Professor Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, celebrates his 70th birthday on July 5, 2016.

Professor 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 studied chemistry at the University of London, UK, where he received his Ph.D. in 1972. After postdoctoral stays at Columbia University, New York, USA, and at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, he joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. In 1989, he was appointed as Professor of Chemistry both at 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, Professor Nicolaou has received the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2016, the ACS Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry by the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1993, the Yamada-Koga Prize in 1999, the Nagoya Gold Medal of Organic Chemistry from Nagoya University, Japan, in 2001, the ACS A. C. Cope Award in 2005, and several honorary degrees. He serves on the advisory boards of numerous scientific journals, including Chemistry – An Asian Journal and ChemistryOpen.

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Selected Publications by K. C. Nicolaou

• Synthesis and Biopharmaceutical Evaluation of Imatinib Analogues Featuring Unusual Structural Motifs,
  K. C. Nicolaou, Dionisios Vourloumis, Sotirios Totokotsopoulos, Athanasios Papakyriakou, Holger Karsunky, Hanan Fernando, Julia Gavrilyuk, Damien Webb, Antonia F. Stepan,
  ChemMedChem 2016, 11, 31–37.
  DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.201500510
• Practical Synthesis of p-and o-Amino- and Methoxyphenolic Anthraquinones,
  K. C. Nicolaou, Min Lu, Pengxi Chen, Akshay A. Shah,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 12687–12691.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201507007
• 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.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200902151
• Enantioselective Intramolecular Friedel−Crafts-Type α-Arylation of Aldehydes,
  K. C. Nicolaou, Rüdiger Reingruber, David Sarlah, Stefan Bräse,
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 2086–2087.
  DOI: 10.1021/ja809405c
• Molecules That Changed the World,
  K. C. Nicolaou, Tamsyn Montagnon,
  Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2008.
  ISBN: 978-3-527-30983-2
• The Continuing Saga of the Marine Polyether Biotoxins,
  K. C. Nicolaou, Michael O. Frederick, Robert J. Aversa,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 7182–7225.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200801696
• The Chemistry and Biology of Epothilones – The Wheel Keeps Turning,
  Karl-Heinz Altmann, Bernhard Pfeiffer, Stellios Arseniyadis, Benjamin A. Pratt, K. C. Nicolaou,
  ChemMedChem 2007, 2, 396–423.
  DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.200600206
• Total Synthesis of Platensimycin,
  K. C. Nicolaou, Ang Li, David J. Edmonds,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 7086–7090.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200603892
• Cascade Reactions in Total Synthesis,
  K. C. Nicolaou, David J. Edmonds, Paul G. Bulger,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 7134–7186.
  DOI: 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

• Event: Nicolaou Cutting Edge Lineage Chemistry Symposium,
  Symposium on the occasion of Prof. K. C. Nicolaou’s 70th Birthday.
• 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
• Author Profile: K. C. Nicolaou,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 31, 5576–5578.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200902685