Congratulations to the Organic Division 2021 Research & Innovation and Horizon Prize Winners
Through its prizes programme, our Organic Division celebrates the individuals and teams from industry and academic across all career stages who contribute to the advances in organic chemistry as well as recognises the novel discoveries in the field of organic chemistry.
Winners are selected by the Organic Division Awards Committee, chaired by the Organic Division President.
Members of our Organic Division are recognised throughout the RSC Prize portfolio, congratulations to all the 2021 Prize Winners.
Click on the links to find more about our 2021 winners and join in the digital celebration.
Congratulations to the Organic Division Research & Innovation Prize winners:
Organic Division Early Career Award:
Hickinbottom Award winner Professor Vijay Chudasama (University College London) for the development of reagents and strategies for site-selective protein modification to enable targeted therapy, imaging and diagnostics.
Organic Division Mid-Career Award:
Merck, Sharp & Dohme Award winner Professor Stephen Thomas (University of Edinburgh) For the development and creative applications of novel methods to enable catalysis, using organometallic-free activation of first-row transition metal and main-group pre-catalysts.
Organic Division Open Award:
Pedler Award winner Professor Paolo Melchiorre (Institut Català d'Investigació Química) for the development of asymmetric photocatalytic methodologies based on excited state intermediates.
Bader Award Winner:
Professor Alison Hulme (University of Edinburgh) for creative applications of alkyne chemistry in synthesis and label-free Raman imaging in cells.
Congratulations to the 2021 Organic Division Horizon Prize winners:
Bioorganic Chemistry Award Winner:
Pericyclases team (University of California, Los Angeles, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Shizuoka, and University of Hawaii at Hilo) for the discovery of a new class of enzymes, the pericyclases, that catalyse reactions in biosynthesis of complex natural products, and for identifying their mechanisms.
Perkin Prize in Physical Organic Chemistry Winner:
Uncovering hidden paths in C-H bond activation catalysis team (University of York, Rutherford Appleton Laboratories and Syngenta International AG) for the development of a unique approach for directly observing transient species and key bond-forming steps that underpin transition metal-catalysed C–H activation and functionalisation reactions.
Robert Robinson Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry Winner:
Multidimensional Click Chemistry team (The Scripps Research Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Genentech, Inc., Sun Yat-Sen University, Wageningen University, Soochow University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, King Abdulaziz University and Tianjin University) for the development of multidimensional click chemistry, a next-generation click-technology that extends bond creation into the three-dimensional world, opening doors to new frontiers in biomedicine, materials science, and beyond.
Congratulations also to RSC Prize winners from across the organic community, including:
Professor Bin Liu (National University of Singapore), winner of the Centenary Prize for the innovative design and synthesis of organic molecules and nanomaterials to advance biomedical research and applications, and for excellence in communication.
Professor M. Carmen Galan (University of Bristol), winner of the Chemistry Biology Interface Division mid-career Award: Jeremy Knowles Award for the development of bioinspired and transformative synthetic probes and their application to the targeting and regulation of cellular processes in both mammalian and plant cells.
Professor Matthew Fuchter (Imperial College London) winner of the Corday-Morgan Prize for the development of chemistry-led approaches to interrogate function in chemistry, materials and medicine.
Dr Sarah Skerratt (MSD) winner of the Creativity in Industry Prize for innovation in aspects of medicinal chemistry and strategic leadership in drug discovery method development.
Professor Fernanda Duarte (University of Oxford) winner of the Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize for introducing multidisciplinary approaches to rationalise complex (bio)chemical reaction mechanisms, guiding rational molecular design.
Find out more
Nominations for the 2022 Prizes will open later this year. On our website you can find out how to nominate and read about our prize categories.