2022 Organic Dvision open award: Pedler Award Winner
Professor Dame Margaret Brimble, The University of Auckland
Awarded for a large body of pioneering work spanning the fields of natural product synthesis, peptide chemistry, and medicinal chemistry.
Natural products have long been regarded as ‘nature’s medicine chest’, providing invaluable platforms for developing frontline drugs. Over 50% of all new drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are ‘inspired’ by natural products. Dame Margaret’s research focuses on the synthesis of novel bioactive natural products (especially molecules derived from extreme environments and shellfish toxins) as novel anticancer, antibacterial and antiviral agents. She also works on the synthesis of antimicrobial peptides as potential new antibiotics and peptidomimetics as antiviral agents.
Dame Margaret’s team discovered the drug candidate NNZ2566 (named trofinetide by the World Health Organisation). It proved successful in phase 3 clinical trials (pending FDA approval in 2022) with Neuren Pharmaceuticals and Acadia Pharmaceuticals for the neurogenic disorder Rett Syndrome.
| Year | Name | Institution | Citation |
| 2021 | Professor Paolo Melchiorre | Institut Català d'Investigació Química | Awarded for the development of asymmetric photocatalytic methodologies based on excited state intermediates. |
| 2020 | Professor Wilfred van der Donk | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute | Awarded for the combined application of organic chemistry, molecular biology, and biochemistry to study posttranslationally modified peptides and phosphonate natural products. |
| 2019 |
Professor Armido Studer | University of Münster | Awarded for outstanding contributions towards the development of novel radical-based methodologies. |
| 2018 | Professor Guy Lloyd-Jones | The University of Edinburgh | Awarded for the mechanism-informed design of significant practical improvements to the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction. |
| 2017 | Professor Jin-Quan Yu | The Scripps Research Institute | Awarded for development of pioneering methods of C-H activation. |
| 2016 | Professor Dr Helma Wennemers | ETH Zurich | Awarded for the profound and elegant discovery of small molecules that function like natural macromolecules. |
| 2015 | Professor Michael Krische | University of Texas at Austin | Awarded for pioneering novel powerful C-C coupling methodologies via transfer hydrogenation and their applications to elegant and highly efficient natural compound syntheses. |
| 2014 | Professor David Leigh | The University of Manchester | For his pioneering work on the biologically inspired design and synthesis of artificial molecular machines. |
| 2013 |
Professor Kevin Burgess | Texas A & M University | For his important contributions in both synthetic and biological chemistry such as the development of asymmetric hydrogenation and peptidomimetics respectively. |
| 2012 |
Professor Scott Rychnovsky | University of California, Irvine | Awarded for the introduction of innovative methods for stereoselective syntheses of polyols, tetrahydropyrans, macrolide antibiotics and terpenes. |
| 2011 |
Mark Lautens | University of Toronto | Awarded for his discovery of useful new methodology for the construction of carbocycles and heterocyles and application of this in the synthesis of natural products and biologically active compounds. His research uses metal catalysts to selectively form C-C, C-X and C-N bonds in a chemo, stereo- and enantioselective fashion. |
| 2010 |
Jonathan Ellman | Yale University | Awarded for his pioneering achievements in organic synthesis including catalytic asymmetric synthesis, solid phase methodology and selective C-H bond activation. |
| 2009 |
Andrew Evans | University of Liverpool | Awarded for his design of multi-component processes and their application to the stereoselective synthesis of complex natural products. |
| 2008/2009 | Christopher Moody | University of Nottingham |
Awarded for his fundamental contributions to the synthesis of heterocyclic, biologically important compounds. |
| 2006/2007 | Professor Richard J K Taylor | University of York |
Distinguished for his excellent contributions to natural product synthesis, in particular of polyene systems, and to synthetic methodology, in particular the Ramberg-Bäcklund and tandem oxidation processes. |
| 2004/2005 | Professor Anthony G M Barrett | Imperial College London |
Distinguished for his outstanding and widespread contributions to synthetic chemistry, particularly the efficient preparation of highly complex natural products, the design of novel methodology for parallel synthesis and combinatorial chemistry, as well as the construction of multimetallic porphyrazine arrays. |
| 2002/2003 | Professor Scott E Denmark | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
Distinguished for his contributions to the development of novel tandem cycloadditions involving nitroalkenes and their application to highly elegant, short synthesis of pyrrolizidine and indolizidine alkaloids. |
| 2000/2001 | Professor Philip J Kocienski | University of Glasgow |
Distinguished for his numerous contributions to the total synthesis of biologically active natural products and the development of important new synthetic methods. |
| 1998/1999 | Professor Ron E Grigg | University of Leeds |
Distinguished for his highly original and wide-ranging contributions to organic synthesis. |
| 1996/1997 | J K M Sanders |
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| 1994/1995 | G Pattenden |
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| 1992/1993 | S V Ley |
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| 1990/1991 | J E Baldwin |
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| 1988/1989 | W D Ollis |
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| 1986/1987 | J I G Cadogan |
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| 1984/1985 | C W Rees |
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| 1982/1983 | L Crombie |
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| 1980/1981 | A R Battersby |
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| 1978/1979 | Sir James Baddiley |
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| 1976/1977 | G W Kenner |
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| 1974/1975 | A W Johnson |
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| 1972/1973 | R A Raphael |
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| 1970/1971 | D H Hey |
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| 1968/1969 | J W Cornforth |
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| 1966/1967 | D H R Barton |
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| 1964/1965 | W Baker |
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| 1962/1963 | F Sanger |
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| 1960/1961 | R D Haworth |
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| 1958/1959 | E R H Jones |
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| 1956/1957 | C K Ingold |
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| 1955 | E L Hirst |
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| 1953 | P Linstead |
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| 1950 | J W Cook |
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| 1947 | Sir Ian Heilbron |
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| 1946 | A R Todd |
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| 1944 | C Harrington |
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| 1942 | W H Mills |
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| 1940 | W N Haworth |
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| 1938 | R Kuhn |
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| 1936 | R Robinson |
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| 1934 | H Fischer |
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| 1932 | L Ruzicka |
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| 1931 | H Wieland |
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| 1929 | W H Perkin |
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Re-thinking recognition: Science prizes for the modern world
This report is the result of an independent review of our recognition programmes. Our aim in commissioning this review was to ensure that our recognition portfolio continues to deliver the maximum impact for chemical scientists, chemistry and society.