Phil Baran on What Makes a Good Chemist

Professor Phil S. Baran, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA, talks about his research and what makes a good chemist.

Phil Baran, who is well known for methods that make it easier to synthesize complex molecules, was awarded the Emanuel Merck Lectureship 2017 “for his pioneering work in the field of organic total synthesis, through which he has produced hundreds of important, highly complex natural compounds in the laboratory such as indoles and terpenes”. The prize, worth € 30,000, was presented during a public lecture at the TU Darmstadt, Germany, on May 8, 2017. We met Phil Baran in the Historic Museum at Merck’s headquarter for this video.
A detailed interview with Phil Baran will be published in August in Nachrichten aus der Chemie (Issue 9).

Phil S. Baran, born in New Jersey in 1977, received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the New York University, USA, in 1997, under the supervision of David Schuster, his Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA, in 2001, under the supervision of K.C. Nicolaou, and he did postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate E. J. Corey at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

In 2003, Phil Baran became Asistant Professor and in 2006, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Scripps research Institute. Since 2008, Phil Baran is Professor of Chemistry, a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry.

Phil Baran received numerous awards, including the Elias J. Corey Award in 2016 and the MacArthur Fellowship in 2013.

Homepage of Phil Baran

Also of Interest

Interview with Phil Baran: The Charm and Appeal of Organic Chemistry,
Phil S. Baran, Frauke Zbikowski,
ChemistryViews 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1002/chemv.201700086
Dawn of a New Age in Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry,
ChemistryViews 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1002/chemv.201700062

Selected Publications

Peptide Macrocyclization Inspired by Non-Ribosomal Imine Natural Products,
Lara R. Malins, Justine N. deGruyter, Kevin J. Robbins, Paul M. Scola, Martin D. Eastgate, M. Reza Ghadiri, Phil S. Baran,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017.
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b01624
Alkyl−(Hetero)Aryl Bond Formation via Decarboxylative Cross-Coupling: A Systematic Analysis,
Frederik Sandfort, Matthew J. O’Neill, Josep Cornella, Laurin Wimmer, Phil S. Baran,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 3319–3323.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201612314
Strain-Release Heteroatom Functionalization: Development, Scope, and Stereospecificity,
Justin M. Lopchuk, Kasper Fjelbye, Yu Kawamata, Lara R. Malins, Chung-Mao Pan, Ryan Gianatassio, Jie Wang, Liher Prieto, James Bradow, Thomas A. Brandt, Michael R. Collins, Jeff Elleraas, Jason Ewanicki, William Farrell, Olugbeminiyi O. Fadeyi, Gary M. Gallego, James J. Mousseau, Robert Oliver, Neal W. Sach, Jason K. Smith, Jillian E. Spangler, Huichin Zhu, Jinjiang Zhu, Phil S. Baran,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 3209–3226.
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b13229
If C–H Bonds Could Talk: Selective C–H Bond Oxidation,
Timothy Newhouse, Phil S. Baran,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 3362–3374.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201006368
C–H functionalization logic in total synthesis,
Will R. Gutekunst, Phil S. Baran,
Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011, 40, 1976.
DOI: 10.1039/c0cs00182a
Redox Economy in Organic Synthesis,
Noah Z. Burns, Phil S. Baran, Reinhard W. Hoffmann,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 2854–2867.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200806086