Martin Banwell, Australian National University, Canberra, is the winner of the second Ryoji Noyori ACES Award. The award is the highest honor given by the Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES) and recognizes outstanding work in chemistry. It was established in 2017 and is named after the Nobel laureate Ryoji Noyori, the founding chairman of the Editorial Board of Chemistry – An Asian Journal, the first ACES journal. The award includes an invitation to deliver a lecture at the Second ACES & GDCh Symposium at the 18th ACC in Taipei, Taiwan, EUR 1000 plus expenses, and a certificate.
Martin Banwell is awarded for his innovative work in natural product synthesis as well as his international approach to scientific research, which exemplifies the collaborative ACES spirit. Banwell has accomplished the synthesis of key organic natural products, including the alkaloids (–)-colchicine and pancratistatin, and heterocyclic marine alkaloids discoipyrroles A-D
Martin Banwell, born 1954 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, studied organic chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, where he completed his Ph.D. in organic chemistry under the supervision of Brian Halton in 1979. After a postdoctoral stay at Ohio State University, Columbus, USA, with Leo A. Paquette, he held positions at the University of Adelaide, Australia, from 1980 to 1981, the University of Auckland, New Zealand, from 1982 to 1986, the University of Melbourne, Australia, from 1986 to 1992, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland, from 1991 to 1992, and the University of Melbourne from 1993 to 1994. He joined the Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, as Senior Fellow in 1995, was appointed Professor in 1999, and has been Director from 2008 to 2013. Currently, he is a Pearl River Scholar and visiting Professor at Jinan University in Guangdong Province, China.
Among other honors, Martin Banwell is a fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Chemistry (RACI), the Australian Academy of Science (AAS), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK, and the World Innovation Foundation, an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an advisory board member of the journals Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry and ChemistryOpen.
Banwell’s research interests include the development of synthetic strategies and methodologies and on the application of these in the total synthesis of biologically active natural products.
Selected Publications
- F. Khan, M. Dlugosch, X. Liu, M. Khan, M. G. Banwell, J. S. Ward, P. D. Carr, The Palladium-Catalyzed Ullmann Cross-Coupling of β-Iodoenones and β-Iodoacrylates with o-Halonitroarenes or o-Iodobenzonitriles and the Reductive Cyclization of the Resulting Products to Give Diverse Heterocyclic Systems, Org. Lett. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.8b01015
- E. S. Taher, M. G. Banwell, J. N. Buckler, Q. Yan, P. Lan, The Exploitation of Enzymatically-Derived cis-1,2-Dihydrocatechols and Related Compounds in the Synthesis of Biologically Active Natural Products, Chem. Rec. 2018, 18, 239-264. https://doi.org/10.1002/tcr.201700064
- J. Nugent, E. Matoušová, M. G. Banwell, A. C. Willis, The Palladium-Catalyzed Intramolecular Alder-ene Reactions of O- and N-Linked 1,6-Enynes Incorporating Triethylsilyl Capping Groups, J. Org. Chem. 2017, 82, 12569–12589. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.7b0235
- Q. Yan, M. G. Banwell, M. L. Coote, R. Lee, A. C. Willis, Establishing the True Structure of the Sorbicillinoid-derived Isolate Rezishanone C by Chemoenzymatic Total Synthesis, Chem. Asian J. 2017, 12, 1480–1484. https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.201700456
- M. K. Sharma, M. G. Banwell, A. C. Willis, Generation of (+)‐Prezizanol, (+)‐Prezizaene, and the ent‐β‐Isopipitzol Framework via Cationic Rearrangement of Khusiol and Related Compounds, Asian J. Org. Chem. 2014, 3(5), 632–637. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajoc.201400019
