Jin-Quan Yu () is a Chinese-born American chemist. He is the Frank and Bertha Hupp Professor of Chemistry at

Scripps Research Scripps Research is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institute has over 170 laboratories employing 2,100 scientists, tec ...

, where he also holds the

Bristol Myers Squibb The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Trade name, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies ...

Endowed Chair in Chemistry. He is a 2016 recipient of the

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

, and is a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

, and the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

. Yu is a leader in the development of C–H bond activation reactions in organic chemistry, and has reported many C–H activation reactions that could be applicable towards the synthesis of drug molecules and other biologically active compounds. He also co-founded Vividion Therapeutics in 2016 with fellow Scripps chemists Benjamin Cravatt and

Phil Baran Phil S. Baran (born August 10, 1977) is a synthetic organic chemist and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute.Zhejiang, China. He received his B.Sc. in chemistry at

East China Normal University East China Normal University (ECNU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. The university is part of ...

in 1987. Yu then went on to the Guangzhou Institute of Chemistry,

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

where he worked on heterogeneous reactions of

terpenes Terpenes () are a class of natural products consisting of compounds with the formula (C5H8)n for n ≥ 2. Terpenes are major biosynthetic building blocks. Comprising more than 30,000 compounds, these unsaturated hydrocarbons are produced predomi ...

with

zeolite Zeolites are a group of several microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula ･y where is either a meta ...

materials with Prof. Shu-De Xiao, obtaining his M.Sc. in 1990. He remained at the Guangzhou Institute of Chemistry for four years as a research associate. In 1994, Yu moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to pursue graduate studies at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

with Prof. Jonathan B. Spencer. At Cambridge, he studied biosynthesis and the mechanistic details of the hydrometallation step in asymmetric

hydrogenation Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or Saturated ...

reactions with

heterogeneous Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts relating to the uniformity of a substance, process or image. A homogeneous feature is uniform in composition or character (i.e., color, shape, size, weight, height, distribution, texture, language, i ...

and homogeneous catalysts, among the twenty-one papers he co-authored with Spencer. Yu graduated with his Ph.D. in 1999. Between 1999 and 2001, Yu worked as a Junior Research Fellow of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

. From 2001-2002, Yu worked as a postdoctoral fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in the laboratory of Prof. E. J. Corey on selective palladium-catalyzed allylic oxidation reactions. Yu returned to Cambridge in 2002 and continued in his position as a Junior Research Fellow.

Independent career

Yu was awarded a

Royal Society University Research Fellowship __NOTOC__ The Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) is a research fellowship awarded to outstanding early career scientists in the United Kingdom who are judged by the Royal Society to have the potential to become leaders in their fie ...

in 2003, which allowed him to start his independent research towards the development of asymmetric C–H activation reactions. In 2004, he moved to

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

as an assistant professor of chemistry. He moved to

The Scripps Research Institute Scripps Research is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institute has over 170 laboratories employing 2,100 scientists, tec ...

as an associate professor in 2007 and was promoted to full professor in 2010. In 2012, he was appointed the Frank and Bertha Hupp Professor of Chemistry.

Research

Yu is an organic synthetic chemist who develops of new methods for functionalizing carbon-hydrogen (C–H) bonds, or C–H activation. A longstanding goal in organic synthesis, C–H activation would allow for inert, unreactive C–H bonds to be replaced with bonds to

functional groups In organic chemistry, a functional group is any substituent or moiety (chemistry), moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions r ...

that can alter a molecule's reactivity and properties. One strategy to achieve selective C–H activation under mild conditions is to use metal-based catalysts that are guided to the targeted C–H bond by nearby directing functional groups. These directing groups often must be removed once the new functional group has been appended to the molecule. This style of C–H activation methodology could greatly simplify the synthesis of pharmaceutical drug molecules,

agrochemicals An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical typically refers to biocides (pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicid ...

, and

natural products A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical s ...

. Yu has contributed metal palladium-catalyzed C-H bond activation promoted by "weak coordination," that is by directing group effects. Other areas of interest are the development of remote C-H bond activation, for example at the meta-position to a directing group. Since many drugs and natural products are chiral, Yu has also developed important asymmetric C-H bond activation reactions, including those templated by modified amino acids that can act as transient, chiral directing groups.

Awards and memberships

Yu is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for his work in organic chemistry reaction development, including a MacArthur Fellowship (also known as a "Genius Grant") in 2016. He was elected a member of the

in 2019, a fellow of the

and the

in 2012. In 2013, he received the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences. Yu received the Pedler Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2016, and the Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator from the American Chemical Society. In 2012, he was awarded the Mukaiyama Award from the Japanese Society of Organic Synthesis, the ACS Cope Scholar Award, and the

Bristol-Myers Squibb The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consist ...

Award. His honors also include the

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...

Early Career Award in Organic Chemistry (2011),

Eli Lilly Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was a Union Army officer, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and recruited a company of men to ...

Grantee Award (2008),

Amgen Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical Corporation, company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. As one of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen has a ...

Young Investigator's Award (2008), and

Sloan Research Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

(2008).

Personal life

Yu has a son, Tony.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Jin-Quan Living people 1966 births Chinese organic chemists American organic chemists Scripps Research faculty 21st-century Chinese chemists Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge 21st-century American chemists