Prof. Antonio M. Echavarren Honored at 5th Iberoamerican Symposium on Organic Chemistry

ICIQ Group Leader and Scientific Director of Severo Ochoa Programme at the Institute, Prof. Antonio M. Echavarren, was recently recognized for his exceptional career contributions during the 5th Iberoamerican Symposium on Organic Chemistry. The symposium took place in O Grove – A Toxa, Spain, from September 11^th to 14^th, 2024, bringing together leading experts, researchers, and academics in the field.

Prof. Echavarren’s pioneering research in gold catalysis, has significantly advanced the understanding of gold’s unique reactivity. By opening up new approaches for the construction of of complex organic molecules, his contributions have transformed the field, with applications in fields such as biology and materials science.

This latest recognition adds to Prof. Echavarren’s distinguished list of awards, which includes the Enrique Moles National Research Prize, the Rei Jaume I Prize for Basic Research, and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Pedler Award in 2023.

The awardee

Antonio M. Echavarren was born in Bilbao and obtained his PhD at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, 1982). After a postdoctoral stay in Boston College, he joined the UAM as an Assistant Professor (1984-1986). Following a period as a NATO-fellow at the Colorado State University, he joined the Institute of Organic Chemistry (CSIC), where he stayed until 1992. Then, he returned to the UAM as a Professor of Organic Chemistry. He is also CISC Professor of Research since 2004. He moved to Tarragona as a Group Leader at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in 2004. He has been Liebig Lecturer (German Chemical Society, 2006), Abbot Lecturer in Organic Chemistry (University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign, 2009), Schulich Visiting Professor (Technion, Haifa, 2011), Sir Robert Robinson Distinguished Lecturer (University of Liverpool, 2011), Novartis Lecturer in Organic Chemistry (MIT, 2015), Kurt Alder Lecturer (Cologne, 2017), Eastman Lecturer (University of California, 2019), Irvine Organic Synthesis Lecturer (University of California, 2019), and Gerhard and Lisolette Closs Memorial Lecture (University of Chicago, 2021). He led as PI 13 research projects supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, and other grants, including 2 ERC Advanced Grants, 1 ERC Proof of Concept, and 6 Marie Slodowska-Curie Individual Postdoctoral Fellowships. Throughout his career, he supervised 60 PhD Thesis, 47 Master Thesis and 61 postdoctoral associates and he is the author of more than 300 scientific publications. He was President of the 49th Bürgenstock conference, Chair of OMCOS-18, Chair of European Symposium on Organic Chemistry, and European Chair of the Asian European Symposium. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Org. & Biomol. Chem., Chem. Soc. Rev., and Adv. Synt. Catal. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, member of the Academia Europaea, has been Secretary General of the RSEQ (1999-2004), President of the Catalan Section of the RSEQ (2012-2017) and is President of the RSEQ (2018-). He is also the Scientific Director of the Severo Ochoa Excellence Accreditation (ICIQ, 2020-2023). Prof. Echavarren has collaborated with industry and is the co-author of 5 patents.