Professor F. Dean Toste, University of California, Berkeley, USA, has been awarded the Horst Pracejus Prize 2015 by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) in recognition of outstanding work in the field of enantioselectivity and chirality.

The award was presented at the Chemiedozententagung in Regensburg, Germany, on March 2, 2015.

Dean F. Toste studied chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Toronto, Canada, and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Stanford University, CA, USA, under the supervision of Barry M. Trost in 2000. After post-doctoral research with Robert H. Grubbs at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, USA, he was appointed Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley in 2002. Trost was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006 and has been Full Professor since 2009.

Professor Toste’s research is primarily aimed toward the development of catalysts, catalytic reactions and methods for organic synthesis. He uses these methods to address problems in the synthesis of complex molecules possessing interesting structural, biological and physical properties.

Selected Publications

• Stable gold(III) catalysts by oxidative addition of a carbon–carbon bond,
  C. Wu, T. Horibe, C. Jacobsen, F. D. Toste,
  Nature 2015, 517, 449–454.
  DOI: 10.1038/nature14104
• A dual catalytic strategy for carbon–phosphorus cross-coupling via gold and photoredox catalysis,
  Y. He, H. Wu, F. D. Toste,
  Chem. Sci. 2015, 6, 1194–1198.
  DOI: 10.1039/c4sc03092c
• Ligand Effects in Homogeneous Au Catalysis,
  Da. J. Gorin, B. D. Sherry, F. D. Toste,
  Chem. Rev. 2008, 108, 3351–3378.
  DOI: 10.1021/cr068430g
• A Powerful Chiral Counterion Strategy for Asymmetric Transition Metal Catalysis,
  G. L. Hamilton, E. J. Kang, M. Mba, F. D. Toste,
  Science 2007, 317, 496–499.
  DOI: 10.1126/science.1145229
• Relativistic effects in homogeneous gold catalysis,
  D. J. Gorin, F. D. Toste,
  Nature 2007, 446, 395–403.
  DOI: 10.1038/nature05592