Professor Stephen Hanessian, University of Montreal, Canada, celebrates his 80th birthday on April 25, 2015.

Hanessian is known for developing synthetic methodologies and natural product total synthesis, and also works on molecular aspects of medicinal chemistry and drug design. His group developed “Chiron”, a computer program for synthesis planning.

Stephen Hanessian studied chemistry at Ohio State University, Columbus, USA, and received his Ph.D. there under the supervision of Professor Melville Wolfrom in 1960. He spent several years as a researcher for Parke-Davis & Co. in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, and joined the University of Montreal as an associate professor in 1969. Since 1970, he has been a full professor at the University of Montreal. Since 2006, he is also Professor at the University of California, Irvine, USA.

Among other honors, Professor Hanessian has received the Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering and the A.C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS), both in 1996, the Order of Canada in 1998, and the Bernard Belleau Award in Medicinal Chemistry from the Chemical Institute of Canada (CSC) in 2001. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Universities of Urbino, Italy, Moncton, Canada, and Siena, Italy, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

---

Selected Publications

• Conception and Evolution of Stereocontrolled Strategies toward Functionalized 8-Aryloctanoic Acids Related to the Total Synthesis of Aliskiren,
  S. Hanessian, E. Chénard, S. Guesné, J. Cusson,
  J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 9531–9545.
  DOI: 10.1021/jo5015195
• Toxicity Modulation, Resistance Enzyme Evasion, and A-Site X-ray Structure of Broad-Spectrum Antibacterial Neomycin Analogs,
  J. P. Maianti, H. Kanazawa, P. Dozzo, R. D. Matias, L. A. Feeney, E. S. Armstrong, D. J. Hildebrandt, T. R. Kane, M. J. Gliedt, A. A. Goldblum, M. S. Linsell, J. B. Aggen, J. Kondo, S. Hanessian,
  ACS Chem. Biol. 2014, 9, 2067–2073.
  DOI: 10.1021/cb5003416
• Natural Products in Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 60,
  S. Hanessian, R. Mannhold, H. Kubinyi, G. Folkers (eds.),
  Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2014.
  ISBN: 978-3-527-33218-2
• Design and Strategy in Organic Synthesis: From the Chiron Approach to Catalysis,
  S. Hanessian, S. Giroux, B. L. Merner,
  Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2013.
  ISBN: 978-3-527-33391-2
• Design and synthesis of conformationally constrained amino acids as versatile scaffolds and peptide mimetics,
  S. Hanessian, G. McNaughton-Smith, H. Lombart, W. D. Lubell,
  Tetrahedron 1997, 53, 12789–12854
  DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4020(97)00476-6
• Regioselective manipulation of hydroxyl groups via organotin derivatives,
  S. David, S. Hanessian,
  Tetrahedron 1985, 41, 643–663.
  DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4020(01)96443-9

 

Also of Interest

• Event Highlight:
  Ischia Advanced School of Organic Chemistry 2014,
  Luca Bernardi and Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan (Photos: Mariagrazia Iacomino)
  ChemViews Mag. 2014.