Eric N. Jacobsen (born February 22, 1960, in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

) is the Sheldon Emery Professor of

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and former chair of the department of chemistry and chemical biology 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 ...

. He is a prominent figure in the field of

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

and is best known for the development of the

Jacobsen epoxidation The Jacobsen epoxidation, sometimes also referred to as Jacobsen-Katsuki epoxidation is a chemical reaction which allows enantioselective epoxidation of unfunctionalized alkyl- and aryl- substituted alkenes. It is complementary to the Sharpless ...

and other work in selective catalysis.

Early life and education

Jacobsen was born on February 22, 1960, in New York City. Jacobsen attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

for his undergraduate studies, graduating with his B.S. in 1982. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

for graduate school, earning his Ph.D. in 1986 under the tutelage of Robert G. Bergman. He subsequently joined the laboratory of

Barry Sharpless Karl Barry Sharpless (born April 28, 1941) is an American stereochemist. He is a two-time Nobel laureate in chemistry, known for his work on stereoselective reactions and click chemistry. Sharpless was awarded half of the 2001 Nobel Prize i ...

, then at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow. He began his independent career as an assistant professor at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

in 1988. In 1993 he moved to

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

as a full professor.

Notable contributions

Jacobsen has developed catalysts for asymmetric epoxidation, hydrolytic kinetic resolution and desymmetrization of epoxides, asymmetric pericyclic reactions, and asymmetric additions to imines.

Awards

* 2024 –

Tetrahedron Prize The Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry or Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry is awarded annually by Elsevier, the publisher of Tetrahedron Publications. It was established in 1980 and named in honour of the founding co-chairmen o ...

* 2024 –

Welch Award in Chemistry The Welch Award in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Robert A. Welch Foundation, based in Houston, Texas, to encourage and recognize basic chemical research for the benefit of mankind. The award, which has been given since 1972, is one of th ...

* 2024 –

Willard Gibbs Award The Willard Gibbs Award, presented by thChicago Sectionof the American Chemical Society, was established in 1910 by William A. Converse (1862–1940), a former Chairman and Secretary of the Chicago Section of the society and named for Professor Jo ...

* 2022 – Tetrahedron Chair Award * 2020 – Humboldt Research Award * 2016 – Award for Creativity in Molecular Design and Synthesis * 2013 – Bristol-DTC-Syngenta Award * 2013 – Remsen Award * 2012 – Fannie–Cox Teaching Award, Harvard University * 2012 – Chirality Medal * 2011 – Nagoya Gold Medal Prize * 2011 – GSK Scholar Award * 2011 – Kosolapoff Award, Auburn Section ACS * 2011 –

The Ryoji Noyori Prize The Ryoji Noyori Prize was established by the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan in 2002 to commemorate Ryōji Noyori winning the 101st Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedis ...

* 2010 –

Janssen Pharmaceutica Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (formerly Janssen Pharmaceuticals) is a Belgian pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Ph ...

Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis * 2008 – Yamada–Koga Prize * 2008 – election to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

* 2008 – ACS H.C. Brown Award for Synthetic Methods * 2007 – Alan R. Day Award * 2005 – Mitsui Catalysis Award * 2004 – election to the

American Academy of Arts & 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 F ...

* 2004 – AIC

Chemical Pioneer Award The Chemical Pioneer Award, established in 1966, is awarded by the American Institute of Chemists to recognize chemists or chemical engineers who have made outstanding contributions to advances in chemistry or the chemical profession. Recent recipi ...

* 2003 – Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize * 2002 –

NIH MERIT Award The NIH MERIT award (Method To Extend Research in Time) Award (R37) was created by the National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical an ...

* 2001 – ACS Award for Creativity in Synthetic Organic Chemistry * 1999 – Baekeland Medal * 1999 – Piero–Pino Prize * 1998 – Van't Hoff Prize * 1996 – Thieme-IUPAC Prize in Synthetic Organic Chemistry * 1994 – Fluka "Reagent of the Year" Prize * 1993 – ACS Cope Scholar Award) * 1993 – Zeneca Chemistry Award * 1993 –

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

Young Faculty Award for Synthetic Organic Chemistry * 1992 – Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship * 1992 – Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award * 1991 – Packard Fellowship * 1990 – NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award

References

External links

Jacobsen Group at Harvard
1960 births Living people 21st-century American chemists Harvard University faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni New York University alumni American people of Cuban descent {{US-chemist-stub