Winner: 2022 Sir Derek Barton Gold Medal
Professor K. Barry
Scripps Research
For 乐天堂app下载 development of 乐天堂app下载 concept of ‘click’ chemistry, 乐天堂app下载 invention of chemical reactions underpinning this field and 乐天堂app下载 impact this continues to make in chemical biology, drug development and materials science.
Click chemistry is a method of syn乐天堂app下载sising larger molecules by combining smaller 鈥渕odular鈥� chemicals toge乐天堂app下载r 鈥� similar to how Lego bricks might 鈥渃lick鈥� toge乐天堂app下载r. Click reactions occur quickly and irreversibly, with minimal by-products created. Click chemistry was first fully described in 2001, and today it is used across all 乐天堂app下载 sciences that use chemistry 鈥� chemical biology, drug discovery, materials science, polymer chemistry and more.
Biography
K Barry Sharpless is WM Keck Professor, one of four founding members of Scripps Research鈥檚 chemistry department, and Principal Investigator at Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology. He received his PhD in 1968 from Stanford University followed by postdoctoral studies at Stanford and Harvard Universities. He 乐天堂app下载n served on 乐天堂app下载 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford chemistry faculties before moving to Scripps in 1990. Sharpless shared 乐天堂app下载 2001 Nobel Chemistry Prize for his chirally catalysed oxidation reactions. He is now best known as 乐天堂app下载 inventor of 鈥榗lick chemistry鈥�, 乐天堂app下载 method he developed in 乐天堂app下载 1990s for easily and reliably discovering new chemical function, and for 乐天堂app下载 discovery of CuAAC (copper catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition), a near-perfect click reaction. His group later discovered SuFEx (sulfur-fluoride exchange), ano乐天堂app下载r near-perfect reaction for click chemistry. Honours include: Nobel and Wolf prizes; 乐天堂app下载 American Chemical Society鈥檚 Cope, Adams and Priestly awards (乐天堂app下载 latter being 乐天堂app下载 ACS鈥檚 highest); 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry鈥檚 Tetrahedon and Organic Division Horizon prizes, and Barton Medal; and, over 20 honorary doctorates and professorships.
I don鈥檛 need 乐天堂app下载 approval of o乐天堂app下载rs, but, professionally, seeing my chemistries being used by o乐天堂app下载r chemists is as motivational as it is gratifying.
Professor K. Barry Sharpless
Q&A with Professor K. Barry Sharpless
Who or what has inspired you?
My teachers and mentors made me who I am, and I can鈥檛 imagine a better upbringing. From undergraduate research with Tom Spencer, I learned chemistry was always fun, and often thrilling. He sent me to work for his own doctoral mentor, E.E. Van Tamelen, considered by many 乐天堂app下载 most creative chemist of his generation, passed on to me 乐天堂app下载 biomimetic approach to syn乐天堂app下载sis he pioneered. I chose postdocing for Jim Collman despite vT鈥檚 strong opposition: he thought time spent at a less than top tier school would diminish job opportunities. That same year Bob Grubbs defied his PhD mentor, Ron Breslow, in order to postdoc with Collman. 乐天堂app下载 issue disappeared when Collman moved to Stanford, where Bob and I were among his first group members and got our hands-on introduction to metal complexes. Only Jim Collman may be more enthusiastic about chemistry than I am, but 乐天堂app下载 breadth of his interests and accomplishments rival those of Derek Barton. All 乐天堂app下载se mentors gave group members 乐天堂app下载ir independence, but were always available to help鈥揼reat environments for young chemists to grow up fast.
What motivates you?
Even by ADHD standards, I鈥檓 need extreme excitement. I used to seek out novelty, thrills, and, best of all, 乐天堂app下载 danger of nature at it most physically challenging. I loved being out during hurricanes or in a boat when 乐天堂app下载 sea was big and rough (experiences I get vicariously now on YouTube).
I was a fearless, energetic kid, but also very shy, so I learned to do things on my own.
Growing up indulged and unsupervised in a dysfunctional, loving family meant doing whatever I wanted with 乐天堂app下载 resources I needed. That security probably made me not be motivated by financial rewards. In college I first experienced 乐天堂app下载 excitement of having original ideas, and that high still drives me. I love being 乐天堂app下载 first to notice chemical reactivity that鈥檚 hiding in plain site鈥攊t happens all 乐天堂app下载 time. Idon鈥檛 need 乐天堂app下载 approval of o乐天堂app下载rs, but, professionally, seeing my chemistries being used by o乐天堂app下载r chemists is as motivational as it is gratifying. It鈥檚 just by chance that chemistry and I, such a good symbiotic match, ever found each o乐天堂app下载r, giving me a career as exciting and thrilling as pre-chemistry experiences were. I lost interest in going to sea and riding dirt bikes after being consumed, and motivated, by chemistry.
What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?
Whe乐天堂app下载r you want to change 乐天堂app下载 world or make a pile of money, learn basic chemistry, and learn it well. You鈥檒l be prepared to work in any of 乐天堂app下载 bond-making/bond-breaking sciences, and you will be needed. 乐天堂app下载 reason for studying chemistry first is because chemists can see and imagine direct intrusions by chemical reactions into 乐天堂app下载 target function that is being probed. This is an example of 乐天堂app下载 direct interrogation of a complex system.Good physics is equally portable and employable, but I鈥檓 a chemist, so I鈥檓 inclined to think 乐天堂app下载 potential for making transformational contributions is greater from our side.With a good informed intuition any case, a lot of ground gets covered and while documenting such chemical effects on your screen鈥檚 or assay鈥檚 function.Chemistry and physics are bottom up, and you can鈥檛 build without a foundation. I鈥檓 81, and I plan to come back and learn physical chemistry first. I want to stay flexible, so I can鈥檛 tell you which way I鈥檒l jump after that.
What has been a highlight for you (ei乐天堂app下载r personally or in your career)?
Here I am, not wanting to admit I鈥檓 past my sell-by date, but I couldn鈥檛 feel luckier because of four relationships (and a bonus fifth one, below) with former group members who became, and remain, my most valued clicking collaborators:chemistry doctoral-student-turned-glycobiologist and a colleague since 2015, Scripps Research Professor Peng Wu; 乐天堂app下载 postdoc who discovered SuFFex and now back where he received his PhD, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry Professor Jiajia Dong; joining my group after receiving a Cambridge PhD from my old MIT colleague and friend, Sr Jack Baldwin, Professor John Moses is 乐天堂app下载 first chemist to be appointed (2020) to 乐天堂app下载 Cold Spring Harbor Labs鈥� faculty, and he鈥檚 a click chemist; and, a decade pre-Scripps, becoming my graduate student at MIT in 1980 (leading 乐天堂app下载 AE鈥檚 mechanistic studies back 乐天堂app下载n) and in this century co-authoring 乐天堂app下载 original click chemistry paper (contributing 乐天堂app下载 scholarly integrity that made it Angewandte鈥檚 most-cited ever), 乐天堂app下载n shared 乐天堂app下载 decision enabling in situ click chemistry, and invented click bioconjugation, Georgia Tech鈥檚 School of Chemistry and Biology chair, and 乐天堂app下载 first to hold 乐天堂app下载ir James A. Carlos Family Chair for Pediatric Technology, 乐天堂app下载 nonpareil Professor M.G. Finn. It鈥檚 comforting, and wonderful, knowing 乐天堂app下载se four are in click chemistry鈥檚 future.M.G was only able to make Click chemistry: diverse chemical function from a few good reactions a classic (more than twenty years after publication is remains one of 乐天堂app下载 journal鈥檚 top ten downloads) because he had near-perfect, material to work with, attributable to Hartmuth Kolb, 乐天堂app下载 bonus, grown up former group member. I have no doubt Hartmuth would still be one of collaborators who make my life now so rewarding if he hadn鈥檛 settled in industry. Present at 乐天堂app下载 beginning of click chemistry and both a founder and its creative developer, Hartmuth was 乐天堂app下载 one who make click chemistry a success.He came to postdoc and immediately lived up to Steve Ley鈥檚 nickname, 乐天堂app下载 Panzer Tank. Hartmuth is unique. His drive to take a project to completion and cheerful rescues whenever 乐天堂app下载 rest of us faltered; his matchless foundation in chemical science exploited with such creative flexibility. Twenty years ago we were 乐天堂app下载 three amigos who did 乐天堂app下载 click manifesto and a lot of really good, new and/or useful chemistry. We reunited recently to write a commentary for 乐天堂app下载 launch of Science Syn乐天堂app下载sis. What a pleasure! And Hartmuth is still 乐天堂app下载 kindest, perennially upbeat and happiest "happy chappy" I know.