Maurizio Botta, University of Siena, Italy, passed away on the night of August 2, 2019.
Botta’s research covered antibiotics, antiviral, and antitumor agents, the total synthesis and structure determination of biologically active natural products, molecular modeling on medicinal subjects, and other topics in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry.
Maurizio Botta was born on May 21, 1950. He studied chemistry at the University of Rome, Italy, and completed his Ph.D. at the University of New Brunswick, Canada, in 1979 under the supervision of Karel Wiesner. From 1981 to 1987, he was Researcher in Organic Chemistry at the University of Rome, and in 1985, a post-doc at the University of Montreal, Canada, in the research group of Stephen Hanessian. From 1997 to 2000, Maurizio Botta was Adjunct Professor at the Dipartimento Farmaco-Chimico Tecnologico of the University of Siena, Italy, and from 2002 to 2008, he was Head of the department.
Since 2000, Maurizio Botta was Full Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Siena. Starting in 2008, he also served as Adjunct Professor at Temple University’s College of Science and Technology, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Among other commitments, Botta served as Associate Editor of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, as a Member of the International Advisory Board of ChemMedChem, and as a Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. He was a five-time winner of the Merck Research Laboratories Award Academic Development Program in Chemistry (1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, and 2002).
Selected Publications
- MmpL3 Is the Cellular Target of the Antitubercular Pyrrole Derivative BM212,
Valentina La Rosa, Giovanna Poce, Julio Ortiz Canseco, Silvia Buroni, Maria Rosalia Pasca, Mariangela Biava, Ravikiran M. Raju, Giulio Cesare Porretta, Salvatore Alfonso, Claudio Battilocchio, Babak Javid, Flavia Sorrentino, Thomas R. Ioerger, James C. Sacchettini, Fabrizio Manetti, Maurizio Botta, Alessandro De Logu, Eric J. Rubin, Edda De Rossi,
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2012, 56, 324–331.
https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.05270-11 - Synthesis, biological evaluation, and SAR study of novel pyrazole analogues as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Part 2. Synthesis of rigid pyrazolones,
Daniele Castagnolo, Fabrizio Manetti, Marco Radi, Beatrice Bechi, Mafalda Pagano, Alessandro De Logu, Rita Meleddu, Manuela Saddi, Maurizio Botta,
Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2009, 17, 5716–5721.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2009.05.058 - Synthesis, biological evaluation and SAR study of novel pyrazole analogues as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
Daniele Castagnolo, Alessandro De Logu, Marco Radi, Beatrice Bechi, Fabrizio Manetti, Matteo Magnani, Sibilla Supino, Rita Meleddu, Lorenza Chisu, Maurizio Botta,
Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2008, 16, 8587–8591.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2008.08.016 - Investigations on the 4-Quinolone-3-carboxylic Acid Motif. 1. Synthesis and Structure−Activity Relationship of a Class of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 Integrase Inhibitors,
Serena Pasquini, Claudia Mugnaini, Cristina Tintori, Maurizio Botta, Alejandro Trejos, Riina K. Arvela, Mats Larhed, Myriam Witvrouw, Martine Michiels, Frauke Christ, Zeger Debyser, Federico Corelli,
J. Med. Chem. 2008, 51, 5125–5129.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jm8003784 - Paclitaxel And Docetaxel Resistance: Molecular Mechanisms and Development of New Generation Taxanes,
Elena Galletti, Matteo Magnani, Michela L. Renzulli, Maurizio Botta,
ChemMedChem 2007, 2, 920–942.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.200600308 - Antimycobacterial Agents. Novel Diarylpyrrole Derivatives of BM212 Endowed with High Activity toward Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Low Cytotoxicity,
Mariangela Biava, Giulio Cesare Porretta, Giovanna Poce, Sibilla Supino, Delia Deidda, Raffaello Pompei, Paola Molicotti, Fabrizio Manetti, Maurizio Botta,
J. Med. Chem. 2006, 49, 4946–4952.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jm0602662
Also of Interest
- Maurizio Botta,
ChemMedChem 2011, 6, 227.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.201000500
