We are delighted to announce that the OBC Lecture Award 2007 was presented to Professor Ben List at the recent 20th International Symposium: Synthesis in Organic Chemistry in Cambridge. 

The prize, awarded on behalf of OBC by Professor Tim Donohoe (Oxford) on 17th July, was in recognition of List's significant contribution to the field of organocatalysis. In his lecture, entitled 'New strategies for organocatalysis,' List highlighted the latest advancements, including asymmetric counter-ion directed catalysis (ACDC) for the highly enantioselective epoxidation of enals. 

Although he has made huge progress in recent years, as reviewed in his Emerging Area article in OBC, List believes there is still great scope for development. 'Developing active catalysts is the next challenge for chemists interested in organocatalysis,' he said.