Nicolaou, David J. Edmonds, Paul G. Bulger,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 7134–7186.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200601872 - Classics in Total Synthesis: Targets, Strategies, Methods,
K. C. Nicolaou, E. J. Sorensen,
Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 1996.
ISBN: 978-3-527-29231-8
Also of Interest
- 2016 Wolf Prize in Chemistry,
ChemViews Mag. 2016.
K. C. Nicolaou and Stuart L. Schreiber honored - Academic−Industrial Partnerships in Drug Discovery and Development,
Jonathan Faiz,
ChemViews Mag. 2014.
According to K. C. Nicolaou, such a partnership will be essential to apply fundamental chemistry to medicine - K. C. Nicolaou Awarded,
ChemViews Mag. 2010.
K. C. Nicolaou, Scripps Research Institute, CA, USA, has been awarded top Cypriot science prize
