Stephen F. Martin is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

. He is the M. June and J. Virgil Waggoner Regents Chair in Chemistry. Martin is a native of

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and received his B.S. degree in chemistry from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

in 1968, where he worked with R.N. Castle, and his Ph.D. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1972 with Professor Edward C. Taylor. He did postdoctoral work at the University of Munich with Professor Rudolf Gompper, and further work with Professor George Büchi at the

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

; after which, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. He is best known for his work in

alkaloid Alkaloids are a broad class of natural product, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. Alkaloids are produced by a large varie ...

synthesis. He also developed the use of ''p''-nitrobenzoate as a

nucleophile In chemistry, a nucleophile is a chemical species that forms bonds by donating an electron pair. All molecules and ions with a free pair of electrons or at least one pi bond can act as nucleophiles. Because nucleophiles donate electrons, they are ...

for the displacement of activated alcohols in the

Mitsunobu reaction The Mitsunobu reaction is an organic reaction that converts an alcohol into a variety of functional groups, such as an ester, using triphenylphosphine and an azodicarboxylate such as diethyl azodicarboxylate (DEAD) or diisopropyl azodicarboxy ...

. Martin is also known for coining the term synthome, which is defined as the set of all reactions available to the chemist for the synthesis of small molecules".

Research focus

Currently, Martin’s research interests lie in the areas of synthetic organic and bioorganic chemistry. In the former, his focus lies in the development of new strategies and tactics and their application to the concise syntheses of a wide variety of complex natural products, including

alkaloids Alkaloids are a broad class of naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. Alkaloids are produced by a large variety of organisms i ...

, ''C''-aryl glycosides, and polyketides that exhibit useful biological activities. In the area of bioorganic chemistry he is investigating the design and synthesis of novel

peptidomimetic A peptidomimetic is a small protein-like chain designed to mimic a peptide. They typically arise either from modification of an existing peptide, or by designing similar systems that mimic peptides, such as peptoids and β-peptides. Irrespective ...

s as well as other small molecules for use as molecular probes to study energetics, dynamics, and function in protein-ligand interactions. The energetic consequences of pre-organization of ligands in their biologically active conformation is a recurring theme in his lab. Furthermore, he is involved in several programs directed towards the structure-based design of enzyme inhibitors.

Recognition

Martin has received a number of awards honoring his accomplishments, including a

NIH The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

Career Development Award, an American Cyanamid Academic Award, the Alexander von Humboldt Prize, an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science Award, and a Wyeth Research Award, and he is a fellow of the

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 ...

. He serves as a consultant for several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and he is the regional editor of

Tetrahedron In geometry, a tetrahedron (: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular Face (geometry), faces, six straight Edge (geometry), edges, and four vertex (geometry), vertices. The tet ...

for the Americas. He has delivered numerous invited lectures at national and international meetings, academic institutions, and industrial companies, and he has published over 250 scientific papers in primary journals together with several reviews and articles in books. He is also co-author of the popular undergraduate laboratory book ''Experimental Organic Chemistry: A Miniscale and Microscale Approach''.

References

External links

Web page at UT-Austin

UT-Austin Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Stephen F. 21st-century American chemists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of New Mexico alumni Princeton University alumni