Mikael Bols (born July 28, 1961) is a synthetic

organic chemist 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 ...

who is mainly known for his work on

carbohydrates A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ma ...

and

artificial enzymes Artificiality (the state of being artificial, anthropogenic, or man-made) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotati ...

Early life

Mikael Bols was born and grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark. He attended high school (Gentofte Statskole) from 1977 to 1980, and took a degree as chemical engineer at the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

from 1980 to 1985.

Professional career

From 1985 to 1988, Bols did PhD with Professor Inge Lundt at the

. From 1988 to 1989, he did a post doc with professor Walter Szarek at Queen's University before joining Leo Pharmaceuticals in 1989. From 1991 to 1995, he was Ass. Prof. at DTU only interrupted by a visit in the last 6 month of 1994

Gilbert Stork Gilbert Stork (December 31, 1921 – October 21, 2017) was a Belgian-American organic chemist. For a quarter of a century he was the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Columbia University. He is known for making significant contri ...

's group at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. From 1995 to 2000, he was Assoc. Prof. (Lektor) at

University of Aarhus Aarhus University (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Utr ...

during which period he became Dr. Scient. (1997). From 1998 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2006, he was Head of the chemistry department at university of Aarhus. From 2000 to 2005, he became Lundbeckfondsprofessor and subsequently (2005-2007) ordinary professor. In 2007, he became professor and Head of department of the Department of Chemistry at

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

Achievements

The discovery of isofagomine and related glycosidase inhibitors, the discovery of stereoelectronic substituent effects and superarmed

glycosyl donor A glycosyl donor is a carbohydrate mono- or oligosaccharide that will react with a suitable glycosyl acceptor to form a new glycosidic bond. By convention, the donor is the member of this pair that contains the resulting anomeric carbon of the new g ...

s, the creation of artificial enzymes that cause large rate increases., and writing the book "Carbohydrate Building Blocks" about using carbohydrates as a chirality source in synthesis.Bols, M. "Carbohydrate Building Blocks." John Wiley Science Publishers, New York 1996

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bols, Mikael Organic chemists 1961 births Living people