Professor Stephen L. Buchwald, chairman of ICIQ’s Scientific Advisory Board, has received the 2014 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in basic sciences.

The award recognizes Buchwald’s work on “the development of catalytic routes based on palladium and copper to construct carbon-nitrogen and carbon-carbon molecular bonds,” according to the jury.

“Steve Buchwald’s work has tremendously changed the landscape of both academic and industrial laboratories. His work has provided new vistas for unconventional bond disconnections. It would be rather difficult to find any major pharmaceutical company that does not utilize his catalytic techniques on a daily basis,” says professor Miquel A. Pericàs, ICIQ director.

Research carried out by professor Buchwald at MIT has led to catalysts that lower activation energy so the reaction happens much faster but also in a more stable, predictable way. Due to its broad spectrum of reactivity, they are highly effective instruments for the industrial production of molecules. This chemistry is now being applied to the creation of drugs for numerous diseases including many forms of cancer, AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation and diabetes.

“Every scientist has his own special “modus operandi” when dealing with students,” says professor Rubén Martín, ICIQ group leader and former Buchwald’s group member. “Steve Buchwald definitely made ethics and creativity a priority, encouraging students to think first, then act. In other words, it is quality not quantity that matters. He has made difficult chemistry look easy, a concept that he has applied in virtually all his catalytic protocols. Beyond any doubt, joining Steve Buchwald´s group was the best decision I ever made; his scientific rigor and approach, together with his unique personality has become an endless inspiration and a model to me.”

Stephen L. Buchwald, Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry at MIT, is the co-author of over 420 papers in international journals and 44 issued patents. He is member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Science. He has received numerous honours including the Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry and Award in Organometallic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Linus Pauling Medal and the MERIT award of the National Institutes of Health.

“Steve Buchwald has served in the Scientific Advisory Board of ICIQ since its inception in 2002. From this position, he has importantly contributed to shape ICIQ as a research center of excellence. The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award represents a recognition that Steve really deserves,” emphasizes professor Pericàs.

Related links

BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Research Awards
The Buchwald Research Group
ICIQ’s Face to Face Interview